Zoe's Tale Audiobook By John Scalzi cover art

Zoe's Tale

An Old Man's War Novel

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Zoe's Tale

By: John Scalzi
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
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Buy for $20.24

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How do you tell your part in the biggest tale in history?

I ask because it's what I have to do. I'm Zoe Boutin Perry: A colonist stranded on a deadly pioneer world. Holy icon to a race of aliens. A player (and a pawn) in a interstellar chess match to save humanity, or to see it fall. Witness to history. Friend. Daughter. Human. Seventeen years old.

Everyone on Earth knows the tale I am part of. But you don't know my tale: How I did what I did — how I did what I had to do — not just to stay alive but to keep you alive, too. All of you. I'm going to tell it to you now, the only way I know how: not straight but true, the whole thing, to try make you feel what I felt: the joy and terror and uncertainty, panic and wonder, despair and hope. Everything that happened, bringing us to Earth, and Earth out of its captivity. All through my eyes.

It's a story you know. But you don't know it all.

©2008 John Scalzi; (P)2008 Macmillan Audio Adventure Science Fiction Space Opera Thought-Provoking Fantasy Military

Critic reviews

“The Last Colony will kick your butt across the galaxy and make you care.” —Rick Kleffel, The Agony Column, on The Last Colony

“Scalzi's captivating blend of off-world adventure and political intrigue remains consistently engaging.” —Booklist on The Last Colony

“In Heinleinesque fashion, the book is loaded with scenes of comradeship, isolation, ruthlessness and the protocols, which govern the lives of active-duty soldiers. But this is where Scalzi, famous for his blog ‘The Whatever,' surpasses Heinlein. Scalzi weaves in subtle discussions of humanity's growing fear of aging and our simultaneous attraction and repulsion to the Frankenstein-like creatures we are able to create.” —San Antonio Express-News on The Ghost Brigades

Featured Article: The Most Stellar Sci-Fi Authors of All Time


Science fiction is a genre as diverse as you can imagine. There are stories that take place in deep space, often depicting teams exploring or running away from something; stories that focus on life at the most cellular level, such as a pandemic tale; and stories that take place in times that feel similar to our own. Depicting themes of existentialism, philosophy, hubris, and personal and historical trauma, sci-fi has a cadre of topics and moods.

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Fresh Perspective • Character Development • Authentic Teenage Voice • Insightful Relationships • Emotional Performance

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This was an amazing retelling of the last colony and is good for the person who wants yo know every other detail which is me. But Tavia Gilbert should have listened to the other books because some things like races, names and other stuff she pronounced them in her own way. it was pretty irritating.

Another angle on a good story

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a good book but I'm not sure if I would recommend this as a must read. If you have the time and the book is available from the library I would suggest it or if you have a few extra credits to burn.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Zoe's Tale ?

The connection between Zoe and the Obin.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Countless moments of laughter and tear or two toward the end.

Any additional comments?

If I could go back in time I would convince John Scalzi to combine this book and the 3rd book. the combine would have been on par with the quality of the 1st book Old Mans War. The perfect combination would mainly focus on Zoe's perceptive with a few sections from John perceptive for added detail. Honestly, the only worth I see in the 3rd book is that it provides background information for this book.

Witty Sci-Fi

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It's extremely impressive that Scalzi can write a book covering the same story as the previous book, but make it just as interesting by shifting the perspective.

Zoe's tale was great. And the narrator was great too. only thing making me give 4 stars instead of 5 is pronunciation consistency, which is a pet peeve of mine.

Across books, production should do more work to ensure pronunciation is consistent.

A few examples:
the Rraey
Whaid
Ombudsman

The two most glaring though we're General Gau (she pronounces as "Go") and the character's own last name Boutin. It seems like more care should have been taken to ensure there weren't differences for such frequent and important words.

Again, I know it's a very minor complaint. But it can be jarring when going from the previous book to this one.

Incredible writing

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Great story but the pronunciation of alien Races and character names were not consistent with the previous books. It was kinda frustrating trying to translate the names in my head constantly.

Great Story but bad pronunciation consistancy.

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Narrator was excellent aside from ruining her performance by not aligning pronunciations with the narrator of the previous 3 books. It sounds menial, but I nearly stopped listening each time she mispronounced another name. Even if her pronunciation is actually accurate, having a narrator declare names and pronunciations in the first books dictates the way they should be said.

Talented narrator; Poorly prepared to narrate

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