Zoe's Tale
John Scalzi
Science Fiction
2008
Young Adult
*****
cover-This is a nice cover, but a little boring. Now I like the cover I saw done by the Subterranean Press - THAT's a cover.
Zoe's Tale is a fun novel that kind of ended up to be young adult. It is written from the point of view of a 17 year old girl. First person 17 year old girl. There are also characters from Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigade featured here. Not having read other books from that series, I don't know if there are others...
John Perry (Old Man's War) and Jane Sagan (The Ghost Brigades) are now married and have adopted Zoe. They've been living on a planet - colonized. They're given a chance to head up a new planet colonization. For some strange reason (that seems to be tempting fate) the new planet is to be called Roanoke. (remember the missing colony in early America?) Only something goes wrong during the skip and they end up on a different colony - one that actually kind of stinks.
Making the best of things, they begin their colony. The first few months are endured by Zoe and her new friends. Suddenly, Zoe's bodyguards (take a look at the cover mentioned, under the link), rock her world by telling her she needs to learn self defense. They proceed to teach her - painfully. This is good, because it does become necessary....
I liked this novel. Zoe's voice was interesting, she was snarky just like my favorite teenagers. She is also smart, and very teen like as well as being a bit wiser than your average teen. She has quite history, before she was adopted by John and Jane. And the two bodyguards happen to be two beings from another planet - beings who know a heck of a lot about war.
Scalzi wrote an interesting novel with a few twists and turns. I loved the ending. Enjoyed the narration style with Zoe's voice and teenisms. Because I liked Zoe's Tale, I ended up buying Old Man's War. I liked Zoe's Tale more - but both are good reads.
