Zoe's Tale - (Old Man's War) by John Scalzi (Paperback)

About the Book

A return to the bestselling Old Man's War universe, by science fiction's fastest-rising new star, told from the point of view of one of the most appealing characters in the series!

Book Synopsis

From New York Time bestselling author John Scalzi, Zoe's Tale, fourth book in the Old Man's War series is now available for the first time in trade paperback with a new introduction by the author.

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 to 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.

Old Man's War Series
#1 Old Man's War
#2 The Ghost Brigades
#3 The Last Colony
#4 Zoe's Tale
#5 The Human Division
#6 The End of All Things
Short fiction: "After the Coup"

Other Tor Books
The Android's Dream
Agent to the Stars
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded
Fuzzy Nation
Redshirts
Lock In
The Collapsing Empire

Review Quotes

"Engaging character development and Scalzi's sharp ear for dialogue will draw in new readers" --Publishers Weekly on Zoe's Tale

"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

"Full of whodunit twists and explosive action"--Publishers Weekly on The Last Colony

"The sequel to Old Man's War combines taut military action with keen insights into the moral issues revolving around developing technologies. Scalzi has a finely tuned sense of balance between personal drama and the 'big picture' ... Highly recommended." --Library Journal, Starred Review on The Ghost Brigades

"A mix of Starship Troopers and Universal Soldier, Ghost evokes awakening, betrayal, and combat in the best military sci-fi tradition." --Entertainment Weekly on The Ghost Brigades

"An impressive piece of work." --Philadelphia Inquirer on The Ghost Brigades

"Fast and deep...I like the galaxy this author's playing in, the characters he limns, the situations he's playing with, and I'm glad there's at least one more volume on the way." --San Diego Union-Tribune on The Ghost Brigades

"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

"Scalzi is a natural heir to Heinlein, and his second book in this series is a good old-fashioned space opera, which takes time to question the nature of free will." --St. Louis Press-Dispatch on The Ghost Brigades

"Astonishingly proficient." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review on Old Man's War

"Top-notch. His combat scenes are blood-roiling. His dialogue is suitably snappy and profane. And the moral and philosophical issues he raises... insert useful ethical burrs under the military saddle of the story." --The Washington Post on Old Man's War

"Smartly conceived and thoroughly entertaining, Old Man's War is a splendid novel." --Cleveland Plain-Dealer

"Gripping and surpassingly original. It's Starship Troopers without the lectures. It's The Forever War with better sex. It's funny, it's sad, and it's true." --Cory Doctorow

"John Scalzi is a fresh and appealing new voice, and Old Man's War is classic SF seen from a modern perspective--a fast-paced tour of a daunting, hostile universe." --Robert Charles Wilson

"Thought-provoking!" --Entertainment Weekly

"Solid...[Scalzi] sidesteps most of the cliches of military science fiction, delivers fast-paced scenes of combat and pays attention to the science underpinning his premise." --San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

JOHN SCALZI is one of the most popular SF authors of his generation. His debut, Old Man's War, won him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, Redshirts (which won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel), The Last Emperox, and 2022's The Kaiju Preservation Society. Material from his blog, Whatever, has earned him two other Hugo Awards. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.