In The Last Colony we see John Perry and Jane Sagan trying to do what is right for there odd little family and trying to run the new colony on Roanoke and keep everyone alive. There are conversations that are told from the other side in Zoe's tale, but for the most part this is it's own book. The overlaying of the two is seamless and brilliant.
full review at www.unboundblogzine.com ( )

This book describes colonization of a new planet using old technologies and the politics behind it. Interesting to read what might happen when the colonist selection standards for survival skills are almost nonexistent.

Link to a review on my personal website. ( )

A very quick but entertaining read. I have not yet read The Ghost Brigades, but was able to jump right into this new adventure. The book was more of a mystery than sci-fi. I compare it to The Devil's Eye by Jack McDevitt. Very much less technical than Old Man's War. I would sum this one up as a great weekend book. ( )

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I do enjoy it when the last book of a trilogy turns out to be just as good as the first book. Middle books, eh. They can be long-winded or slightly boring or off-topic or without purpose. I mean, think about "The Two Towers." All that riding around Rohan and trekking through the woods with Ents. Snore-o-rama. And then, blam! The last book nails it.

It'd be silly to equate this trilogy with Tolkein's, but my point is the same. Scalzi returns to the first character he created, John Perry, brings along his now-wife, Jane, and the adopted daughter, Zoe. Plants them in a strange setting and puts the fate of the world on Perry's shoulders. Many plot twists later, and you have an excellent set-up for the end of the book.

Plus, he adds a wise-cracking secretary who makes you hoot with laughter. He should be a humor writer, really, this stuff doesn't just roll off the keyboard. Although, amusingly, this character makes it clear that he does write a (very well-read) blog on the side (http://whatever.scalzi.com/). Because writing a blog is all about the clever. ( )