The Last Colony

This book moved a lot faster than the previous one, with all sorts of fun political maneuverings and a really exciting battle scene. The mysteries set up in the previous books start to unravel here as the Conclave finally takes power and humanity makes its first move against the assemblage of alien races. But as John and Jane try to usher their fledgling colony through these power plays, it becomes less and less obvious which side is in the right.

I liked that this book got back to John Perry, who has a fun sarcastic voice that makes the book more interesting to read. It was also nice to see him and Jane together, post army, figuring out how to make a life with their adopted daughter. And I really liked that we finally get to draw the curtain back on the Colonial Union and see their various failings as a government.

I'm a little concerned that I'm having a hard time remembering characters from book to book. A lot of them don't really make a huge impression. When they turn up again I'm not sure if I should remember them or not, and it makes for some confusing and slightly uneasy reading. But the plot moves so fast that it hardly matters. Which is probably why I forgot about these characters in the first place.

This is a pretty enjoyable sci-fi series, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading John Scalzi's work. It's not incredibly ground-breaking or thought-provoking, but it is a huge amount of fun and it reads pretty fast. And at the moment, those are qualities that I'm valuing pretty highly in my books.

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