The novel “Zoe’s Tale” by John Scalzi was published for the first time in 2008. It’s Part of the “Old Man’s War” series.

Zoë Boutin-Perry lives on the colony of Huckleberry with her adoptive parents John Perry and Jane Sagan. Their lives seem quiet thinking that, in her childhood, Zoë lost her biological parents and her adoptive parents have spent years fighting in the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF). The situation changes when John Perry and Jane Sagan are offered to lead a new colony on the planet Roanoke, an important project for the Colonial Union.

John and Jane accept and the two of them are sent to the planet to colonize along with Zoë and the two Obin who always accompany her to protect her from any danger. The aliens, however, seem to have information on the new colony that cast a shadow on the project. The situation becomes more complicated when the starship arrives at its destination and the captain realizes that this is not the right planet despite the fact that the the course was correct.

The major criticism of the novel “The Last Colony” concerned the sudden disappearance of the natives of the planet Roanoke. At the same time, John Scalzi received several requests to write a new story dedicated to Zoë. In the end, putting everything together, the author decided to write a novel re-telling the story of “The Last Colony” but in the first person from the point of view of the girl.

John Scalzi’s choice wasn’t easy. Telling the same story again is likely to bore readers who have already read it and telling it from the point of view of a teenager in a convincing manner is challenging. The fact that Zoë had played an important role in “The Last Colony” was helpful because it allowed the author to tell it.

When John Scalzi started the “Old Man’s War” series, Robert A. Heinlein was his main source of inspiration. “Zoe’s Tale” seems to be inspired by the great master as well as in his career he wrote several juveniles. Zoë isn’t exactly the protagonist of “Podkayne of Mars” but it’s impossible to write a science fiction novel like this without thinking of Heinlein’s stories.

In my opinion, the main obstacle in reading “Zoe’s Tale” is the first part. That’s the part where the style is more adolescent, in the sense that for a good part Zoë’s problems are those of an ordinary girl. It’s also the most verbose part because the protagonist dwells much in telling what happens to her and what she feels so the pace is initially slow.

Luckily, this first part isn’t a complete boredom. John Scalzi uses it also to provide new details on Zoë’s prior to the start of this novel and her relationship with the Obin seen from her point of view. Her life was really complicated but in her appearances in the previous novels in the series what was revealed was told by other characters. “Zoe’s Tale” certainly gives an interesting perspective from this point of view because it involves much more the Obin as well.

In the “Old Man’s War” fictional universe there are many alien species and the information provided about them by John Scalzi is fragmentary. “Zoe’s Tale” gives way to the author to provide much more information about the Obin but also about the Consu, the very powerful species that created them using genetic engineering on a non-sentient species.

I think this is the most success of “Zoe’s Tale” along with the narration of certain events of “The Last Colony” that had remained obscure. John Scalzi provides a more detailed explanation of the disappearance of the natives of the planet Roanoke. To me their story still seems a waste but at least now it has a little more sense.

A story that has among its sources of inspiration Robert A. Heinlein’s juveniles couldn’t not be also a coming of age novel. After a sometimes light-hearted start with so many problems typical of teenagers, things become more and more serious. The new colony of Roanoke has to face dangers of various kinds and Zoë ends up being personally involved in the fight for its safety.

The people who read “The Last Colony” already know how the story ends and also know the importance of Zoë’s role. In “Zoe’s Tale” we can finally appreciate her actions and know part of the story that wasn’t told because John Perry didn’t know it.

In the end, I think “Zoe’s Tale” is a good complement to “The Last Colony”. It has its flaws and inevitably the story is repetitive for those who have already read the first novel so it’s not essential. For its new contents it’s still a novel I recommend to the fans of the “Old Man’s War” series.