Zoe's Tale cover art

Zoe's Tale

An Old Man's War Novel

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

$8.99/mo after trial ends. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
Compare plans

Zoe's Tale

By: John Scalzi
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
Try for $0.00

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $23.93

Buy Now for $23.93

Season's Savings | $0.99/mo for 3 months

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo. after 3 months - terms apply.

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 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.

 Adventure Fantasy Military Science Fiction Space Opera
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic Reviews

“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

“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
All stars
Most relevant

What did you like best about Zoe's Tale? What did you like least?

Zoe's perspective was good, and a few extra parts of the plot were interesting.What I did not like was that I knew exactly what was going to happen, except for when she was away from the last colony. You can happily skip this book and not miss much.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I would have advanced the series not just restate one book from a different characters perspective.

Exactly the same as the previous book .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I do really wish I actually read the synopsis prior to buying. I was expecting a continuation of the previous book but this was the same timeline with a different character perspective. I knew too much of the story/timeline to make it a knockout. Will not stop me from getting the next one though!

Old man's teenage daughter

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A great addition to the series. Very well read, but it's a pity the narrator didn't listen to the previous books, as she pronounced a lot of the names differently to the previous narrator, which was a little annoying.

a great listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This entry in the series is very different to the rest. But worth it.

Different but the same.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have really enjoyed this series and while Tavia Gilbert is a favourite narrator I found listening to this irritating.
This is an established series with an excellent narrator and to have Ms Gilbert come in and change the pronunciation of names and species, when having a listen to previous work would have kept things consistent without taking away from her mostly excellent performance, really detracted from my enjoyment of this performance.
That said while not adding a lot to the series this was an enjoyable reunion with old friends.

Frustrating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.