I read this book about 3 weeks ago while backpacking in the Eastern Sierra. I enjoyed it. It was the tale of “The Lost Colony” from Zoe’s perspective, and after reading the afterward, I felt like I understood the difficulty of writing such a piece. Scalzi says there that writing a story that fit between the cracks of another story was way more difficult than he thought it was going to be. I can see that would be true.
This tale follows the founding of a new colony world with the political implications behind the scenes. Since we already knew how the story ended, this was really more about filling in some missing details, adding characterization, and seeing it from a different perspective. Part of me felt that the “teenage girl” voice came through well, while other sections didn’t ring true to me, though I am not and never have been a teenage girl, so I may not be the best judge. The children all seemed to act older than their ages, but given the easy tone and reading that Scalzi gives his books, it wasn’t a problem for me.
One of my favorite parts of the book was early on when Hickory and Dickory compose the first epic tale from their species; their origin story. It served several purposes. First, it was a recap of “The Lost Colony” in case you forgot about it. Second, it was a reminder of how alien the species is. Third, it allowed for the story to go in a new direction with that as a basis.
Anyway, apparently I really like Scalzi, as this is yet another 5 star review. I have been reading other things but will be pack to more regular updates soon.