Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Zoe on the Loose

John Scalzi’s latest novel, Zoe’s Tale, is officially released today. Here’s what John thinks of it:

I’m really proud of Zoë as a character; I think she’s one of the best I’ve ever written. I also think that that in many ways Zoe’s Tale is the best book in the entire Old Man’s War sequence, which is saying something, considering it’s the fourth book in the universe, and two of them have got Hugo nods. But there it is: The amount of work I had to do to get Zoë right is also reflected in the rest of the book as well. It’s good.

I’m also happy to say that the goal of making this a standalone novel seems to have been achieved: I’ve heard back from folks who have read the book cold, without having read the other books in the sequence, and it’s worked for them. This is good news because, as most of you know, Zoe’s Tale was written with an eye toward opening up this universe to younger readers who might have missed the other books; it’s the book I can point to when someone asks if they can give a book of mine to their daughter or nephew or whomever.

Adults aren’t going to feel excluded (everyone who I’ve heard from about the book is an adult; they all liked it just fine), it’s that I wanted to put another door into the world for a new group of folks. Hopefully they’ll walk through and explore. I have some hope that some of the folks who have been along for the ride so far will do some proselytizing, and that’s as far down the avenue of openly begging all y’all to drop the book into the hands of the teens you know as I’m going to go.

Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back, dude. 

Seriously, Scalzi’s getting better and better book by book (practice does seem to make better), and Zoe Tale more than meets his usual high standards. It’s a great read and, as per my review of an advance copy, I highly recommend it.