Book Review:The End of All Things by John Scalzi (Old Man's War #6)

The End of All Things by John Scalzi (Old Man's War #6)

Hardcover, 380 pages

Published August 2015 by Tor Books

I have tendency to read classic science fiction still. I generally like the old school best. I have not been as serious about keeping up with the modern works outside of a few authors. John Scalzi is one of those authors, he is one of the most loved and respected modern sci-fi writers for a couple reasons. He has built two brands one with his novels which feel both modern and old school at the same time, and of course his popular blog helped too. When I say modern and old school at the same time it is hard to explain.It is the feeling I get reading his books. They feel fun, besides the humor he slips in Scalzi never shys away froma little gee whiz factor.

The End of All Things is the 6th book set in the Old Man's War universe. The first three books were a contained trilogy, all three of which I loved. The second book The Ghost Brigades is to me the strongest of the six, but all are worth worth reading. After the trilogy he pulled a trick Orson Scott Card did with the Ender's series and re-wrote parts of the story from a different POV.

Scalzi has had sucessful books out of this universe I reviewed the hilariously meta Redshirts here, so it is not like he needed to go back to this well. There are important universe building reasons for the last two books which are short story/ novella collections set in the Old Man's universe. This book feels like a close out to the story or at least an era in the QMW universe.

This book is made up of 4 1/2 novellas. Four new novellas and an alternate draft of the first novella. This book had much more of a single novel feel than the last collection The Human Division. There is a clear point A and Point Z and one narrative flow despite the radical shift in POV.

My favorite of the novella's was Can Long Endure which had the military sci-fi tone of the OG Old Man's War novels. The second novel was a bit of slog compared to the pace the rest of the book had. That novella had a complex political background story and was thick with twists and turns. Not bad but compared to the fun of the third novella it just seemed overly complicated.

If you are a fan of the Old Man's War universe it is a no-brainer, if it sounds interesting but you have not read any of the books... Well start at the beginning. the trilogy is must read sci-fi.