\nThe saga continues. And we\u2019re back to first person narrative and the voice of John Perry. Yay! I think John Scalzi finally gets the balance between dialog and description right. (Except between pages 199-203.) The Last Colony is a very satisfying tying up of story lines and themes.\n<\/p>\n
\n2011-03-02. Added after reading all three books in the series.\n<\/p>\n
\nYou never forget where you come from. \u2014 p 1\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nThe opening paragraph sets the theme for The Last Colony: the search for a place to call home. Although the book resolves the premise nicely, I can\u2019t decide if I agree with it. As a BRAT, I don\u2019t feel like I came from anywhere. I have no memory of my birthplace and no desire to return to it. As a former expat, I remember how living elsewhere reinforced my identity as a Texan. This was funny because when I\u2019m living in Texas, I\u2019m reminded that I\u2019m not and never will be really a Texan even though I\u2019ve lived here for almost 40 years. Can anyone go home again? In my experience, no. Space and time are intertwined. We can return to a place physically but our time will have passed.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSeeing the constellation. That\u2019s when I knew this place was my home. That\u2019s when I knew I had come here to stay. That this place was my<\/strong> place.\u201d (Jane Sagan) \u2014 p 32\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nI was pleased to see the one image that stuck out in Old Man\u2019s War resurface in The Last Colony. Especially because in the former it was almost a throw-away line. And, yet, there was something about the observation that made me stop and think. Best of all, it\u2019s not one of those ideas that John Scalzi over-explains. It wells up from the characters.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201c\u2026for the first time in my life I knew my life was more than what was directly in front of me. I learned to see the constellations, not just the stars.\u201d (Jane Sagan) \u2014 p 104\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The saga continues. And we\u2019re back to first person narrative and the voice of John Perry. Yay! I think John Scalzi finally gets the balance between dialog and description right. (Except between pages 199-203.) The Last Colony is a very satisfying tying up of story lines and themes. Quotes and Notes 2011-03-02. Added after reading all three books in the series. You never forget where you come from. \u2014 p<\/p>\n