Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hugo Award winner Scalzi makes a surprise return to his Old Man's War series a decade after the publication of The End of All Things with this tightly plotted story of interspecies negotiations. Ten years have passed in-universe as well, and Gretchen Trujillo, former resident of Roanoke Colony, now works as a diplomat for the human Colonial Union in their relations with the extraterrestrial Obin. When the asteroid housing the 50,000-person Unity Colony--a top-secret trial community exploring whether the participants in the peace treaty between the CU, Earth, and the Conclave of alien species can coexist--vanishes from space, Gretchen and her Obin assistant/bodyguard, Ranare, investigate. It becomes clear that the politics and technology of the hyper-intelligent and extremely patronizing Consu aliens are central to solving the mystery and saving the colony. To learn more, Gretchen agrees to become the Consu's liaison to what they see as lesser species, pulling on her Obin connections to supplement her knowledge. While this installment is light on politics, Scalzi leans into many other series staples--dramatic fight scenes, technical challenges, and bold personalities--and does a good job providing just enough exposition for readers who have forgotten the backstory while keeping the current situation feeling vital. For diehard fans, this will be a treat. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Taking place 20 years after the original Old Man's War and 10 years after the pause in intergalactic hostilities that happened in The End of All Things, this seventh series entry brings back characters and alien races from previous books to explore the sudden disappearance of an experimental colony that was intended to be the first step toward humanity integrating with other species. The effort wasn't working before this particular facet of political nightmare began and isn't salvageable without gaining the cooperation of the most condescending superior race ever to ply the spacelanes. Negotiator Gretchen Trujillo knows she has nothing these aliens want, but she has plenty of guile to set them against each other in the hopes of saving everyone else. VERDICT Scalzi's (When the Moon Hits Your Eye) legion of fans, who have been waiting for this book for a decade, won't be disappointed by the latest installment in the long-running, groundbreaking, utterly epic "Old Man's War" series. Highly recommended for readers who love broad sweeping space operas and science fiction with a high quotient of dry humor and witty sarcasm.--Marlene Harris
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Just like it says on the tin: Powerful and disgustingly condescending aliens threaten a fragile peace in the seventh installment of the Old Man's War series. Ten years have passed since the publication of Book 6,The End of All Things (2015), and the same amount of time has passed in the storyline, when the humans of Earth, the humans of the Colonial Union, and the aliens of the Conclave signed a treaty that halted colonization of new planets. So Colonial Union diplomatic analyst Gretchen Trujillo is fairly surprised to learn that the three political entities have jointly founded a secret colony called Unity on a remote asteroid space station in an attempt to determine if citizens from all three governments could manage to get along. What's more surprising is that the space station and its 50,000 inhabitants have apparently vanished without a trace. If the story of Unity Colony and its disappearance were to become widely known, it would seriously threaten the treaty. Tasked with discreetly investigating the situation, Gretchen quickly learns that the likely culprit is the Consu, a technologically advanced alien race who consider all non-Consu as barely sentient animals. Why would the Consu make the colony disappear? And if the Unity colonists are still alive, is there any way of persuading the Consu to recover them, given that the Consu refuse to negotiate with beings so far beneath them? Scalzi enjoys constructing intricate puzzle-box crises that somehow the protagonist is just the right person at the right time with the right amount of smarts to defuse, even in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. This plot device teeters on the edge of seeming contrived, but the visceral pleasure of reading about people using their brains to triumph over superior forces outweighs that potential flaw, as well as the slightly spoiler-y observation that the novel's conclusion seems to borrow some elements of Scalzi's Interdependency series. We need more books about smart people winning. Classic Scalzi space opera at its wisecracking, politically pointed, and, somehow, fiercely optimistic finest. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
