John Perry and Jane Sagan have left the CDF and have been living with Zoe on a colony called Huckleberry until they're uprooted and sent to start a new colony, Roanoke. Only the CDF isn't telling them the whole truth and the Conclave is on the prowl for rogue colonies. Can Perry and his family save Roanoke without being traitors to the Colonial Union?

Wow. I loved this book almost as much as I loved the first in the series, Old Man's War. John Perry is back and in fine form. Scalzi crammed a lot of story into just over 300 pages; tensions between the CDF and the Conclave, the mutual respect between Perry and General Gau, the Obin, and more that I can't divulge without blowing too many bits of the lot.

Scalzi's writing is in top form in The Last Colony and since John Perry is the lead character, there's a bit more humor than in Ghost Brigades. Still, it's almost as serious as the previous book.

One of the things that I loved the most about the Last Colony was that Scalzi wasn't afraid to shake things up. While I'm aware that there's a fourth book and am eagerly awaiting it's arrival in the mail, I wasn't completely sure any of colonists would survive. I loved that Scalzi brought Perry and Sagan full circle since the first book. While it would have made a grand ending for the saga, I'm glad Scalzi still has stories left to tell in this universe.

I can't recommend The Last Colony, or the previous two books, Old Man's War, and The Ghost Brigades, enough. They aren't just great military science fiction; they're great books.