Cover of The End of All Things

The End of All Things

by John Scalzi
four stars
genreSci-Fi
seriesOld Man's War
reviewedjan 15 2019

Solid finish to a solid series. John Scalzi does two things very well: 1) truly alien aliens 2) humor in the midst of otherwise serious books. I like the finish here because the story is told from multiple perspectives, starting first with a "brain in a box." As each character adds to the story, moving it forward, the drama and tension builds. I was a touch disappointed in the final chapter, otherwise this would be five stars. I do recommend the series because its enjoyable, different, and filled with great, quick reads.

publisher’s summary
Hugo Award-winning author John Scalzi returns to his best-selling Old Man's War universe with The End of All Things, the direct sequel to 2013's The Human Division.

Humans expanded into space...only to find a universe populated with multiple alien species bent on their destruction. Thus was the Colonial Union formed, to help protect us from a hostile universe. The Colonial Union used the Earth and its excess population for colonists and soldiers. It was a good arrangement...for the Colonial Union. Then the Earth said: no more.

Now the Colonial Union is living on borrowed time - a couple of decades at most before the ranks of the Colonial Defense Forces are depleted and the struggling human colonies are vulnerable to the alien species who have been waiting for the first sign of weakness to drive humanity to ruin. And there's another problem: a group, lurking in the darkness of space, playing human and alien against each other - and against their own kind - for their own unknown reasons.

In this collapsing universe, CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson and the Colonial Union diplomats he works with race against the clock to discover who is behind attacks on the Union and on alien races, to seek peace with a suspicious, angry Earth, and to keep humanity's union intact...or else risk oblivion and extinction - and the end of all things.

filed under ... sci-fi... old man's war...

more in the series

old man's war Old Man's War When I first read this series, I didn't think much of it, but after coming back to re-read it, I found I truly enjoyed this book and the Old Man's War universe. I think part of my initial dislike was… old man's war The Ghost Brigades As short as these books are—at least for the sci-fi genre—they pack a punch. The thing that Scalzi does well is create interesting aliens that are truly... alien. At least to us. He also spreads out… old man's war The Last Colony To John Scalzi's credit, he neither delves into pseudo-religious rants nor repeat the same tired plotlines in his third book. However, he also doesn't even cross the ten-hour mark in the audiobook.… old man's war The Human Division One day I logged into Audible and they were offering a new short story by John Scalzi in the Old Man's War universe for free. It was the first of 13 such short stories. My library is a bit cluttered… old man's war Series: Old Man's War The first review I wrote for this series was after finishing The Last Colony, and thinking the series was done. I didn't think much of it, partly due to the short book length, and party due to not…