Book Review: The End of All Things by John Scalzi

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I have read all of the Old Man’s War universe books and after a significant disappointment with another sci-fi author recently I was really looking forward to reading The End of All Things, the next installment in the OMW universe from Scalzi. I was to find that I both was and was not disappointed at the same time with this outing in Colonial Union (CU) and Conclave space. I was disappointed because of the way that the story is laid out and not disappointed because the story itself is just plain good.

The story is laid out as four distinct but connected novellas instead of being one continuous narrative. That was kind of jarring because it is a bit confusing to pick up where you are at in the narrative when a new novella begins. That being said the story is great and fits right into the OMW universe. This book picks up several months, at least, after the last book (The Human Division) ended. It took me awhile to figure that out because it begins rather abruptly but as the book continues it becomes clearer where you are in the story arc.

The basic situation is that after the destruction of Earth Station earth has severed all official contact with the CU and is no longer providing colonists or recruits for the Colonial Defense Forces. The CU is in bind, not only do they face a hostile earth and conclave, without fresh bodies from earth they have to start relying on colony worlds for recruits, which is a step they have not yet taken. The CU is facing a critical shortage of military personnel with no way to get replacements. To top it all off, there is the very real possibility of a war between the CU and Conclave in which the CU would definitely lose.

This is a good book and it keeps up the timeline of the OMW universe quite well. I am not sure where the story will go from here but the rumor mill says that Scalzi is contractually obligated to write at least one more book in the OMW universe.  I recommend this book to fans of Scalzi and the OMW universe. The caveat is that if you have not read the books that preceded this one don’t expect to understand the story until late in the book if at all.

Here is a link to an excerpt of the audiobook provided to me by the publisher: https://soundcloud.com/audible/the-end-of-all-things