Zoe's Tale is the fourth full-length book by John Scalzi

John Scalzi

John Michael Scalzi II is an American author and online writer, and president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his Hugo Award-nominated science fiction novel Old Man's War, released by Tor Books in January 2005, and for his blog , at which he has written...

 set in the Old Man's War

Old Man's War

Old Man's War is a science fiction novel by John Scalzi published in 2005. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2006. It was optioned by Paramount Pictures in 2011...

universe.

Plot synopsis

Zoe's Tale is a retelling of Scalzi's third Old Man's War novel, The Last Colony

The Last Colony

The Last Colony is the third science fiction novel by John Scalzi set in the Old Man's War universe. It was nominated for a 2008 Hugo Award in the Best Novel category.-Plot synopsis:...

, written as a first-person narrative

First-person narrative

First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...

 from the viewpoint of Zoë Boutin Perry. Zoë is the 17-year old adopted daughter of John Perry and Jane Sagan, two former-soldiers-turned-colonists who were the subjects of Scalzi's first book, Old Man's War

Old Man's War

Old Man's War is a science fiction novel by John Scalzi published in 2005. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2006. It was optioned by Paramount Pictures in 2011...

. Her biological father, Charles Boutin, created a device capable of giving a race of creatures, called the Obin, consciousness. The Obin worshipped him, but he was killed for being a traitor to mankind and wanting to overthrow the Colonial Union, and so his daughter, Zoë, became a demigod to them.