End of All Things

The latest book by Scalzi is set in the universe of The Old Man's War (Tor, 2005) but works well as a stand-alone. Four interrelated novellas, each with a different narrator, tell the story of a conflict among Earth, the Colonial Union (the descendants of Earth, who left to find other habitable planets), and the Conclave (the union of the other intelligent species who joined together in defense against the Colonial Union). It soon transpires that there is yet another group at work in the universe—the Equilibrium—and it isn't immediately obvious what their motives or goals are. This is straight-up military/political science fiction. Scalzi, as always, is adept at presenting his stories not as black-and-white conflicts but rather as complex tales shrouded in shades of gray. Three of the narrators are CDF (Colonial Defense Forces) soldiers, and one is a Conclave diplomat, and each has a slightly different take on the events at the center of the tale.