The End of All Things (Old Man's War Series #6)

by John Scalzi

Overview

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 keep humanity's union intact...or else risk oblivion, and extinction-and the end of all things.

Old Man's War Series
#1 Old Man’s War
#2 The Ghost Brigades
#3 The Last Colony
#4 Zoe’s Tale
#5 The Human Division
#6 The End of All Things
Short fiction: “After the Coup”

Other Tor Books
The Android’s Dream
Agent to the Stars
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded
Fuzzy Nation
Redshirts
Lock In
The Collapsing Empire

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765376107
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/31/2016
Series:	Old Man's War Series
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	41,189
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

JOHN SCALZI is one of the most popular science fiction authors of the 2000s. His multiple New York Times bestsellers include Redshirts, which won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel, Lock In and The Last Emperox. His debut novel Old Man's War won him the Astounding Award for Best New Writer; his other awards include the Locus, Seiun and Audie. Whatever (whatever.scalzi.com), his online site, has been published continuously since 1998, and has earned him two other Hugo awards. His television work includes Stargate Universe and Love, Death & Robots. Scalzi lives in Ohio, where he takes pictures of cats and sunsets.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/06/2015
Hugo-winner Scalzi integrates the best aspects of war stories into the polished and powerful sixth volume—which consists of four connected novellas—in the Old Man’s War space opera series. The inevitable and parallel downward spirals of the two corrupt space empires, the human Colonial Union and the alien Conclave, are finally coming to a head. All four protagonists work for one of the two entities, and Scalzi shifts among their perspectives to thread a fine needle, recognizing that good people can be entrenched in terrible systems and sometimes can’t (or won’t) change them. Added tension comes in the form of a group called the Equilibrium, which is intent on destroying both the Colonial Union and the Conclave and killing billions in the process. Human Harry Wilson and alien Hafte Sorvalh will be familiar to returning readers, while CU pilot Rafe Daquin and CU Lt. Heather Lee are welcome new voices. New readers will certainly enjoy the work, but the real payoff comes for longtime fans, who will especially appreciate a powerful moment featuring the alien General Gau. Scalzi knows just how to satisfy his fans, providing tense, thrilling action scenes while turning a critical eye on the interstellar equivalents of the military-industrial complex. Agent: Ethan Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

06/15/2015
In four linked novellas (first published serially in June and July 2015) Scalzi concludes the story lines from The Human Division. Given that Earth is at odds with the Colonial Union and the increasing hostile Conclave, the end may be nigh for humanity. Things gets even worse with the discovery that all three parties are being manipulated by a shadowy secret organization known as Equilibrium, whose goal may be the destruction of the planet. The standout is the first novella, "Life of the Mind," in which pilot and former programmer Rafe Daquin is enslaved by Equilibrium as a brain in a box and placed in charge of a ship slated for a suicide mission. Ambassador Abumwe, Lieutenant Wilson, Hart Schmidt, and Hafte Sorvalh, known to Human Division readers, play smaller but equally important roles in the other stories. VERDICT A more serious tone and darker themes characterizes Scalzi's latest, which is closest in style to his YA title, Zoe's Tale, and may not satisfy all readers. [See Prepub Alert, 2/9/15.]—JM

Library Journal

01/01/2016
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. VERDICT This is not a book for sci-fi newbies, but teen fans who enjoy action-packed science fiction with plenty to think about will want to sink their teeth into this one.—Sarah Flowers, formerly of Santa Clara County Library

School Library Journal

The many original concepts in this latest Old Man's War title put the audiobook far above much of the science fiction found in books and movies today. Tavia Gilbert and William Dufris are disarmingly genial as they trade off narrating chapters. Gilbert, in particular, manages to convey a bird-like alien perfectly in her section, and Dufris is fully believable even as a disembodied brain in control of a spaceship. The world of the future has the Earth in a cold war against its own colonists as well as aliens. The story is so compelling that many will find it impossible to stop listening. The best news is that, despite the title, this book doesn’t end the series. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2015 - AudioFile

★ 2015-05-20
In the sixth Old Man's War novel, a direct sequel to The Human Division (2013), human and alien governments on the brink of war must foil the secret cabal that pushed them there. The two major human governments—of the Earth and the Colonial Union—have firmly parted ways after the destruction of Earth Station, and both have a rocky relationship with the Conclave, a coalition of alien governments. A CU diplomatic unit has suspected for some time that a fourth party has encouraged this tense situation and is responsible for several recent provocative incidents which have been pinned either on the CU or the Conclave. But they have no definitive evidence until the brain of a human cargo pilot, Rafe Daquin, and the ship he controls, The Chandler, escape from that group, the Equilibrium, carrying both information on the conspiracy and a significant figure in it. Now the CU diplomats must convince Earth and the Conclave of the truth and that they all must work together (at least for now) before the Equilibrium leads the three governments to destroy one another while it reaps the profits. The Old Man's War books occupy the space-opera void that American TV used to fill with various incarnations of Star Trek, Babylon 5, Farscape, etc.; it's no wonder Syfy is developing the series for TV. This novel—actually four connected novellas—provides a conclusion to the latest plotline while remaining open to new stories in the universe. It's classic crowd-pleasing Scalzi, offering thrilling adventure scenes (space battles, daring military actions, parachute jumps through a planet's atmosphere), high-stakes politics, snarky commentary, and food for thought. Delightful, compulsively readable, and even somewhat nutritious brain candy.

Kirkus Reviews