Curt's Read-Bag: The Last Colony

Title: The Last Colony
By: John Scalzi (Tor, 320 pp.)
Concerning: In the last book of a trilogy, the protagonists of Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades lead a new colony of human beings without realizing that it may be the catalyst for a galactic war.
Quote: “In the first weekend of Zhong Guo, I presided over Roanoke’s first wedding, between Katherine Chao, formerly of Franklin, and Kevin Jones, formerly of Rus. There was much rejoicing. Two weeks later I presided over Roanoke’s first divorce, fortunately not of Chao and Jones. Beata had finally gotten her fill of antagonizing Jann Kranjic and let him off the hook. There was much rejoicing.”
Verdict: I received a review copy of this book months ago, which was part of the reason I was in a hurry to read The Ghost Brigades (and maybe the predecessor book, too; I can’t remember). Like the others, it’s smart, brisk, readable and very likable. At times the bantering dialogue/narration is a little too cutesy, and some touches don’t ring true: the dialogue of the alien characters often sounds too “human” (someone like, say, David Brin is better at alien characterization). Still, the nuts-and-bolts complications of establishing a colony are interesting, and the interstellar brinksmanship is pleasingly complicated. Scalzi doesn’t really push the genre in new directions, but I’d recommend his stuff to someone who doesn’t normally read sci fi, like goudabonbon.
Also: Either there’s something wrong with me, or the book is riddled with editing errors! Some may be judgment calls: I think “switcheroo” is preferable to “switcharoo,” the latter of which the book uses. Most of the mistakes seem to involve missing words or the wrong word: “Babar was the only dog in the colony who was a herding dog; he had the time to make friends.” I think Scalzi meant “NOT a herding dog,” which would make a lot more sense in context. I was struck by how many similar sentences I’d come across.