The End of All Things

by John Scalzi

384 pages

English language

Published Aug. 11, 2015 by Tor Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-7653-7607-7

(98 reviews)

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 …

3 editions

mikerickson reviewed The End of All Things by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War #6)

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4 stars

Historically I haven't been a big reader of multi-entry series, something I've been steadily working towards being more open minded about. I guess I'm afraid of committing to a longer story arc that I feel obliged to complete because of the sunk cost fallacy. Around book four I almost bailed on this one, but now that I'm on the other side of it I'm glad I stuck around for this satisfying ending.

This book is structured as four separate novellas that take place sequentially in the same universe but following different characters. And this felt like a great balance between the fun parts of sci-fi (body horror, military grunts with high-tech gadgets, spaceship battles) and the more serious elements of a larger story explaining the "why" of what's happening (political grandstanding, backroom deal-making, and ambassadors out the wazoo). All this without forcing an unnecessary romance or slapstick humor that some …

The climax did feel a touch, well, anticlimactic, but I guess that's more a feature than a bug; by the time the main characters are forced to confront the central antagonizing force, we've seen them become so competent that they are able to - maybe not trivialize, but - outright meet and decisively neutralize the threat. Which was definitely more daring than staging a huge setpiece battle just for its own sake on the author's part.

Finally, I was gonna pat myself on the back for finishing something longer than a trilogy, until I just learned that a seventh book is expected to come out later this year, after a decade-long hiatus! With how this one stuck the landing though, I'm more willing to continue with this setting than I probably would've been a few months ago.

Jakers reviewed The End of All Things by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War #6)

Almost a perfect send-off...

5 stars

Content warning Plot spoilers about some of the things I wished had been answered

OK, I loved it. It opens with probably the best POV/sequence in the series as we meet Rafe (and I won't say anything more there) and follow him up until his escape. Afterward, we get to see the action of the last 3 books finally culminate in a nice diplomatic conclusion for all involved parties...but we still get left with some questions. Maybe they're questions that don't need to be answered, but I had a lot of questions about what the Consu were doing and why that never seemed to culminate.

And that's honestly fine, it's just a place I expected to see them show up and they didn't...but the Consu are nothing if not unpredictable in the universe, and their culture is so dogmatic as to be unknowable, it makes sense. That's about the only thing I really would have changed though: I would have liked for the Consu to have figured into the ending in a more direct way.

Still, this series has been one of the funniest, fastest reads I've had this year. It's a solid recommend from me for the entire set.

Jorge Sanz reviewed The End of All Things by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War #6)

A otra cosa

3 stars

He acabado la saga un poco cansado, con pocas ganas. La última novela me ha aportado poco y si bien hay elementos interesantes, queda lejos de las dos primeras partes.

Kibrika reviewed The End of All Things by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War #6)

Review of 'The End of All Things' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

I caught myself forgetting why we're calling Duck-Queens ship the same as Abumwei's (sorry for spelling of names, I listened to the thing, all right?) and had to think hard to figure out there's no inconsistency. Even during the same book I forget what happens to the characters that are not The World. Yet as it's the end of the series, the first thing I was trying to figure out was "who's story is still open?" Eh. But yeah, the 5th and this book were my favourite ones in the series.

Wetdryvac reviewed The End of All Things by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War #6)

Review of 'The End of All Things' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Somewhat chunkier than The Human Division in terms of sub-story breakdown, and in a way I liked a lot. Easily my favorite in the series so far.

Lord of Candy reviewed The End of All Things by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War #6)

Review of 'The End of All Things' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A bunch of short stories again comprises this volume of Old Man's War / The End of All Things. We get different perspectives on the ever evolving crisis and the minions helping it. We get a fantastic narration of what it's like to be a brain in a box..and it might not be envious, but the guy has fun in retribution.

I've enjoyed this universe a lot. I could easily see it as a TV series or a few movies. All the right pieces are in there. I saw it was under contract a few years ago but I couldn't find what came of it. I think it'd translate well.

Finish the journey you began, see where it goes. I feel I can't say much more or it'd be spoiler city!

cargide reviewed The End of All Things by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War #6)

Review of 'The End of All Things' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Mantengo lo que dije para The Human Division, solo que aquí solo hay 4 partes, y el estado del universo lleva a dejar un poco de lado la diplomacia, pero no demasiado.
Me ha gustado especialmente el primer relato, pero todos están a muy buen nivel.