Zoe’s Tale comes the closest any writer has come to writing an honest-to-God Heinlein juvenile. Scalzi’s Heinlein influence has been made much of before. But here, the fidelity to the aesthetic of those classic books is so tangible you can be excused for wondering if Scalzi has perfected some kind of occult ritual to allow the spirit of the late Grand Master to possess his body.
I have. It involves a buxom redhead who is good with math and guns. More I should not say (but, oh, you can imagine).
And this is kind of neat: a review of ZT at the interestingly named FlamingNet.com, at which actual teenagers review books aimed at them. The 14-year-old who reviewed it gave the book a 10 out of 10. Which, you know, seems positive. And look! I get this ginchy graphic now:
More importantly, given that we’re hoping teens might try out the book, it’s nice that an actual 14-year-old read it and seems to think highly of it.
Now, I’m still hoping adults read it too, mind you. Pretty sure people over the age of 18 will like it as well. One can hope.