The End of All Things (book)
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| Author | John Scalzi |
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| Cover artist | John Harris |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Old Man's War series |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
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Publication date
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2015 |
| Media type | Digital (E-book) Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 432 pp |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | The Human Division |
The End of All Things is the sixth book by John Scalzi set in the Old Man's War universe.
The e-book was published serially at e-book retailers between 9–30 June 2015 as novella-length episodes. The episode titles with the release dates are:
On August 11, 2015, all of episodes were collected into a novel and a full-length audiobook was released. On June 16, 2016, the paperback version of the novel was released.
The two major human governments, of the Earth and the Colonial Union, have parted ways after the destruction of Earth Station, and both have a poor relationship with the Conclave, a coalition of alien governments. Now the Colonial Union is running out of troops in the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF) without a new source of humans from Earth which would result in the human colonies being vulnerable to the alien species who have been waiting for the first sign of weakness, to drive humanity to ruin. And there is a group lurking in the shadows called the Equilibrium, which is intent on destroying both the Colonial Union and the Conclave. CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson and the "B-Team" Colonial Union diplomats race against the clock to discover who is behind attacks on the Union and the alien races' Conclave, to seek peace with a suspicious, angry Earth, and keep humanity's Colonial Union intact, or else risk an extinction of the human race.
The first novella tells the story of its narrator Rafe Daquin, a software-engineer-turned-pilot who is part of the crew of a captured merchant vessel. The capture of the vessel at the hands of the Rraey, an alien species, turns out to be instigated by Colonial Union Deputy Secretary of State, Tyson Ocampo, who was on board the vessel ostensibly for a private vacation. Daquin, taken hostage by the Rraey while the rest of the crew is left to die, is subjected to a procedure that leaves him disembodied as a "brain in a box", with no option but to do the bidding of his as-yet-unknown captor. While being made to conduct piloting simulations by his captor, known only as Control, Daquin's software expertise allows him to discover a backdoor into the simulation where he is confined, and eventually he builds a shell around the simulation that is controlled by him. He requests a meeting with Ocampo; when this is granted he covertly copies all the files he can find on Ocampo's PDA which allows him to learn of the existence of an alliance of humans and alien species named the Equilibrium which is responsible for several actions against the Colonial Union and the Conclave including the destruction of Earth Station. Daquin then tricks Ocampo into visiting his vessel to bid farewell before he is sent on a kamikaze mission; he manages to escape his captors' control and render Ocampo unto the Colonial Union to be held accountable. The Colonial Union offers him a new body and asks him to represent them as a credible source while his body is being grown; he agrees to this request.
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