What is the author's tone in The Last Days of Socrates by Plato?

The author's tone is mixed, depending upon whether the reader is working with the introductions, notes or the dialogs themselves. The works written by the editor-scholars are mainly for instruction. They provide readers with supplemental information that can be helpful for those who take a strong interest in what they are reading.

The tone of the dialogs themselves are conversational. The emotional tenor of each varies in accordance with the topic at hand within the dialog itself. It is mainly in this respect that the characters become known: through their ideas and their reactions to certain suggestions that Socrates or some other thinker puts forth.

The focus is on information but within the Socratic dialogs there is typically a personal and emotional element. Perhaps the author Plato was simply showing that these dialogs occurred as part of the philosopher's personal life. As such, none of them have the quality of cold objectivity that readers of today might closely associate with professionalism.