The Ghost Brigades (2006)

The second book in a great trilogy that starts with Old Man's War. Scalzi is exceptionally easy to read as his words flow off the page in rapid fire. All three books in this series are balanced reads. ( )

This is the sequel to Old Man’s War and takes place amongst the Colonial Union’s super soldiers, except this time, instead of following the tale of some regular super soldier, we tag along with even more elite special forces, specifically Jared Dirac.

By and large, I enjoyed the book, but there were a few things I didn’t like. Specifically, I felt that the backstory on how Dirac came to be was a little convoluted and required more than one person to be… well, maybe a little dumb. Having said that, though, I liked Dirac. He was a good guy with a very dry sense of humor.

The other thing I didn’t like was the level of non-action exposition the tale required. That’s common in sequels since they need to fill in the backstory of the universe without going to the trouble of discovering it all over again. It’s easy either to skimp on it or to unload the dumptruck. This one fell a little too far on the dumptruck side for my tastes.

The tale took us through some fun combat, some terrible losses, and some interesting existential conundrums. At times, it seemed a bit too philosophical, but the ultimate payoff was worth it, both in terms of plot and character. I won’t say that everyone got what they deserved, but I will say that I was satisfied with what everyone got.

Sorry to be that vague, but this is one of those that isn’t served well by summing it up. I’ll just say that it’s an interesting piece on how your choices and your experiences make you… you. ( )

I debated whether to go with 3 or 4 stars for Ghost Brigades. I did really enjoy it, thought not quite as much as Old Man's War. Early on it feels a bit of a mirror to John Perry's experience in OMW, which was interesting. Once past that, in the middle of the book, I found myself occasionally (very occasionally) skimming paragraphs because I wanted the pacing to move a bit faster. The whole storyline is very intriguing, so I kept going even though I wasn't in love with the middle of the book. Since I did love OMW so much, the ending here was totally worth it and is what made me decide to go with 4 stars. Eager to continue reading more of this series. ( )

I really like John Scalzi's writing. It's not too fancy, no particular bells and whistles, but it's not stilted either. It goes down easy. The Ghost Brigades is set in the same context as Old Man's War, and links up to it in various ways, but the main protagonist is a different one with a whole different bundle of issues. I wasn't surprised that Scalzi decided to write more about the Ghost Brigades, and I was half-expecting it not to link up at all -- which would have been disappointing, really. I'm glad it did link up. I especially like the ending, even if it is a little too convenient, just because things tie up neatly and leave things in a good place. I'm looking forward to reading The Last Colony, and I hope that it's a similar deal in that, too. Judging from the blurb, which I quickly scanned just now, it is.

I was also pleased that there was more done with the transference-of-consciousness thing. It's something I'm seeing a lot of in SF, and it's interesting how differently it's handled. You've got personalities in chips, you've got backed-up bodies with the brain included, etc. I liked the way it was done here, with the new consciousness not 'taking' because of the lack of experiences, and that the whole process resulted in someone subtly different.

I wasn't entirely convinced by the protagonist or the antagonist. The protagonist was necessarily not much of a character in himself, and although I did kind of like him, I didn't really root for him. I think that's what made me stall mid-book, although I picked it up again easily enough. And I'm not sure the antagonist's motives were explored clearly enough. If he'd been introduced earlier, somehow... I also saw the thing with the kid coming a mile off.

One thing I really, really liked as a random small touch was the characterisation of Harvey, near the end. Most of the soldiers just kind of blended into each other for me and then there's this one insane, trigger-happy guy. It made me grin, reading his section.

I think you could read this book as a stand-alone, but I suggest you don't. Start with Old Man's War: it'll help you care more about the world and some of the supporting characters. ( )

As y'all may have learned to expect from [a:John Scalzi|4763|John Scalzi|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1236228326p2/4763.jpg], this sequel to [b:Old Man's War|51964|Old Man's War|John Scalzi|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316728508s/51964.jpg|50700] is quite entertaining. The battle scenes are as good as any in this list: [bc:The Forever War|21611|The Forever War|Joe Haldeman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167322714s/21611.jpg|423] [bc:Starship Troopers|17214|Starship Troopers|Robert A. Heinlein|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1234902570s/17214.jpg|2534973] [bc:Gateway|218427|Gateway|Frederik Pohl|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320431534s/218427.jpg|1668837] [bc:The Mote in God's Eye|100365|The Mote in God's Eye|Larry Niven|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1285109087s/100365.jpg|2190500]. Though there's a bit too much of 'explaining' the technology and the alien cultures for my taste (after several instances, I skimmed over the rest.), I do not consider this as diminishing the overall likeability of the book. The tone is more serious than its predecessor, an improvement IMHO; the funny scene setups can detract from the story flow. I enjoyed the book. It's charm lies, I think, in its easy accessibility, the effortless prose and, perhaps, in not taking itself too seriously. Three and a half stars. ( )