| Title | : | The Ghost Brigades (Old Mans War, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0765354063 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780765354068 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 343 |
| Publication | : | First published March 1, 2006 |
| Awards | : | Locus Award Best SF Novel (2007), Prometheus Award Best Novel (2007), Seiun Award 星雲賞 Best Translated Long Form (2009) |
The universe is a dangerous place for humanity—and it's about to become far more dangerous. Three races that humans have clashed with before have allied to halt our expansion into space. Their linchpin: the turncoat military scientist Charles Boutin, who knows the CDF’s biggest military secrets. To prevail, the CDF must find out why Boutin did what he did.
Jared Dirac is the only human who can provide answers -- a superhuman hybrid, created from Boutin's DNA, Jared’s brain should be able to access Boutin's electronic memories. But when the memory transplant appears to fail, Jared is given to the Ghost Brigades.
At first, Jared is a perfect soldier, but as Boutin’s memories slowly surface, Jared begins to intuit the reason’s for Boutin’s betrayal. As Jared desperately hunts for his "father," he must also come to grips with his own choices. Time is running out: The alliance is preparing its offensive, and some of them plan worse things than humanity’s mere military defeat…
The Ghost Brigades (Old Mans War, #2) Reviews
-
James Cameron and John Scalzi Share An Awkward Elevator Ride
James Cameron: Could you hit the button for the top floor, please?
John Scalzi: Sure. Say, aren’t you James Cameron?
JC: That’s right. My friends call me King of the World! Ha Ha! Just kidding.
JS: Right.
JC: You look kind of familiar. Have we met?
JS: Met? No. Maybe you recognize me from my author’s photo on my books. I’m John Scalzi.
Long pause
JC: Uh……No, sorry. I don’t think I’ve read your books.
JS: Really? You haven’t read Old Man’s War or The Ghost Brigades?
JC: Uh……Nope.
JS: You should check them out. I think you’d like them. The story revolves around soldiers having their consciousnesses downloaded into genetically enhanced bodies so they can fight wars on distant planets. I use that to bring up questions about the ethics of colonization.
JC: Uh…. Well, that does sound pretty good. I’ll check them out sometime.
JS: Now that I think about it, that sounds kind of similar to your movie Avatar.
JC: Huh.. Yeah, I guess there’s a few minor similarities there.
JS: Of course, my genetically enhanced bodies are green and yours were blue so I guess that makes all the difference, right?
JC: Uh……
JS: You’re sure you never read them? They came out a few years before you filmed Avatar. Probably about the time you were brainstorming ideas for the movie. Maybe even writing the script?
JC: OK, look. I guess it’s possible that I did read your books. Maybe….just maybe… I did and adapted a few of your ideas. You know how it is. Everything you’ve read or seen before gets mashed up in your head and you start combining that stuff with your own story ideas. Sometimes you may end up using a tiny aspect of someone else’s story. Hell, Tarantino has made a whole career out of that.
JS: Oh, so now you think you did read my books?
JC: It’s possible. But even if I.. uh…borrowed an idea or two from you. And I’m not saying I did! But if I accidentally incorporated some stuff of yours into Avatar, I’m sure you see all the differences in it. Like your book didn’t have flying mountains, right? And it wasn’t in hi-def 3D, was it?
JS: No, my book was not in written in hi-def 3D.
JC: There you go. Besides, other than whole idea of downloading people into genetically enhanced bodies, my overall story was about a man realizing that his own kind were corrupt and that he should join the other side to find peace and happiness. You didn’t have anything like that.
JS: True. I think you got that from Dances With Wolves.
JC: That’s right…Hey!
JS: Forget it. I’m not going to sue you or punch you. I just couldn’t help but wonder if maybe you hadn’t read my books and influenced your movie.
JC: Obviously, for legal purposes, I can’t admit anything.
Long pause.
JC: This is the longest elevator ride off my life.
JS: Oh, I never hit the button for your floor. I’ve just been leaning against the Door Closed button.
JC. Oh.
Long pause.
JC: Can I go now, please?
JS: Can I have a job writing your next movie?
JC: Yes.
JS: Pleasure doing business with you, King of the World. -
The mind and consciousness are popular toys on the playground of sci-fi, but hardly anyone satirized their up and downloading, editing, and maddening like Scalzi does.
Always a big topic, now a main idea in the second part of the amazing series of one of the rare really funny sci-fi writers, the simulation of an ego, a self, is in the main focus. Would take a while to list all possible variations in sci fi but let´s simplify and say that the Colonial Defense Force needs each, and if it´s just that tiny, piece of intellect to fight against the critters, slimers, and stoners longing for the delicious human flesh.
Some bad ethics crash course, what about the copies of digital avatars or uploaded personalities, what about armies of clones with one personality. Where is the difference to a completely identical AI built out of the electrical impulses in the wet components or a purely artificial AI that has a conscience? Has a person the right to die? Who should pay for all the infinite powaaaa for all these electricity hungry special devices?
Scalzi delivers, one can read close to any of his books and have a fresh, new perspective on sci-fi tropes, often inspired by the classics of the genre, always satisfying genre prone readers wishes of and hopes for some quick, funny entertainment and spreading the ideas that make the best genre of them all so wonderful and unique in contrast to other reading territories.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph... -
Things I like about John Scalzi’s 2006 novel The Ghost Brigades.
1. It is the second book in the
Old Man's War series, but not really a sequel, more of an expansion from the universe created by Old Man’s War. In this respect, Old Man’s War was more like a prequel, just crafting a setting for what comes later.
2. Green super humans.
3. Scalzi has demonstrated an adept ability to tell a serious story and have fun with it while still not taking himself too seriously, yet at the same time not devolving into absurdity or farcical space opera. The Ghost Brigades reveals this talent perhaps better than any other of his books.
4. The Special Forces naming protocol is a random first name and then a last name of a scientist. Supposedly random, but is it?
5. This is a cool science fiction novel that has elements of murder mystery and James Bond.
6. There is a mad scientist who turns traitor and likes to monologue his plans to our hero.
7. Brainpals.
8. Eight, eight I forget what eight was for but
9. The Consu, by far the most advanced alien race and they engage in cultural redistribution on a galactic scale.
10. Consciousness transfer, somewhere Poul Anderson is grinning.
Things I did not love about John Scalzi’s 2006 novel The Ghost Brigades.
1. Another damn sequel.
2. Maybe too much narrative and dialogue and not enough storyline.
3. Scalzi fails, maybe does not even try to channel Robert A. Heinlein, a pleasing element of Old Man’s War.
4. the ending
5. really not much more, Scalzi is on to something pretty cool here and yes, God help me, I will likely read the next one, “I get away and he keeps pulling me back in!”
End on a high note:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
-
overall this is a fun, fast-paced, and competently written novel. after finishing this book, I immediately wanted to read more - a good sign! and it is a thoughtful novel - I really liked how it carefully and quietly lays down small but important plot points that are clearly going to be even more important as this space opera continues. in general, I like Scalzi's minor note approach to his world and it is well-matched with prose that is clear and straightforward yet sympathetic and often resonant.
the central protagonist was quite well-done. I really liked his childlike outlook. perfectly accomplished characterization.
but why so shy about actually describing aliens' physical appearances? I wonder if it is even shyness and more about wanting that identification and empathy that was so successfully accomplished in that tricky-clever first chapter. still, it is more than a little frustrating.
spoilers follow
I think the problem I ranted about below is, well, a genuine problem. and a big one. still, I will give Scalzi credit: that crushing scene is certainly a point being made, one that is highly important to characterization and the overall commentary on questioning authority. and in some ways it sets up an intriguing parallel narrative to the villain's story. it is not just a random atrocity and that becomes crystal clear. but if you are going to use such an atrocity to prove a point, be a better writer first because it still came across as distinctly unnecessary and even a little cheap in its brutality.
so overall: I had my issues, but this is a good book. I liked it and will read more of this absorbing series.
____________
YE OLDE PLACEHOLDER REVIEW/EXTENDED RANT
WHAT THE FUCK, SCALZI?
seriously, I can't handle this shit. maybe I'm weak. but a scene halfway through the book where our sympathetic, likeable heroes kidnap and then brutally sterilize a terrified, crying baby, get a video connection to her horrified, crying mother, and then blackmail that mother into allowing the brutal execution of her child - which they then proceed to do. seriously?Jared unsheathed his combat knife and approached the thing that Sarah Pauling had died for. She was strapped to a gurney and she wriggled and cried for her mother, and she would die alone and frightened, and far away from anyone that ever loved her.
for real? and that's only a small excerpt of this scene. is it supposed to be less repulsive because they are aliens?
I think I might have been able to handle this in other circumstances, if it came in another sort of story - although honestly it hits me right in my perhaps one tender spot, the one that can't deal with graphic depictions of child abuse. maybe if it came in a book about American misadventures in Vietnam. or The Black Company in space. or The Silver Devil Part 2. or a post-apocalyptic cannibal comic written by Garth Ennis. I could perhaps have handled it then. but this scene is in the middle of a light, fast-paced, exceedingly fun, Heinlein-esque adventure novel. it was like reading a cute story of two teenagers in love and then all of a sudden the boy and some of his friends find some girl and rape her to death. this repulsive scene took me entirely out of the novel and my only reactions are anger and disgust. am I ever supposed to be sympathetic to these characters again? that's impossible. I want them all to die.
not that I don't think there's intentionality behind it all. the opening chapter - where the reader is placed within a very sympathetic perspective but does not realize until the end of the chapter that this perspective is that of a villainous, genocidal alien - is a perfectly executed sleight of hand that accomplishes its goals of creating empathy and the understanding that other things can have 'consciousness' just like humans. the author is no dummy and I appreciate his goals. but The Ghost Brigades is written and functions as a certain kind of light entertainment, albeit one with some thoughtful, carefully considered moral/ethical questions. that scene does not belong. if I go on a date with someone, I'm happy to be surprised but I don't think being punched in the balls is an appropriate surprise. if someone did that to me on a date, someone's going to get hit back. if Scalzi were in front of me, reading this book to me, someone would be hit back.
still, I admire the author and I should probably continue reading. but I need some time to forget my nausea and fury. -
"Las Brigadas Fantasma" son las Fuerzas Especiales de las Fuerzas de Defensa Coloniales; son tropas de élite creadas a partir del ADN de los muertos y transformadas en soldados perfectos para las operaciones más duras.
Son jóvenes, son rápidos y fuertes careciendo de escrúpulos humanos.
El universo es un lugar muy peligroso para la humanidad y está a punto de serlo mucho más, ya que tres razas alienígenas se han aliado contra los humanos. Cuentan con un importante aliado: el científico militar Charles Boutin, que ha traicionado a la humanidad y ha desvelado los mayores secretos de las FDC.
Para vencer, las FDC deberán averiguar qué ha llevado a Boutin a cometer semejante acto. La clave para resolver este enigma se llama Jared Dirac; un híbrido superhumano, creado a partir del ADN de Boutin y cuyo cerebro contiene la memoria del traidor.
Pero el trasplante de memoria falla y Pared es trasladado a las Brigadas Fantasma...
Allí se convierte en un soldado perfecto, hasta que los recuerdos comienzan a manifestarse. Emprenderá entonces una búsqueda desesperada de su "padre" para obtener respuestas, pero el tiempo corre en su contra. La alianza está preparando su ofensiva y planean cosas peores que la mera derrota militar de la humanidad.
Dudando estuve entre las 4 o 5 estrellas, pensando en frío y mirando el anterior que se llevó las 5 estrellas este baja un poquito. Dejémoslo en un 4,5.
La secuela de "La Vieja Guardia" combina muy bien una acción trepidante y épica con una aguda mirada a las cuestiones morales en torno al desarrollo tecnológico. Scalzi dejó claro que tiene un afinado sentido del equilibrio entre el drama personal y la acción.
Altamente recomendable. Es Scalzi, leñe. Esto significa (para los pobres insensatos que no lo hayáis leído todavía, ya os vale..) palomitas, con sublimes toques especiados de fascinación por una trama de mucho enganche y sonrisas.
Secuela algo más profunda de lo que fue la vieja guardia. Las Brigadas son las fuerzas especiales de la tierra y son humanos genéticamente modificados en el espacio que luchan en el frente de batalla de la competencia marcial de múltiples especies para colonizar tantos planetas como sea posible.
Nuestros guerreros verdes, sí, leéis bien, llegan a ser de color verde debido a su composición genética mejorada. Son creados y crecidos en el momento en que se implanta una conciencia en ellos, son niños en cuerpos de adultos.
Para sortear estos problemas, crearon un ordenador inmensamente potente, compacto, semiorgánico, plenamente integrado con el cerebro humano, que en el momento de su bautismo recibió a la ligera el nombre profundamente inadecuado de CerebroAmigo.
Para un cerebro que contuviera toda una vida de conocimiento y experienda, el CerebroAmigo ofrece una ayuda clave en habilidad mental y almacenamiento de memoria.
Integrado sintéticamente en sus cerebros y sistemas nerviosos, cuyo propósito es acelerar el desarrollo, aprendizaje, comprensión con los demás de las Fuerzas Especiales.
Scalzi también introduce un humor bienvenido en sus novelas. Se agradece. Esto es ciencia ficción militar, por lo que las cosas también se ponen bastante serias.
El libro toca muchos temas éticos y no pocos enigmas humanos. Nos enfrentamos a la pregunta de qué es ser humano, o dónde comienza o termina nuestra libertad de elección.
Otra bastante interesante qué te hace ser quien eres. O si con la manipulación genética dejas de ser considerado Humano. Algo que toca de cerca.
La oscura sombra de la guerra ocupa un lugar preponderante en este libro, pero representa una pequeña parte del contenido. El primer tercio del libro amplía enormemente el marco conceptual del libro anterior y la trama en sí.
Toca muchos temas, momentos teñidos de algo de humor y otros de seriedad. Con acción pero sobretodo reflexión.
Comparándolo con el anterior este toca temas más filosóficos y profundos. No está enfocado únicamente en lo militar como el primero, pero tiene su dosis. Se lee del tirón.
"La Vieja Guardia" ocupa un lugar muy especial para mí, este en varios aspectos podríamos decir que la saga ha despegado y dudo que baje. Realismo en un autor que no falla. -
“They can run all the tests they want; nothing will show anything but evidence of a natural catastrophe. Because that's what it was.
It just had a little help."
I don’t know whether it was because I was more focused this time, but I believe I enjoyed Ghost Brigades a bit more than
Old Man's War. Scalzi is extremely popular, and rightly so. His military Science Fiction stories are tautly plotted and fairly lean, which means you can read them quickly. Yet, they also deal with interesting concepts and there is some good solid science involved.
Scalzi also introduces some welcome humour into his novels. I couldn’t help but crack the odd smile. That said, this is Military Sci-Fi so things can get pretty serious too…
Limbs in various states of processing lay stacked on tables. On a separate table lay a collection of heads, skulls sawed open to extract the brains. Discarded heads rested in another barrel next to the table.
I don’t want to go into plot details too much, other than to say that the ghost brigades of the title are the Special Forces of the Colonial Defence Force (as depicted in Old Man’s War). As opposed to the regular military, these soldiers take the war behind enemy lines. Expect lots of secrecy and ops so black your fingers will come off the page dirty.
Fun to read. Also contains an interesting argument about the collective personality, or consciousness, of a culture (species) as opposed to the individual.
Last but not least: some great action sequences.
::I wasn't really thinking about it,:: [he] said. ::I just didn't want to die.::
::Funny how that will make a person creative,::
Recommended - for readers who want to complete their Military Sci-Fi collection. Also:
Old Man's War -
*** 4 ***
"...“When asked about it, Harvey called it his Occam’s razor theory of combat: The simplest way of kicking someone’s ass was usually the correct one.”..."
The Ghost Brigades is the more serious sequel to the mostly parody that The Old Man's War was. The Brigades are the genetically modified Special Forces of the Humans in space, The Colonial Union, who are fighting in the front lines of the multi-species martial competition to colonize as many planets as possible. Our green warriors, yes, we get to be green as part of our enhanced genetic makeup, are created and grown by the time a consciousness is implanted in them they are children in adult bodies. In order to circumvent that, they have small computer called BrainPal, synthetically integrated into their brain and nervous system, which purpose is to accelerate development, learning, understanding and communication with the others of the Special Forces... It sounds cool, until you actually think about it. They are "born" and immediately indoctrinated into the military system, thought that their existence is only to fight and die protecting humanity, and all of that with no real life experiences, no understanding of love or family, no memory of times of peace, quite, and happiness... But even worse when one of those emotionally stunted children, aware of their personhood for less than a year, is settled with the memories of another, from whom they have been created, but are not them? This is what is happening to Jared, created with the consciousness of a man suspected to be a traitor, with the hope that if he could retrieve the memories of his "parent", they could find out more about what he is planning and how much damage he is capable of doing.
"...“Every creature has a survival instinct. It looks like fear but it’s not the same thing. Fear isn’t the desire to avoid death or pain. Fear is rooted in the knowledge that what you recognize as yourself can cease to exist. Fear is existential.”..."
The book touches on many ethical issues and human conundrums, as we are faced time and again with the question of what is it to be Human, where does our freedom of choice begins or ends, is the murder of few justified for the good of many and who has the right to make that choice, is only your brain pattern what makes you who you are, or is it more than that, how much genetic manipulation is too much for a person to stop being considered Human, and so on, and on... As most Science Fiction does, we are asked more to think on it than be given any answers. I think that As long as we are actively looking for the answers, we are a race which has hope. In the moment we give up or start feeling comfortable with where we are and where we are going, we need to start worrying about our souls as a species. Luckily for all of us, we haven't gotten there yet, this series being an example of that. So, I am intrigued by where the author will take us next. 😀
"...“Some planets evolved genetic structures roughly similar to Earth’s, incorporating some if not all the nucleotides involved in terrestrial genetics (perhaps not coincidentally, the intelligent species of these planets have been known to consume humans from time to time;”..."
Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may you always find what you need in the pages of a Good Book! -
”You are a gun with an ego. You’d be better off without the ego.”
The second volume of the “Old Man’s War” series is, in fact, an account of a young man’s war since the soldiers from the Ghost Brigades, the colonial Special Forces, are are basically children in adult bodies. They are fully produced, which means "waking" to life in adult form albeit without any memories and experiences. Imagine are grown-up kids with guns and range of abilities that make you question their humanity.
Our main protagonist is one Jared Dirac, who was created with the “loaded” consciousness of Charles Boutin. Now, Boutin is a former head of consciousness research division, who betrayed humanity and allied himself with the aliens. Heretofore unheard of cooperation of three alien races against humanity and a walking “consciousness bomb” is the main axis of the novel. It is not a simple continuation of the story. You will see some of the old acquaintances, but if you’d hoped to carry on with John Perry, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
Mr Scalzi did a very good job in showing how in spite of being theoretically mature, the Special Forces soldiers retain certain juvenile characteristics. He also managed to grasp their “otherness”, the simultaneous affinity and estrangement with the rest of the humanity; the so-called Realborn, people who are normally born and who have gone through real childhood and adolescence.
This instalment is much darker than its sarcastic predecessor. There were almost none heavy philosophical pondering and tricky existential questions in the previous book. In the first part, everything seemed simple - humanity is fighting for survival in a hostile universe. In the “Ghost Brigades,” we discover there is a false bottom in the story.
Additionally, ethical and moral problems are raised regarding manufacturing human beings. There are questions about the place of man in the universe and those exploring the limits of the individual's identity and the nature of human consciousness (soul) or how far can you improve the human and still consider it “a man”. On the one hand, those are treated superficially and merely repeat concepts and themes that had been already exploited in the genre. The lack of deeper reflection stems from the fact that they are only a tool to used to emphasise and justify the plot. On the other, this lightness means that Ghost Brigades is written in a very pleasant, easy-to-read style without unnecessary overload. Even the scientific issues, which are more numerous this time, are still delivered in a very approachable way (even for an inexperienced sci-fi reader like myself).
All in all, Ghost Brigades offer interesting, though a bit gloomy vision of the universe. We learn more about the world, including details that were previously left out and hidden undercurrents. Additionally, more emphasis has been placed on the character development. Still, it is not surprising that military action remains the strongest point of the book.
Personally, I found the MC less enticing. Sadly, the plot was predictable and I could see where things will go already towards the end of part I. Also, certain world-building conveniences were more irritating; maybe because the novelty factor was not here this time.
Still, I'd say that the mission was accomplished. Well done, Ghost Brigades.
---
Also in the series:
1.
Old Man's War ★★★★★
3.
The Last Colony ★★☆☆☆
4.
Zoe's Tale ★☆☆☆☆
5.
The Human Division ★★☆☆☆ -
Perhaps twice a winter, I enjoy making a big pot of chili, suitable for snowy nights and bone chilling cold. I spend much of the morning slicing, dicing and simmering. Although I follow the same general recipe every time, on occasion it just doesn't turn out as savory. I don't know if I boiled instead of simmered, uncovered instead of covered, or failed to sneak in extra secret spice. All the same ingredients and yet it doesn't quite spark. Still decent, mind you--I wouldn't throw it out--but I also wouldn't enter it in any competitions.
That pretty much sums up
The Ghost Brigades.
Like that second pot of chili, The Ghost Brigades just doesn't quite have the right composition. A fascinating and action oriented start tease the reader into adrenalin surge. Unfortunately, long passages of info-dump quickly take over, and not merely in the guise of mission briefing. While the main character has an intriguing set-up as a decanted member of the Ghost Brigade, he fails to develop much of an identity--even other characters describe him as 'passive.' While that may be the point, it doesn't help the reader establish an emotional connection, so it's a relief to have Jane and Harry from
Old Man's War drop in. I did struggle with what was supposed to an attempt at a more traditional sci-fi exploration of consciousness and soul. Scalzi's handling seemed awkward and unfinished to me, perhaps because Ghost is more like an action book with a sci-fi setting and theme than an exploration of ethical and philosophical issues. (
The Sparrow handled quite similar threads of inter-species encounters and souls with a much better degree of success).
Overall, still a decent read--a filling bowl of soup on a cold night. It'll deserve another attempt. -
Warning: Spoilers for Old Man's War, book one in the Old Man's War sequence.
A secret is discovered and war is looming. Former enemies are allied against the Colonial Union and it's up to the Special Forces, the Ghost Brigades, to stop them. They only take the dirtiest jobs and this is no exception.
The Ghost Brigades deals almost exclusively with the Special Forces who have been nicknamed the Ghost Brigades on account of their entire Forces using the bodies of people who did not enter the military, but for whom a clone body was created, for new consciences.
Two things stand out right away. One, there's no first-person narrative here and two, John Perry (our protagonist from OMW) is nowhere in sight. In fact, he's mentioned in passing about once or twice, but that's it.
Other than that, The Ghost Brigades is a typical Scalzi effort - a fast pace, some witty (and non-witty) banter, and cool concepts that keep the pages turning.
The Ghost Brigades is definitely a step down from Old Man's War. OMW really hit the spot when I read it a number of years ago, the surprise at what these elderly folks were getting themselves into when they signed up for the military at the end of their lives was a great one and the action was non-stop for the rest of the book.
Here, things felt a little more forced, even though I had a good time reading from start to finish. I enjoyed it, but there were a few things that niggled where that didn't happen before. I'll admit it's been a few years (and a few kids) so it could also very much be me.
Some of the banter, as I mentioned above, was also a bit awkward this time instead of remotely funny. There's a part toward the end where they "don't" talk about secretive matters that just made my eyes roll. Too many eye rolls in a book make the stars start shedding.
Although it sounds bad, I really did enjoy The Ghost Brigades and I'm looking forward to The Last Colony. It's fun and exciting and hard to put down even, there were just some parts that put this below OMW even though the rest of the book was on par.
3.5 out of 5 Stars (Recommended!)
-------------------
I wrote this before reading the book because I thought the quote on the back of the book was too good not to make fun of...
I was going through my books, as I'm want to do every now and then (alas, I'm just a kid with his toys), and I came across my copy of The Ghost Brigades, the sequel to Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Sadly, I still have yet to read it, but I couldn't help but laugh at this quote on the back of the book...
Says the Dallas Morning News:
"If Stephen King were to try his hand at science fiction, he'd be lucky to be half as entertaining as John Scalzi."
Wow, where to begin?
First off, "If" Stephen King wrote science fiction? I'm pretty sure I could make a compelling argument that ALL he writes is some type of science fiction, but at least we can agree on The Running Man, The Long Walk, The Dark Tower, THE STAND, even The Tommyknockers and I haven't even touched his short stories. I'm sure plenty have a much stricter definition of science fiction than I do, but even so, something of King's would probably fit.
Wikipedia, bastion of wisdom that it is, literally says, "Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction!, and fantasy." (emphasis and exclamation mark added)
Sadly, if you know anything at all about science fiction, you immediately discern that the Dallas Morning News knows nothing about it. Whoever wrote it went, "well, I know Stephen King writes lots of stuff..." ...and that's about the extent to which this person thought through this comparison.
I'm not quite sure what they're going for either, but I think it's that Scalzi is a pretty hilarious writer and entertaining in a comical way, which Stephen King does not attempt to be at least as far as I've experienced...so that doesn't quite fit either. They're like night and day comparisons here.
I'm also sure that whoever included the quote on the back of the book thought, "well the quote does positively compare the author to Stephen King, so that obligates us to put it on the book."
This reminds me I need to read more Scalzi, but probably not for any possible connection to Stephen King. :) -
“To everyone who thinks writing a sequel should be easy because you've already created the universe: Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! Heh. No.”
Sorry, man. I feel for you, but it doesn't make me give you any sympathy stars.
Why was this book sucky compared to the first one?
We lost our old hero from the last book, John, and it was his wittiness and maturity that made the story way more than just some space war deal. John's humanity made his journey more compelling to read because we could relate to his feelings. (Don't worry, John's not dead. We just had a different person as the hero.)
Our new hero isn't introduced for a very long time and there is a lot of "stuff" going on to lead into it, including so many characters that they get jumbled up. There are all of these army-type people who are having long conversations and it's really hard to differentiate them. Plus, it's boring. I understand why we needed to see how our new hero comes to be, but I it should have been a lot shorter so that we could have a protagonist earlier in the story.
Timing is important.
There is also waaaaaay too much explaining. It's like a long science lecture in a class you don't really need and the info isn't going to be on the test. I don't need 10 pages on human consciousness to prep me for the fact that they put some dude's mind into a clone body. Just do it and I'll deal. And, it was like that with everything. I swear that I expected him to explain pi to me at any moment.
Men: over-complicating everything while still being patronizing fucks since the dawn of time.
There is not much humor compared to the last book, but there were several very sad things. Even though the first book had sad things, the humor kept it from being depressing. I felt down after reading this one. My prozac can do only so much.
But, the biggest let-down was how disappointing the characters were. Although the main guy, Jared, was built in such a way that was no less than amazing, he was the only one. Even Jane from the first book was a one dimensional. The rest of the characters were flat and predictable: military leader dudes, dickwad squad-mate, girl he loves for no reason, evil guy narcissist, philosophical alien.
Sometimes the expected doesn't work out so well.
The only thing I loved about this book was the fact that one of the alien races looked like giant chickens. That saved the story for me.
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In order to catch a traitorous military scientist, Charles Boutin, the Colonial Defense Forces transfer a recording of his consciousness into a new body. Thus, Jared Dirac is born. The transfer apparently didn't take and Dirac joins the CDF's special forces, the Ghost Brigades. When Boutin's personality begins surfacing, Jared's life takes a turn for the worse. Can Jared stop Boutin before the CDF goes to war against three alien armies?
This wasn't exactly what I was expecting from a sequel to Old Man's War but it was a damn good read. Like the first book, it was funny in places. Not only that, Ghost Brigades raises interesting philosophical questions like what it means to have a soul, nature vs. nurture, and what it means to be human. Unlike the first book, there was a lot of action.
I found Jared's innocence to be charming in the first half of the book, surprising since he was trained almost from birth to be a soldier. Sagan grew from her first appearance in Old Man's War. I even kind of understood Boutin's point of view, even though I didn't agree with it.
The writing was as good as it was in Old Man's War, just from a third person point of view instead of the first person. It had a more serious tone but still had its funny moments. I thought the plot was better in this one than in Old Man's War. I wasn't sure The Scalz could come up with a plausible threat for the Ghost Brigades but he more than did just that.
While I didn't like it quite as much as Old Man's War, I'm pretty well convinced The Scalz can do no wrong. -
It is easy to see why John Scalzi’s writing is popular. This is the second book in the series after “Old Man’s War” and I am happy I got to it without too much of a break. In the first book, John Scalzi created a new ecosystem of species, systems, rules etc. This book continues with the same backdrop into a completely new story, and very well at that. I was quite surprised that the main protagonist in Book 1 – John Perry finds no coverage in this one, except for a passing mention.
The universe is a very dangerous place. Each race is bent on acquiring colonies to survive and propagate. The Colonial Defense Forces’ (CDF), goal is to ensure human survival (and expansion). As part of the CDF is a Special Forces squad, including the Ghost Brigades, who are far more endowed (by intent & procedure) than traditional humans. The CDF learns that three alien races have joined forces to plot the downfall of the human race. One human – Charles Boutin, has turned traitor and is helping them. Jane Sagan (the only real link to Book 1) has an important role in stopping this plot, and realizes that it is critical to find Charles Boutin. After much deliberation, they adopt a risky approach to finding Charles Boutin and learning of his plans. This involves Jared Dirac, who is very unique and best endowed to know what Charles Boutin has in mind (cannot expand this without spoilers).
The spectre of warfare looms large through the book, but it in fact accounts for a small portion of the content. The first 1/3rd of the book greatly expands the conceptual framework of the previous book and the plot itself. This book also raises a number of philosophical & ethical questions I found myself asking after reading “Old Man’s War”, including whether the approach CDF adopts is really appropriate. While Jane Sagan’s character provides continuity, and is very likeable, Jared Dirac’s character is fascinating (and also moving). I just wish there had been more character continuity across the series, but each author has his story & style.
If you like (military) science fiction, this is a great series. On to book 3, hopefully quite soon. -
Several years after reading
Old Man's War, I finally decided to give this second book in the series a read. It didn’t have as much humor as the first book (in fact, there’s a fair amount of tragedy and awful behavior in it). But it expands this world in some very interesting ways, and I was impressed by the ethical dilemmas that Scalzi takes up in the pages of this book. -
The Colonial Defense Force is desperate. They've learned that three species are gearing up to fight a war against The Colonial Union. This isn't the most surprising or frightening part. The worst part is there is one human involved, Charles Boutin. Boutin is a genius CDF military scientist who knows all their secrets and who should be dead. The CDF is willing to do whatever it takes to learn why Boutin turned even going to the point of making a clone using something Boutin should've never left behind.
What can I say about The Ghost Brigades? First and foremost to me the overall story is incredibly generic. Now to be fair my father loves science fiction and I watched tons of those shows with him growing up. I watched all of Star Trek The Next Generation, most of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, a ton of Stargate SG-1, some of Stargate Atlantis, and who knows how many other short lived sci-fi series. The point in saying that is that I've seen basically all the space travel sci-fi storylines that exist today and that makes The Ghost Brigades particularly average for me.
The Ghost Brigades brings us back to the Old Man's War universe in the heads of multiple point of view characters of the Special Forces rather than returning to the mind of John Perry. The result is the reader sees and learns all there is to be known about The Ghost Brigade. Unfortunately the human factor and the humor that John Perry brought to Old Man's War is as absent as Perry is in this story. My favorite part of the series so far was Perry as an old man and immediately after he got a new body. Perhaps it's best to admit the space colonization and fighting doesn't really work for me.
The Ghost Brigades is a fitting sequel to the second half of Old Man's War. So if John Perry's time as a CDF soldier was an incredibly fun and exciting read for you then you'll undoubtedly enjoy The Ghost Brigades.
2.5 stars out of 5 -
Second Read 2020 (3.5 stars)
So it turns out that I remembered absolutely nothing about this book except that Jane Sagan was in it. It was entertaining and unchallenging to read, and I enjoyed it, but I can also see why I remembered so little about it.
I didn't miss John Perry at all as he is a bit of a white bread character. I like Jane, but as much as she was in this I still didn't feel like we really got to know her very well as the focus was really on Jared Dirac-another character I had totally forgotten about, which is doubly unfortunate as he is the main character.
I'm left confused because I wonder if I should be giving 4 stars to a book that evaporated from memory so completely since I first read it? 3.5 stars is probably more accurate. Still not sure, but this time I do intend to at least finish the series.
First Read 2013 (4 stars)
Really good. I liked this one more than Old Man's War, which I liked a lot. The story here I thought had a bit more depth. It is old school comfortable science fiction. Yay for that.
I'll definitely read the next instalment. -
Before reading this book, a bunch of people had told me that it wasn't very good, didn't live up to its predecessor, Old Man's War. But while I do agree it's not quite as good as Old Man's War, I liked The Ghost Brigades a great deal more than I was expecting.
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision
here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at
Smorgasbook -
Tan entretenido, interesante y adictivo como el primer libro de la serie.
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This is the second volume of John Scalzi’s
Old Man’s War series. I enjoyed the first book
Old Man's War very much, I even rated it 5 stars on my Goodreads review (adjusted to 4 later). However, I read it in June 2011 and I have just read this second volume three years later. The reason is that since reading that first volume I have read so many books that I like much better and a 5 stars rating seems inaccurate. In all fairness I do not think there is much wrong with
Old Man's War apart from some of the jokes falling flat for me. Scalzi has a good sense of humour and he even makes a good living out of his more humorous sci-fi but in
Old Man's War, and to a lesser extent this book The Ghost Brigades, some of the jokes just sort of short circuit for me. It seems like he tries too hard with the humour sometimes.
That reservation aside though, the Old Man's War series has a great concept and is generally well executed. Every successful sf author seems to have a popular series to call their own. So I guess this series is John Scalzi’s Foundation, Revelation Space, or The Night's Dawn Trilogy (I left out
Dune and
Hyperion as the first volume seems to be more popular as a standalone). In fact, today I just heard that Syfy is developing
Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades into a
TV series (to be called “The Ghost Brigades” apparently).
Discussing John Scalzi’s books can be a little contentious as he has many admirers as well as detractors. His very high profile and incessant self-promotion can be very off-putting, and also his body of work tend to be highly commercial. For examples
Fuzzy Nation and
Redshirts are two bestselling books but I have no intention of reading as one is a “reboot” of
Little Fuzzy and personally I do not want books to be rebooted like movies and TV shows, and the other has a concept which does not appeal to me (Star Trek parody). In all fairness both books are probably very good but I just do not fancy reading them. On the positive side Scalzi’s style is very accessible and
Old Man's War is a book you can generally recommend to anyone who want to start reading sci-fi; unless they are looking for literary or profound sci-fi, which are rather rarities in any case. He once described his works as “gateway drug” into sci-fi literature and that seems fair.
The Ghost Brigades takes place sometime after the events of
Old Man's War, I am not sure how much time has elapsed as this book features almost all new characters, except Jane Sagan. One thing I really like about this book is how Scalzi confounds my expectations by introducing the main protagonist Jared Dirac more than 60 pages into the book, and how his story arc develops in unexpected directions. In this volume Scalzi expands the world building of
Old Man's War and delves into the life of the enigmatic Special Forces (nicknamed The Ghost Brigades). These are soldiers who were never naturally born but are bred in artificial bodies and implanted with consciousness and a built-in computer called “BrainPal” (not one of sci-fi’s best neologisms I don’t think). Unfortunately for our hero Jared Dirac he is implanted with a nefarious man’s consciousness pattern instead of a brand new consciousness like his colleagues, with the mission of tracking down this man and putting a stop to his plan to work with hostile aliens to destroy mankind.
Scalzi has considerable story telling skills and he seems to make an effort to ensure that the readers understand the scifi elements of his story. His prose style is mainly utilitarian but nice and clean. The characters are not particularly complex but they tend to be sympathetic and likable. The humour is hit and miss for me but they are not really an issue in this book, at least he is not trying to elicit laughter every few paragraphs (the awful Sherlock Holmes joke notwithstanding). On the other hand his depiction of human compassion is really quite effective (the feels!). I find The Ghost Brigades to be better written than
Old Man's War but it is a little inferior in that the main concept is no longer new and much of the lengthy Special Forces training section is too similar to the regular soldiers training in the previous book. The sci-fi tech like the Skip Drive is very well explained in pseudo-science terms, and the diversity of sentient alien races is a feast of imagination.
TL;DR: I had a good time reading this book and will probably come back to the series before too long. -
نویسنده نشون داد که فارغ از طنز لطیف و شخصیتهای بکری که در جلد اول حضور داشتن هنوز هم میتونه یک داستان خوب از این دنیای داستانی در بیاره.
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Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this, especially the last 1/3. It's an incredible story, but the writing is just terribly clunky. The secondary characters are all basically the same person, and the exposition between them is way too obvious and unrealistic. It's not delivered in a way that people actually talk to one another. That's my main gripe with it, really. It was also missing the humor that made 'Old Man's War' so much fun.
A big part of the reason I had to give it 3 stars is that this story is so good, that it bothered me that much more seeing it handled so poorly. There is a 5 star book in here, absolutely, but this isn't it. Maybe he'll revisit it in 20 years with a rewrite?
The story itself is much better than that of 'Old Man's War', and it really blows open the setting and gives us a lot more detail about the universe these characters inhabit. It also does a good job of setting up some future conflicts that - I'm assuming - we'll be seeing in the next installments.
All in all, it was a really fun read, and brought up a few really tough moral questions and dilemmas. I think that Scalzi has become a much better writer since this book, because Redshirts (written more recently) blew me away reading it a few months ago. -
Executive Summary: A fun sci-fi space opera. You won't get deep plot, just a fast-paced military story...IN SPACE!
Audio book: This is the second book I've listened to by William Dufris. He's pretty good. He speaks clearly and with good inflections.
You can tell the characters apart. He did seem to use the same voices as from
Cryptonomicon, so I kept thinking of characters from that book. Overall though, I enjoy him as a narrator.
Full Review
Somehow I hadn't heard of
John Scalzi before last year. I remedied that by reading 4 of his books, starting with
Old Man's War with my book club.
He's not the kind of author to appeal to everyone. From what I've read he mostly writes popcorn fiction. The sort of stuff that would make for a good summer action movie.
This book is no different. There isn't some deep plot with twists and turns or a lot of complex characters involved in complex schemes. What you do get is enough plot to keep you interested while the characters go about cracking wise and blowing stuff up.
This isn't so much a sequel to
Old Man's War as it a stand alone novel that takes place in the same universe after the events of that book. There are references back to it, but almost no character overlap or important plot details to remember.
In a way this feels almost like book 1 again because you have the protagonist Jared Dirac going through the training of the Ghost Brigades. That said, there are things you are assumed to know about the universe Mr. Scalzi built in the first book, so it's not like you should skip that book.
We learn a lot more about the universe in this book, especially the Ghost Brigades of course. You're also treated to same humor as the rest of his books, which I always enjoy.
Overall I enjoyed it and plan to continue on with
The Last Colony soon. -
Serinin ilk kitabından daha iyi bence.
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While I didn't love it as much as
Old Man's War, it was still a really good story. It's set in the same world and there is a crossover of a character or two, but it's very much it's own separate story. That said, you really have to read the first in order to get a grasp on the science background and the ongoing war between species.
The CDF has discovered they had a traitor in their midst but he has escaped and instigated an alliance between three different species with the outcome being they team up against humans. For some reason, this traitor scanned his brain and left it in a type of buffer. The CDF whipped up a new soldier to see if they could load the brain scan and hopefully find out what the traitor's intentions were. This new soldier is Jared Dirac and he is the central character of the Ghost Brigades.
As per Old Man's War, Scalzi comes at you hard and heavy with science fiction. And not that bullshit science where you shake your head and think 'Didn't one friend of his tell him how awful this was'. This is the believable kind. The stuff you can picture Michio Kaku trying to explain on a Discovery Channel special. Now that I think about it, maybe Scalzi is writing future science fact - he does look a bit like Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory.
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کتاب دوم مجموعه جنگ پیرمرد مسیری کاملا متفاوت با جلد اول در پیش گرفت.
حتی خط داستانی کاملا از جلد اول جدا شده که هرچند شخصیت هایی از جلد اول توی داستان بودند ولی روایت، روایتی متفاوت بود.
در این کتاب بر خلاف کتاب قبلی از شوخی ها و طنز نویسنده جدا شدیم و با بخشی عمیق تر و قابل تامل در مواجه شدیم.
بزرگ بینی انسان، تصمیماتش و اهدافش.
دنیا سازی توی این کتاب بسیار بهتر شد.
درباره چگونگی کارکردن بعضی از سیستم های علمیکتاب بیشتر توضیح داده شد.
اما بریم سراغ خود کتاب و تجربهام موقع خوندنش:
کتاب با اتفاق جالبی شروع شد ولی بعد از ۴۰ صفحه یکم برا غیرقابل تحمل شد و سرعت خوندنم رو آورد پایین، ولی رفته رفته داستان جالب شد مخصوصا ۸۰ صفحه آخر که بنظرم این کندی وسطی که پیش اومده بود رو خوب جبران کرد.
درباره ویلن (شخصیت بد داستان) هم باید بگم شخصیت بسیار جالب و خوبی داشت.
اما خب قشنگترین بخش کتاب مکالمات بین شخصیت ها درباره خلقت و هوشمندی موجودات دیگه بود که بسی لذت بخش بود -
The sequel to
Old Man's War follows the titular Ghost Brigades (including Jane Sagan from OMW) as Scalzi expands his universe and further explores the moral and ethical implications of tube-grown soldiers and a space military that reports only to itself. Once you get past the exasperating info dumps in the first quarter of the book the action scenes are a lot of fun. Like in most Scalzi books, dialogue can be irritating at times depending on your personal preference for snark and your italics-tolerance level. -
I believe that science fiction and fantasy are the most effective way of exploring our own morality. When we see people in an alternate world, it is easier for us to step back and look at the choices they make as a parallel to the choices we make. It forces us to really consider the state of our world, and whether or not changes need to be made for the better. Scalzi has written incredibly real and humane characters, in a plot that is very timely to the world we live in. This book will stay with me for a long time to come. Great read!
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What is important about choice? Is it really important how you choose or is it more important that you have the ability to choose in the first place?
Just now you chose to read my review out of a million other things you could have done, so thank you for that. But it was your freedom of choice that enabled you to choose my review.
Jared Dirac doesn't have that kind of choice. He is a member of the Special Forces, genetically engineered soldiers who's only purpose is to save humanity via black ops work.
When they "awake", they're bodies are already grown-up. Their minds, taken from the dead, are enhanced by BrainPals, interfaces that unfold and simulate consciousness untill the new-born killing machine can create memories of its own.
But Jared is special in another way as well. He carries the mental image of a traitor's brain without knowing it. Will the military's plan work to get to the traitor through him?
The Ghost Brigade is a different book from Old Man's War, the first one in this series. At first I had a lot of problems, cause till we get to Jared we swap between secondary characters for a while and I never really connected with any of them and there is a lot of biological technobabel in the beginning that might be interesting, if you are interested in this field, but for me it ended up more in a headache inducing capacity. Sorry folks, not a scientist, more a philosophy/sociology nerd.
But when we get to Jared we see more of the typical Scalzi humor, his take on the cruelties of war and all the other things we love about this author.
Especially the ending resonated a lot with me and for someone who seldomly gets really emotionally attached to characters I was surprised how touched I was by the developments of the last 15% of the novel.
As this ending is worth 5 stars, but the beginning was more of an off-putting 3 star start, I settle for 4 stars in the end, which represents my enjoyment for most of the novel rather well. But in the end, it's not really important if I choose to give it 4 or 5 stars, it's more important that I'm able to make this choice in the first place. Thank you for reminding me of that, Jared. -
Ako nešto volim, volim kad je knjiga inteligentno pisana. A scalzi je očito svladao tu vještinu. Još mi je bolja od prve, prepuna je easter eggova, sinteze ideja iz različitih klasika SFa, a opet originalna. Puna je iznenađenja, radnja je cijelo vrijeme glatka i logična bez trzavica, i kraj je pomalo neočekivan ali sasvim u skladu s ostatkom. i nije preduga. napokon je netko svatio da knjiga ne mora imati 400 strana. 4.5 zaokruženo na 5
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![[Name Redacted]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1347082397i/287915._UY200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
Weaker than the previous entry, but still fairly readable. Scalzi's work as a film-critic really shows through here, as he relies heavily on sci-fi and military film tropes and cliches to build his story. The perspectives chosen to construct the narrative (third person and close third person) are an unwelcome departure from
Old Man's War's first person, and this results in a slight feeling of disjointedness and a lack of intimacy. Only loosely connected to the previous novel in terms of characters or plot, but it takes place in the same setting and in the aftermath of the climactic battle in the preceding novel. Not the best book, but also not a terrible one; I don't think any book I have reviewed has ever deserved 2 stars so precisely as this. I'll be continuing with the series, but with a little less enthusiasm, and a little more warily.
EDIT: I will say that one of the best parts of this novel was the decision of Scalzi to analyze what spacefaring humans in the future would feel about the genre of science-fiction as we know it today. Because the universe in this series is a hostile, war-torn place where everything poses a threat to the human race, much of what humanity once valued in science fiction has to be discarded -- especially the narratives involving friendly first-contacts and highly-evolved, utopian alien saviors. That was brilliant.
