The Ghost Brigades
by John Scalzi
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Book Reviews of The Ghost Brigades
Book Review: That does it, I am officially envious of Scalzi's talent
Summary: 5 Stars
John Scalzi won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Gee, I wonder why?
While not as fantastic as his debut, Old Man's War, Scalzi still sets the bar high with his followup novel, set in the same universe where mankind has ventured out into a hostile universe populated with hundreds of alien species, and responds with engineering, perserverance, and small feats of bio engineering like the Ghost Brigades.
The Ghost Brigades were introduced briefly in Old Man's War in the form of Jane Sagan, a nine year old with some of the DNA of the lead character's dead wife. The soldiers in the Ghost Brigade are grown, given "BrainPal" computers in their head, and then linked to their squad mates.
Jane Sagan plays a back-up role here. The main plot follows Jared Dirac, a Ghost Brigade soldier who is built to put a presumed dead traitor's consciousness inside his head. It doesn't take at first, so he becomes a member of the Ghost Brigades. It does take later, but to detail more would mean spoiling the story.
Scalzi continues to expand upon the universe of aliens he has created, and to explain the science the humans are using to combat them in clear, logical terms. (Science and fiction, get it?) The humans seem to be beset on all sides by agressive aliens, but which side is really the aggressor?
John gets into some excellent philosophical discussions about choice and right to choose, which is right in line with the "created for a purpose" ghost brigades.
An excellent story, a quick read, a new fav author. On to the third in the series.
Book Review: Superb reading!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is another masterful, if not brilliant, work from someone who is rapidly becoming the standard-bearer of the sci-fi genre. I generally don't take the time to review big-name authors because they already get the attention that lesser and barely known writers crave, but Scalzi's work is certainly worthy of my time. There have been some comments here that it is somehow not as good as `Old Man's War,' but I disagree. Perhaps that is because I'm becoming used to the idea of green-skinned humans, but I think it's not the case. The interwoven and superbly organized plot tells me that this work is a piece worthy of the best literary giants - something that sci-fi writers rarely get credit for.
There are editing mistakes, which for some reason is never brought up when reviewers cover the big publishing houses, but are always quick to point out when POD books are covered. A couple of examples: page 70, line 6 " That's why it feel likes you know things already, because your brain has been prepared to learn it." or page 98, line 2 "No else thought that was funny." There are others, but the point is even the big houses make editing mistakes. My own work is not exempt from such failings, and I shamefully admit it, so I can't be condescending to a big-time publisher for a few minor mistakes. All in all, I would say it was excellently edited. The small mistakes only prove that we are, in the end, only human.
Buy this book! It will be one of those little treasures on your bookcase, to be saved for another reading sometime in the future.
B.W. Philpot
Book Review: Worthy follow-up to a great start
Summary: 4 Stars
Others have done a better job of summarizing the plot of The Ghost Brigades than I can, so rather than focusing on the detail what happens, I'm concerned here with how this book holds up and expands the universe created by Scalzi in Old Man's War. And the answer is: extremely well.
In making the Special Forces, the elite supersoldiers we got a glimpse of in his first novel, the focus of his second, Scalzi begins nothing less than a moral examination of the universe he depicted in Old Man's War as a no-holds-barred free-for-all battle to the finish. Quietly and without overt moralizing, he brings up timely and important issues such as human cloning and eugenics, the nature of consciousness and identity, over-reliance on technology, and the moral responsibility of those who conduct war - all against the backdrop of a story that is part detective mystery and part some of the best military science fiction since "The Forever War."
It's a tribute to Scalzi's writing that The Ghost Brigades never becomes preachy. Although we're shown a universe that's much more morally complex than the one Old Man's War brought to life, the effect is to flesh out and substantiate it rather than weaken, and the journey of literal self-discovery that Jared Dirac, his protagonist, goes through is touching and funny while still being deadly serious.
While The Ghost Brigades is best read in sequence with its predecessor, it's a fine work on its own and, if it's your introduction to the writing of John Scalzi, will most likely be nothing but a spur to read more of him.
Book Review: A pretty good continuation
Summary: 3 Stars
'The Ghost Brigades' is John Scalzi' second installment in his sci-fi trilogy. The story is set in the same future universe that he used in 'Old Man's War'. However, this book provides more detail into the Special Forces group and a plot to destroy the human race.
A plot has been discovered that three enemies are joining forces to eliminate the human race. As part of this plot a leading scientist has faked his death and joined the enemy. The Colonial Defense Force (CDF) has found a copy of the scientist's mind. The CDF inserts this mind into a body of a new special forces soldier in hopes to find out what the scientist was planning to do.
The 'lucky' soldier is named Jared Dirac, and the story follows Jared's training and the opening of the inserted mind and memories. Jared is then the center of the race to find and stop the war to end the human race from happening.
The story is good, and builds off Scalzi' first. There is a little more detail into the special forces and new soldiers being developed. The story drags a little as we follow Jared through training and his first missions. It does pick up a bit once his implanted memories begin to surface. I did not find this book as enjoyable as the first, and was hoping for more details. The book is set up to continue in the third installment in the series.
Book Review: The return of a Ghost
Summary: 5 Stars
Ghost Brigades is John Scalzi's sequel to Old Man's War. And what a sequel it is. Rather than following the main character from Old Man's War (I have to admit that I kept looking for him to come into the act), instead we're introduced to an entirely new character (Jared Dirac) who is a Special Forces human, but rather than being like other Special forces (born to it), he's had a memory overlay from Charles Boutin, a scientist who's a traitor to the Colonial Defense Forces. Why, to hopefully learn why a traitor would do what he'd done.
As with Old Man's War the action is fast and always happening. Jared's character is nicely fleshed out, some 2nd'ary characters are developed, but not as much as I might like. The premise is nicely done, a little on the quick side at points, but nicely done. Interestingly I'm finding myself interested in General Szilard. I don't know if I'd want to play cards with him, but someone who looks after his own! Rating wise, this is a strong 4.5 star book. I've decided to upgrade it to 5 because I'm blown away by how well Ghost Brigades complements Old Man's War and Mr. Scalzi didn't lower his standards for the story. I look forward to reading the next in this series!