The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Ghost Brigades
Book Review: Not Ted Chiang
Summary: 2 Stars
While it was moderately entertaining his description of consciousness was ultimately so bothersome that it ruined the book.Book Review: Not as good as Old Man's War
Summary: 3 Stars
Other than names, no specifics (i.e., spoilers) are given in this review. Incidentally, I do not consider 3 stars to be a "bad" review--the book is okay. It is fine as a bridge between Old Man's War (O.M.W.) and the Last Colony [anyone else find that title to be a bit of a spoiler?].
Make sure you read OMW first. It comes first sequentially, but is also a much better book. While Ghost Brigades uses the same recipe as the first book, it uses inferior ingredients in cooking up a similar piece of fiction.
The protagonist from OMW (John Perry) is missing from this book. The other characters from OMW that DO appear in the sequel are flat. Jane Sagan, who should have a great deal more depth and empathy than anyone else in the Special Forces, is completely superfluous to the story [anyone could have replaced her as the SF commander]. She is not developed one iota from the first book, and appears to have actually flattened in the interim.
Harry Wilson returns in what could have been a great supporting role, but is made completely unnecessary by a scientist called Cainen.
The "mystery" inherent to the story suffers from at least one major plot-hole: no one ever reads the suspect's personnel file. The characters involved ALL have the highest level of clearances, including two generals, one colonel, and a military intelligence officer (Sagan), among others. They live in a world in which the internet more-or-less exists inside everyone's head. Files can be downloaded and read almost instantaneously. While trying to deduce the villain's motivations, it simply never occurs to them to access his file.
The mystery also suffers from other common problems: part I of the big reveal is obvious to everyone but the characters in the book, and part II is based on facts not given to the reader at any point in the story.
But all is not lost: the protagonist's (Jared Dirac's) development is fairly engaging. The concept for the story which drives the action is excellent (but only mediocre execution). The action sequences, though sparse, are generally well-written and exciting. If you are a reader anxious to revisit OMW's universe [but not its characters], you will get your wish. This book gives quite a lot of secondary information to understanding past and current events of the Colonial Union, as well as some technological explanations for the science-minded. [I'm not saying they are good explanations--I'm no scientist--but they are there.]
Book Review: Not as refreshing as the first.
Summary: 3 Stars
Old Man's War was more entertaining, with a mix of serious and light moments. This one is all business, and much darker. It was not as enjoyable, although it was still interesting. Now a SPOILER ALERT....
Near the end when Boutin transfers consciousness into Dirac's body, thereby taking control of the BrainPal, I had a hard time understanding something. Boutin notices immediately that there is a message for him from Dirac, via the BrainPal. Boutin, the amazing genius on consciousness, who was able to figure out a weakness in the BrainPal network, notices a message from Dirac, who he just in effect destroyed, and who he knew opposed his efforts. What does Boutin do? Without hesitation he accesses the message, thereby activating a virus-type program installed by Dirac. Huh?? Boutin never considers the possibility of a virus? He displays ingenuity in the story to that point, so what happened? It was a let-down moment for the story, and a glaring one for me.
Book Review: Not without weaknesses, but an entertaining read
Summary: 4 Stars
***1/2
Scalzi's science fiction world is a bit derivative, but this and Old Man's War are entertaining reads that contain enough moral dilemmas to be interesting, but don't take themselves too seriously. Picture a more tongue-in-cheek version of Starship Troopers or Ender's Game.
Scalzi's special forces soldiers, born into adult bodies with preprogrammed, networked minds, are intriguing characters, and the scenes in which Scalzi examines their childlike personalities are both humorous and surprisingly touching. Other times, the story devolves into a straight shoot-em-up with cliched dialogue and inane science, but the author does use plot effectively and got me involved in the characters enough to keep turning the pages.
Book Review: Okay Second Book
Summary: 3 Stars
Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
This book is the second in the universe Scalzi introduced readers to in Old Man's War. While not really a sequel, readers are able to reconnect with major characters from Old Man's War like Sagan and Wilson, albeit in minor ways. Ghost Brigades follows the life of Jared Dirac, a Special Forces soldier in the CDF. The gist of the novel is: Three alien species unite with the help of a traitorous human scientist to destroy the CDF. Dirac, implanted with the memories of the scientist, is created to help thwart the plan but, as usual, there are some problems and he may not have the information in his store of the scientist's memories to save the CDF.
While this was a good story, it was nowhere near as engaging as Old Man's War. Yes, I am aware that they are two different stories about two different things, but the comparison is inevitable. I found the character development very well done, and the reader is given occasional glimpses of the wit that made Old Man's War such a charmer, but in the end it falls short of being a crowd-pleaser on par with its predecessor.
Scalzi uses this book as an opportunity to tell more about the workings of CDF technology, particularly the Brain Pal, which was okay but there was not enough of anything new in this book to keep curiosity and interest piqued. Dirac, while a likeable enough character, did not have the deep character interaction and conflicts needed to incite reader emotions.
Overall, this is a good book and, if you like the universe from the first book, I would recommend reading this one.