The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Ghost Brigades
Book Review: Another Solid Performance
Summary: 5 Stars
Jared Dirac is a member of the Colonial Union's Special Forces. Being part of the SF makes him different from regular soldiers. Dirac was created, body and mind, like all SF soldiers, in a lab. But Dirac is different.....
Charles Boutin was a Colonial Union scientist working on some of the CU's most sensitive military research. His job was to study consciousness transfer. Now, shocking all those who knew him, Charles Boutin has faked his death and turned traitor against Humanity.
Jared Dirac is the body in which a recording of Charles Boutin's consciousness is -- unbeknownst to him -- emplaced in an attempt to determine why Boutin turned traitor. Now Dirac has been placed into Jane Sagan's platoon. Sagan knows exactly what Dirac is and must guide him into helping him retrieve the buried memories of Dirac's "mental clone"...even if it means that Dirac doesn't survive the process.
The Ghost Brigades is a solid, though marginally less stellar, sequel to Scalzi's Old Man's War. The idea of experimenting with the potential consequences of consciousness transfer is an interesting one and directly ties into Scalzi's apparent theme for the series: will and self-determination for soldiers who are trained -- or in this case designed -- to follow orders without fail. Scalzi's marvelous extrapolations of this theme (what would happen if someone had the mind of a traitor downloaded into their brain?) make up for a few points where the story seemed to drag a bit.
Along with all of the heavy -- but reasonably well-disguised -- philosophizing, The Ghost Brigades paints an interesting picture of what the future of warfare might be: nanotechnological applications (including orbital entry suits), supercomputers installed directly into the brain interconnecting all members of the squad to maximize performance on the battlefield, and a bunch of nifty weaponry all serve to make this tale a thoroughly engaging one. Ultimately, The Ghost Brigades falls slightly short of the extremely enthusiastic five stars of its predecessor, but is nonetheless highly recommended.
Book Review: Another gem by John Scalzi
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're a fan of "Old Man's War" and Scalzi's style of writing then you will love "Ghost Brigades." While it only contains references to the character John Perry, it does give us a lot more insight into the mind and thoughts of Jane Sagan. Great read; can't wait until "The Last Colony" comes out in soft cover.Book Review: Another outstanding spacefaring sci-fi book
Summary: 5 Stars
Real life begins in adulthood, so why not skip all of that childhood hassle? This was another Scalzi book that I just could not put down.Book Review: Another winner from Scalzi
Summary: 4 Stars
Like I wrote of "Old Mans War" he premise is fantastic, the writing style is reminiscent if later Heinlein (think Lazarus Long) and the aliens well thought out. The universe is not a friendly place, and man is on the bottom. We're everything from food to the galactic morons. And very often dead.
If you're a fan of military SciFi, you'll really enjoy this series. I'm a fan of Hammer's Slammers, the Lt. Leary series, Honor Harrington, and of course RAH. If that's your taste in SF, do yourself a favor - read this series!
This is a sequel. Kind of. It stands alone just fine, and only a few lines of text allude to the previous book. I think that "Old Mans War" was a little better, more action packed.
Book Review: Are these reviewers all insane???
Summary: 2 Stars
Please read a few books by the following authors:
Iain M. Banks, Charles Stross, William Gibson, John C. Wright, Richard Morgan, Neal Asher, Ken MacLeod.
Or just read one book by one of the above authors. Now read Ghost Brigade.
Notice a difference?
Scalzi has to tell rather than show. His characterization is shallow. His technological ideas would have been novel ten years ago. The pacing drags.
Here's an example: At one point he writes that the soldier's guns are linked to their specific brain implants. He then writes that that's so "their guns can't be used against them by anyone else". Really?!! Thanks for making that clear, because I wouldn't have picked up on it otherwise. The writing follows this painful pattern throughout.
This would be a great book for a seventh or eigth grader wanting to read their "first" sci fi novel, but is it really "top notch"? If you want some great sci fi, skip this and read any of the authors listed above.