The Ghost Brigades

Old Man's War, Book 2

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

John Scalzi's eagerly anticipated sequel to the extraordinary Old Man's War

The Ghost Brigades are the Special Forces of the Colonial Defense Forces, elite troops created from the DNA of the dead and turned into the perfect soldiers for the CDF's toughest operations. They're young, they're fast and strong, and they're totally without normal human qualms.

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…

©2006 John Scalzi (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Solid....[Scalzi] sidesteps most of the cliches of military science fiction, delivers fast-paced scenes of combat and pays attention to the science underpinning his premise." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Possible to enjoy vol2 without reading vol1

An enjoyable second volume in the Old Man's War series - while focusing a different set of principle characters, Scalzi delivers a fun, well plotted, and cohesive narrative that is satisfying.

Great book

Good book, story, and performance.Great way to follow up the first book in the series. I can't wait to get the next.

Good old-fashioned sci-fi with a purpose!

Second book in the series, but stands on its own as a fun and adventurous sci-fi story that dares to comment on modern Western trappings. A worthy read, and an effective, spot-on, and emotional audio reading.

Not as good as Old Mans war...

Old mans war was just Sooo much better. still good though. it gets slow on some points when they try to explain things in mind numbing details.

Great Story, The Reader Not So Much

What made the experience of listening to The Ghost Brigades the most enjoyable?

John Scalzi always seems to write a great and interesting book.

What didn’t you like about William Dufris’s performance?

Ugh, he was just awful at the little girl's voice. It was cloying and irritating, and made me not like the character. I'd be interested to know if I hated her less without this guy's voice attached.

pretty good sequel to old Man's war

I didn't like this as much as old man's war, but like all scalzi work there are great characters and interesting ideas.

Such a fascinating concept and story

I absolutely loved the first book and while this book was not quite as good, it was still worth a listen and a potential re-listen down the road. The characters are all interesting and enjoyable and everything that Scalzi introduces in terms of technological ideas are all very interesting and intriguing. I look forward to continuing the series.

A good story well

A good story well written and performed. Lots of interesting twists. I look forward to the next installment.

Book 2 - Memories and the soul

This was a great book. The story brings up the questions, "what and where is the soul?"

Elegant story telling and well developed characters.

This would absolutely be the cutting edge had I read it upon its original release. Even years later it's timely and the science makes sense. Scalzi does and excellent job balancing out multiple stories and threads weaving them into a truly thought provoking novel. It's politically, theologically, and militarily engaging. Over all.... Excellent, imaginative science fiction that compels you to continue the series. (Although I don't know how he will pivot to his next book... I assume it will be quite interesting)