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)

great series

I like to listen to this seriesof books occasionally. I is well written by him

Starts slow but comes together in the end.

The Ghost Brigades is the second book in the Old Man’s War series and although it is a relatively stand-alone story the first book provides some necessary background context and I recommend you read it first. In book 1 the main character is CDF soldier John Perry and the Special Forces play a secondary role, but in this book the Special Forces take over the main storyline and there are just a few occasional references to John Perry.

Jane Sagan returns from the first book and provides some continuity for a host of new characters, including Special Forces solider Jared Dirac. The story starts off in a disjointed way as events occur without much explanation as to why they matter, but then it all comes together in the end to set the stage for Jared to make some interesting moral choices. Scalzi reveals a lot more about the various non-human races and gives a glimpse into the galactic politics faced by humanity. As the actions of the CDF on this grand stage are slowly revealed to him, Jared has to sort out the truth from the half-truth and decide if the CDF that created him is good or bad for human-kind. Does he have an obligation to protect humanity as he was bred to do or is he just a disposable slave being used to move forward a hidden CDF agenda?

Although the book can be predictable at times it is still enjoyable science fiction and reveals just enough about the bigger picture to encourage you to move on to the next book in the series which I plan to do. William Dufris does a decent job as narrator even if though he is forced to utter “he said” “she said” a few too many times. If you enjoyed the first book then you can confidently spend a credit to give this one a listen.

Not the best for Reading aloud.

The text is great fun and the narrator does a very good job. My one and only complaint is more about the John Scalzi's style of writing. His repetitive use of "he said", "she said" can very be passed while reading, isn't so easy to ignore when read aloud. It was noticeable the whole way through but only near annoying a few instances.

Classic-Styled Science Fiction

Any additional comments?

First and foremost, this book is not the same style as Old Man's War. That doesn't mean it is bad, though. It is more styled like classical sci-fi. The Ghost Brigades is introspective and deep. It questions what a soul is and what could be next for the humans in space in this particular fictional universe.

So yeah, don't go into this one wanting slapstick or humor. There is some wit and snark worthy of chuckles, but it is largely a serious book.

Perhaps of special note is this book is largely stand alone with only references to the previous one. So you could just as easily start with this book as the other.

So if you would like a more serious sci-fi book that could easily belong on the shelves with the old greats, ignore my star rating and pick this one up. But if you want some laughs, I have some other books I'd recommend first.

The audiobook is wonderful

So I almost didn't get this book, based on what I saw the other reviewers said. I decided to anyway, and couldn't stop listening to it: it's a great story, and the narrator does a good job with it.
Add it to your library, you won't be disappointed!

Beautiful.

While Old Man's War was the love child of Ender's Game and Starship Troopers this novel certainly stands alone as a wonderful examination of humanity. Maybe Speaker for the Dead comes close, but I really think this novel is its own kind of examination of the soul and what makes us... us. Almost got me to cry at the end too.

Fun book!

I really enjoyed the story and performance. On to the last colony! I wonder if the brainPal can access audible?

excellent story

really interesting continuation of the universe with some new and old faces. really stands on its own.

Great book but where's John

In writing this review after listening to the book foe the second time. I don't usually read books more than once but I liked this series so much I'm going through it again. John doesn't make an appearance in this book as it's all about the Colonial Union Special Forces and how they came to be. A fun little twist and as always I very much enjoy the authors sense of humor and the little quips and jokes he throws into his writing.

Great continuation

What did you love best about The Ghost Brigades?

This part of the story gave a good understanding of what the Ghost Brigade was all about and also continue with one of the more explosive character.