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)

Not as good as the first book.

I liked it, but I was disapointed that it was very predictable and was not as amusing as the first book.

Excellent

A thoughtful, violent, peaceful..contradiction that works well. Narration is excellent, storyline in this series compelling. Looking forward to my next credits.

Yes! A home run sequel.

I enjoyed every minute of the book just as much as The Old Man’s War. The narration is equally top notch and captures the intent perfectly...like having my BrainPal read to me😉

Great follow up to Old Man's War

Really good sci-fi. Just loved the whole premise of the story, how the soldiers came to be, and all of it. Exciting missions too. Very good. He's my new SCI-FI-FAV author.

So worth the read

A little more technical than the first book, or necessary, but still a great story.

Great sequel

Although this story isn’t about Jon Perry. It has Jane in it on a very important special forces mission. You get an inside look at the mysterious special forces you meet in the original. And a look at one soldier from the very beginning. If you liked the first book I can’t see why you wouldn’t like the second. It’s kind of crazy how we will have something like the Brain pal in the future. Enjoy

Great narrator and great second story

Thoughtful in depth tale of the races, planets and interwoven plot.
Developed characters. Interesting. Enough action but not too much. An intelligent story.
Will read the next one as well.

Good overall

The first book was better. Jared and Sagan are good characters; the antagonist is a yawn. Not a whole lot that's new here, except a bit more detail about the GB. Story is a bit predictable, and characters are very much caricatures of standard military archetypes. Narration is good. Still I'm a Scalzi fan and this was passable.

A great read

Another hit by Scalzi. Good characters and well narrated by Dufris. I'm continuing with the series.

Good Follow-up to First Book In Series

As I stated in the title, this book is the follow-up to the first book in this series, "Old Man's War." While this second book can be read in order, it stands independent and can be read (or listened) in any order desired, as it is both independent and entertaining! If you read (or listened) to the first book, "Old Man's War," this book might make a wee bit more sense in small ways, but all the books in this series are enjoyable, captivating, and the books in this series will meld together regardless of order enjoyed! Now excuse me, I have to start the next book in the series!