The Human Division

Old Man's War, Book 5

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Following the events of The Last Colony, John Scalzi tells the story of the fight to maintain the unity of the human race.

The people of Earth now know that the human Colonial Union has kept them ignorant of the dangerous universe around them. For generations the CU had defended humanity against hostile aliens, deliberately keeping Earth an ignorant backwater and a source of military recruits. Now the CU’s secrets are known to all. Other alien races have come on the scene and formed a new alliance - an alliance against the Colonial Union. And they’ve invited the people of Earth to join them. For a shaken and betrayed Earth, the choice isn't obvious or easy.

Against such possibilities, managing the survival of the Colonial Union won’t be easy, either. It will take diplomatic finesse, political cunning…and a brilliant "B Team", centered on the resourceful Lieutenant Harry Wilson, that can be deployed to deal with the unpredictable and unexpected things the universe throws at you when you’re struggling to preserve the unity of the human race.

©2012 John Scalzi (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Not quite a novel, more than a set of stories

The Human Division is organized as a set of Episodes, each of them involving the B-team, a group of low level diplomats with their side-kick and Colonial Defense Forces (CDF) technical expert Harry Wilson, well known to readers of Scalzi's "Old Man's War" series. The B-team is really an A-team that has been recruited to solve unsolvable problems, but they do not know how well they are regarded by the powers that be. This makes for some fun moments and interesting twists as our diplomatic heroes attempt to keep the Colonial Union out of fights it can't possibly win against a conclave of hundreds of other races determined to keep humanity from spreading through the galaxy as quickly as it would like.

You don't have to have read the previous Harry Wilson books to enjoy this one because the episodes are very self-contained and self-explanatory. Indeed, the one flaw in this collection is the redundancy that comes from assembling stories each of which was written so that it could stand alone. That means that the same background material often gets repeated. You will, however, want to read whatever Scalzi writes next in this universe because the episodes end just as new threats and mysteries are revealed. I can't wait to find out where he takes us.

Reader William Dufris interprets Scalzi's sarcastic and amusing characters exactly as I would have imagined them, so kudos on the performance as well.

A good time listening to this book.

A little disjointed, but iI like this universe. Great job, I couldn't stop listening. I listen while I walk and I set new fitbit records.

A bunch of shorter stories strung together

I still really want to know what happens
next. It was nice to see the world from Harry's POV. Counting the days till my next credits.

4.5 A great collection of stories

I enjoyed this collection of stories and a tour of the colonial unions diplomatic corps. it was a refreshing change from the military heavy stories of the first three books. and the childishness if the fourth. scalzi did well to keep this universe alive and I'm glad he did. The narration was perfect. not a syllable out if place.

Fun follow-up to the old man's war saga

Enjoyable, but it lacked the charm of old man's war. It didn't grab me like OMW did, but it was still a solid story. I can't wait to listen to the next book.

Classic Scalzi, but the story jumps around too much

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This last book in the Old Men's War series is a cliff-hanger with Scalzi's usual, tongue-in-cheek humor as performed brilliantly by Bill Dufris. Unfortunately the plot line jumps around way too much, and its inordinate amount of the pulp was difficult to swallow. I know he's trying to make it more interesting by giving lots of snippets and flashbacks/flashforwards, but I found this device frustrating and confusing. Still, I would recommend.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Human Division?

I liked the action-packed cliff-hanger ending, and am waiting to see what happens in the next book...

What about William Dufris’s performance did you like?

Excellent. He switch-a-roood the voices of a characters during a couple of dialogues, but that is understandable, given the great many characters, the length of the novel, and the fun way Dufris represents them.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reactions, just a happy, entertained snigger every now and then.

Solid series

Great story!! A little sad I am catching up. Switching main characters tends to be a turn off.... But not by thus author. I know and love them by the end of each book.

William Dufris is amazing

I often get books based on my interests but also the narrator. This guy is up there with Victor Bevine and George Guidall.

Great books, as others mentioned a lot of the inbetweens are skippable. I really hate when audible changes a narrator and I will often stop listening to a series when they do. I didn’t listen to Zoe’s tale more for this reason than any other. Though the reviews were awful anyway. The main books in the series are great, this is no exception.

he said

all of the he said she said it said gets really repetitive and annoying. great books just needs a little edit to listen to

could have used a more aggressive edit

in general the story is good. that said some chapters seem to drag on, like the dog king. still a solid book.