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.

Love all of Old Man’s War series

John Scalzi - master of entertaining storytelling. Laugh and cry for great characters. Great plot devices and development and so many angles and perspectives of different characters, same space and time. It’s fantastic. The Human Division format was a test and a successful one in terms of serialized release. I am so so hoping that Old Mans War ends up a movie/serial/TV show(s) that JS makes sure lives up to the quality it deserves.

Best entry in series since first book

Good characters, good plot and lots of laughs make this the best entry in the “Old Man’s War” series since the book that gave the series its title. The main character, Harry Wilson, bears what I think of as the typical Scalzi acerbic wit and ability to creatively solve just about any challenge thrown at him. I lost count of the number of times I laughed out loud while listening to this on Audible. I tried bookmarking some of the places that made me laugh, like this part, where Wilson is telling an ambassador that something has gone horribly wrong:

“Humped the bunk … Screwed the pooch … Gone fubar… insert your own metaphor for things going sideways here.”

But somehow all by itself it’s not quite as funny as when heard as part of the flow of the story. The banter is fast and furious, and nearly all the characters talk like they are delivering one-liners from a sitcom, but somehow it works. I lay a LOT of the credit for that with the narrator of the audio version, William Dufris.

This book was definitely meant to be heard, not read. Eschewing his usual narrator of choice (Wil Wheaton) for Dufris was a good move. Dufris does a better job than Wheaton of giving the characters different voices, even though they are all dishing out one-liners at breakneck speed.

A good example is the story of the kingsflower plant. This is a huge, Venus flytrap-type plant that eats an ambassador’s dog. So naturally, our hero has to get swallowed by the plant in order to retrieve said dog. The laconic voice used by the narrator for the character of the gardener (“Don’t be alarmed when the plant starts cutting off the circulation to your extremities, it’s a perfectly normal part of the process,”) was the defining reason this section was laugh-out-loud funny.

It is definitely worth it to stick around after the main story has wrapped up to listen to two additional short stories set in the same universe. I enjoyed both “After the Coup” and “Hafte Sorvalh Eats a Churro and Speaks to the Youth of Today.”

After reading some of the other reviews here on Goodreads, I now realize that this was originally released as a serialized novel via Audible and that a sequel(s) are forthcoming. As long as Scalzi is writing and Dufris is reading, I will be listening.

New Series

What did you love best about The Human Division?

This book expanded on the stories from old mans war series

What does William Dufris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Good Characterization of the voices

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Looking forward to the next book

Not at the level of its predicessors, but...

Mr. Scalzi set the bar high in his previous books.

Saying that it is not as good as they are does not mean that it is not a good book. I found it to be entertaining.

This book seems to open the door to a myriad of possibilities, and I am waiting with excitement to continue the saga.

Decided on five stars

This book is really a collection of inter-twined short stories. Scalzi does a great job with his characters and there are some funny moments, and I really like the universe and science that he's created. Something just didn't sit well with me after listening and I was going to give it less than five stars, then I realized the reason was because I was left wanting more.

like a tv show in your mind

This book is fantastic. Seriously got me hooked. I would payto see this on T.v.

repeated phrases got over used.

The plot and story was great the only problem I had was the constant use of "he said" / "She said" / "such and such said". It was as if the author wanted us to be like a spectator instead of being one main character. It however got annoying at the end. I would say keep in mind that it can be an eye opener about what is to come. :) I am hoping the next book is not like this one. :)

Great Compilation

This is a compilation of all the B-team stories. This adds even more depth to Scalzi's Old Man's War universe and leaves you salivating for more. Extremely well done.

The Best "Old Man's War" Audio book yet!!!

The Human Division covers a lot of space and offers a great deal of entertainment, providing many characters, both old (prior) and new, several plots and sub-plots move us along in the human and non-human universes. I can truthfully say that, thus far, this book is the best book yet in this series of the Old Man's War. However, this may change, as I'm just about to start the next book in the series! I can truthfully say that John Scalzi's writing has improved, in many ways, with each book that he writes. The narrator, William Dufris, sounds like an old friend by now, as he has narrated most of this series of books, and he is good, using his talents to easily bring life and understanding in a very natural way to the characters of these books. I can truthfully say that these audio books would not be as enjoyable were it not for his talented portrayals of so many of the different characters in these books!

Terrific book. Terrific performance.

So far, I have NEVER been disappointed by a book from this series. Bravo! I have recommended this to many of my friends. 5 out of 5 Stars. Can't wait to read the next one.