Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths Reviews The Ghost Brigades is book two of the Old Man’s War series. In the first volume, seventy-five-year-old John Perry abandons his life on Earth, joins the Colonial Defense Force, and heads off into space to protect mankind’s far flung colonies. Once there, his consciousness is transferred into a young, superhuman body; he learns that space is a very dangerous place for humans; he rediscovers part of someone very important to him in the form of Jane Sagan; and he becomes an old-fashioned hero before riding off into the sunset. And that is where Brigades picks up the story, except it doesn’t do that, because John Perry doesn’t make an appearance. Instead, Mr. Scalzi takes the story in a whole new direction with a tale about the Special Forces of the CDF: soldiers created from the genetic material of dead people (that is why they are called `Ghosts’, get it?) Without a doubt, the novel begins with a bang, as a team of Ghosts (lead by returning character Jane Sagan) executes a daring raid on an Obin colony world. Once through the defenses, the Special Forces capture a single Rraey scientist, who is later coerced into explaining why he is helping the Eneshan when his people and theirs have been enemies for years. From this alien survivor, the CDF discovers that one of their worst fears is coming true: the Rraey, Eneshan and Obin have formed an alliance to destroy mankind. Not only that but somehow a senior scientist of Military Research, Charles Boutin, is aiding these aliens in their plot – surprising since he has been dead and buried for years!When Harry Wilson (another returning character) discovers a digitized recording of Boutin’s consciousness, the CDF brass hatches a desperate plan: bring the traitorous scientist back to life in a new body. Thereafter, the normal process to make “Ghosts” is used to produce a modified body from Boutin’s DNA and his consciousness is transferred into it. The only problem is that when the new Boutin awakes he has no memories of his former life. With no use for a Boutin in such a condition but deciding he must be watched, Jared Dirac (as the CDF names him) is placed into the Ghost Brigades under the able command of Jane Sagan. Her orders to watch Jared for any sign that his memory is returning and to keep him from turning into another traitor! Through the use of a multi viewpoint narrative, Mr. Scalzi delivers an action-packed sci-fi adventure that has equal doses pulse-pounding combat, interesting history, dramatic mysteries, and complex moral issues like “How can a race be morally correct in destroying another species to save itself?” The Ghosts and Jared Dirac are naturally the stars of the show, but a reader never forgets that there are galaxy-wide issues that are going on that might jeopardize the continued existence of the human race. If there is anything at all to complain about in The Ghost Brigades, it would be Jane Sagan for me. Where in Old Man’s War, we saw her begin to transition past her Ghost demeanor into something more resembling a normal human, here she is very cold and dispassionate, refusing to give Jared any emotional sympathy or empathy until the very end of the novel. While I understand she does not trust the reborn Boutin, her lack of warmth of any kind annoyed me and made her seem like a completely different character than what I was familiar with. All in all, though, this sequel was a great one: building upon the good things from the first novel and adding many more. Sure, it might have wrapped up the story of Charles Boutin, but Brigades sets the stage for some huge events in the novels to come. So unless you hate military science fiction, this one has to be on your “To Be Read” List.
James Cameron and John Scalzi Share An Awkward Elevator RideJames Cameron: Could you hit the button for the top floor, please?John Scalzi: Sure. Say, aren’t you James Cameron?JC: That’s right. My friends call me King of the World! Ha Ha! Just kidding. JS: Right.JC: You look kind of familiar. Have we met?JS: Met? No. Maybe you recognize me from my author’s photo on my books. I’m John Scalzi.Long pauseJC: Uh……No, sorry. I don’t think I’ve read your books.JS: Really? You haven’t read Old Man’s War or The Ghost Brigades?JC: Uh……Nope.JS: You should check them out. I think you’d like them. The story revolves around soldiers having their consciousnesses downloaded into genetically enhanced bodies so they can fight wars on distant planets. I use that to bring up questions about the ethics of colonization.JC: Uh…. Well, that does sound pretty good. I’ll check them out sometime.JS: Now that I think about it, that sounds kind of similar to your movie Avatar.JC: Huh.. Yeah, I guess there’s a few minor similarities there.JS: Of course, my genetically enhanced bodies are green and yours were blue so I guess that makes all the difference, right?JC: Uh……JS: You’re sure you never read them? They came out a few years before you filmed Avatar. Probably about the time you were brainstorming ideas for the movie. Maybe even writing the script?JC: OK, look. I guess it’s possible that I did read your books. Maybe….just maybe… I did and adapted a few of your ideas. You know how it is. Everything you’ve read or seen before gets mashed up in your head and you start combining that stuff with your own story ideas. Sometimes you may end up using a tiny aspect of someone else’s story. Hell, Tarantino has made a whole career out of that.JS: Oh, so now you think you did read my books?JC: It’s possible. But even if I.. uh…borrowed an idea or two from you. And I’m not saying I did! But if I accidentally incorporated some stuff of yours into Avatar, I’m sure you see all the differences in it. Like your book didn’t have flying mountains, right? And it wasn’t in hi-def 3D, was it?JS: No, my book was not in written in hi-def 3D.JC: There you go. Besides, other than whole idea of downloading people into genetically enhanced bodies, my overall story was about a man realizing that his own kind were corrupt and that he should join the other side to find peace and happiness. You didn’t have anything like that.JS: True. I think you got that from Dances With Wolves.JC: That’s right…Hey!JS: Forget it. I’m not going to sue you or punch you. I just couldn’t help but wonder if maybe you hadn’t read my books and influenced your movie.JC: Obviously, for legal purposes, I can’t admit anything.Long pause.JC: This is the longest elevator ride off my life.JS: Oh, I never hit the button for your floor. I’ve just been leaning against the Door Closed button.JC. Oh. Long pause.JC: Can I go now, please?JS: Can I have a job writing your next movie?JC: Yes.JS: Pleasure doing business with you, King of the World.
What do You think about The Ghost Brigades (2007)?
If you're a fan of Scalzi's writing—and his humour—you'll like this book!On the surface, it may seem like a light, easy read, but there are quite a few interesting social commentaries about humans, rationality, purpose, and how we think. And really, what better way to tackle these issues than in an incredibly entertaining story set in an equally fascinating world?My only minor gripe is that there are a lot of info dumps not attached to any particular POV. I guess I've been reading a lot of tight third- or first-person stories lately, but I prefer stories where the only information we get as readers come from the eyes of characters.
—Alex Ristea
Warning: Spoilers for Old Man's War, book one in the Old Man's War sequence.A secret is discovered and war is looming. Former enemies are allied against the Colonial Union and it's up to the Special Forces, the Ghost Brigades, to stop them. They only take the dirtiest jobs and this is no exception.The Ghost Brigades deals almost exclusively with the Special Forces who have been nicknamed the Ghost Brigades on account of their entire Forces using the bodies of people who did not enter the military, but for whom a clone body was created, for new consciences.Two things stand out right away. One, there's no first-person narrative here and two, John Perry (our protagonist from OMW) is nowhere in sight. In fact, he's mentioned in passing about once or twice, but that's it.Other than that, The Ghost Brigades is a typical Scalzi effort - a fast pace, some witty (and non-witty) banter, and cool concepts that keep the pages turning.The Ghost Brigades is definitely a step down from Old Man's War. OMW really hit the spot when I read it a number of years ago, the surprise at what these elderly folks were getting themselves into when they signed up for the military at the end of their lives was a great one and the action was non-stop for the rest of the book.Here, things felt a little more forced, even though I had a good time reading from start to finish. I enjoyed it, but there were a few things that niggled where that didn't happen before. (view spoiler)[For instance when they have the "great" idea to go up in the tree to win the mock battle in training and then use the "go up in a tree" memory to solve a problem later in the book. Big eye roll. (hide spoiler)]
—seak
Once I'd loved Old Man's War, it wasn't going to be long until The Ghost Brigades bubbled to the top of my next-in-series reading list. As a sequel, it lacked a lot of the 'wow' factor of the previous novel – we already know how the CDF works; how the soldiers are 'made'; and that there are a number of alien races out there that just plain don't like us. The one part of the CDF that Scalzi held back on a bit in the previous novel was the special forces, or Ghost Brigades. Created as children in even more heavily modified adult bodies (often based on the genetic material of people who died before they could join the CDF) and, obviously, lots of those details come out in this novel. Sadly, while John Perry doesn't appear in this novel (beyond a brief mention) it instead focuses on the special forces solider, Jane Sagan, introduced in the first novel (created from his dead wife as it turned out).Sagan's unit has been asked to take in a new recruit – a recruit with a difference. Jared Dirac is just like any other special forces soldier: he's the age of a child, but put into the finely tuned body of a CDF soldier. What nobody apart from Sagan knows though is that he's also had the consciousness of a traitor, Charles Boutin, downloaded over his own burgeoning personality. The process doesn't take, but as he's on operations with his unit some memories from that personality start to surface. Will he become a danger to the unit and the CDF, or will his own personality win out...Scalzi serves us a lot more background in how the Ghost Brigades work. Both the technology that allows them to function at a level above the normal CDF soldiers, but also an insight into the very grey ethics that goes into their creation and continued servitude to the CDF. They are, after all, created by the CDF for the sole purpose of being a dirty-ops group for the CDF. They are born into a contract where their only expectation of escape is to survive long enough to retire. No wonder the CDF is both embarrassed by their existence, but also scared of them as a fighting force. Still, even though the world is already mostly built and we know how it works, Scalzi still manages to create an exciting story with still a few surprise new technical and thought provoking ideas.
—James
