The Ghost Brigades [Paperback]

The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi, is the follow-up novel to Old Man's War. It's not a direct sequel, though subsequent events will show that it actually is, in a sense. Instead, it features the love of John Perry's life, Jane Sagan, Special Forces ("Ghost Brigades") officer. This book is a lot grittier than the Old Man's War, and the point of view choices are much different. It's just as effective, though, with fewer of the faults of the previous book.

In the future, humans have gone to the stars, but they aren't allowed to go back. Humans have colonized planets, but they have run up against a number of alien races that don't want them there, and war inevitably develops. Jane Sagan, a lieutenant in the Ghost Brigades (the Colonial Defense Forces "Special Forces"), captures an alien scientist with information about a triple alliance of races who don't seem very likely to ally. They also discover that the instigator of this plot to start a war with the CDF is a human traitor, a genius named Charles Boutin. Before he left, he downloaded his consciousness into a computer, so the CDF decide to clone his body and try to install his consciousness into it, to see if they can figure out Boutin's plan and motivations. It doesn't seem to work, so they give the resulting "person", Jared Dirac, to the Ghost Brigades for their training and use. But as time goes on, the other consciousness begins to emerge, and Jane will ultimately have to determine whether Jared is with them, or that he must be killed.

The Ghost Brigades is an awesome continuation of Scalzi's series, taken in a whole new direction so that it doesn't go stale. He doesn't continue the adventures of John Perry, as that could get boring. He's just a soldier in a never-ending war, and Scalzi would have to come up with something really creative to make that interesting. Instead, he shows us the Ghost Brigades, something that he gave us a part of in the previous book, only hinting at the potential.

Also, this book has much more of a point than before. While Sagan plays a vital role in the book, it's not really about her, and thus it's not just "tales of the Special Forces." Everything is geared to Boutin and his ultimate plan, and the story centers on Jared because of this. We see his integration into the Ghost Brigades, we see his training. But it's not the seemingly aimless training that Perry went through, a means to an end to illustrate the galaxy Scalzi has created while introducing us to the concepts. It shapes Jared, highlighting just how integrated all Ghost units are (by using their brain-implanted computers, called Brainpals).

While the story is much more focused, the points of view aren't. We get Sagan's and Jared's, but we also see some of the officers (both Ghosts and regular CDF), illustrating what life is like in the officer's corps. It also gives us a big-picture view of what is really going on, and the stakes that are at risk if Boutin's plan comes to fruition. This provides Ghost Brigades a broad scope even as the story itself narrows in on one problem. We see some of the truth behind the CDF, both Boutin's warped view of it (which sounds somewhat convincing if he wasn't such a maniac) and the reality of it.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Scalzi's brilliant characterization. These people jump off the page, from the more minor characters to Sagan and Jared. I loved General Szilard, head of the Ghost Brigades. The Ghosts aren't supposed to have a sense of humour, but he has obviously been around long enough to develop one. His interactions with the CDF liaison, Colonel Robbins, were wonderful, especially in the Officers' Mess, where underlings can attend but can't eat. The scene with Szilard and the cookie are worth the price of admission alone.

However, it's Sagan and Jared that make this book sing. Sagan is reluctant to be Jared's guardian, but she takes on the task and develops a respect for him even as she's not sure she can trust him. She's an intelligent leader, compassionate, and thorough. My first thoughts on Jared when I began this review was to criticize the emotional distance we seem to have with him at times. He develops a love for one of his squadmates, but it never actually seems "real." However, on thinking about it, that just illustrates Jared's emotional isolation even more. He is a man (boy, really, as he's only a year or so old at the end of the book) who was grown for a purpose. He has even less control of his life than do most of the Ghosts, who while bred only for combat, at least know what the meaning of their life is. Jared doesn't even have that certainty. He'll always have that disadvantage, and Scalzi brings that out perfectly.

Finally, the action is relentless, but again it's not your typical military SF. Scalzi doesn't dwell on the technology or the broad military tactics. There are some pretty horrific deaths in the book, but nothing too disgusting (except in concept, of course, such as falling from low orbit). He just gives the reader enough to understand what's going on and then gets to the action itself. This time, he puts a little philosophy in there as well. He did that with Old Man's War too, but it doesn't feel as forced this time around.

The Ghost Brigades seems to wrap up the personal storyline of the series' main protagonists, but it sets up some huge events for the galaxy at large for the next book. There are certainly no major flaws to hinder the enjoyment of this wonderful book. Unless you have a huge aversion to any kind of military SF, pick this one up.

David Roy

John Scalzi won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Gee, I wonder why?

While not as fantastic as his debut, Old Man's War, Scalzi still sets the bar high with his followup novel, set in the same universe where mankind has ventured out into a hostile universe populated with hundreds of alien species, and responds with engineering, perserverance, and small feats of bio engineering like the Ghost Brigades.

The Ghost Brigades were introduced briefly in Old Man's War in the form of Jane Sagan, a nine year old with some of the DNA of the lead character's dead wife. The soldiers in the Ghost Brigade are grown, given "BrainPal" computers in their head, and then linked to their squad mates.

Jane Sagan plays a back-up role here. The main plot follows Jared Dirac, a Ghost Brigade soldier who is built to put a presumed dead traitor's consciousness inside his head. It doesn't take at first, so he becomes a member of the Ghost Brigades. It does take later, but to detail more would mean spoiling the story.

Scalzi continues to expand upon the universe of aliens he has created, and to explain the science the humans are using to combat them in clear, logical terms. (Science and fiction, get it?) The humans seem to be beset on all sides by agressive aliens, but which side is really the aggressor?

John gets into some excellent philosophical discussions about choice and right to choose, which is right in line with the "created for a purpose" ghost brigades.

An excellent story, a quick read, a new fav author. On to the third in the series.

Well, two of three is great. I am so relieved. So many times you read the first book in a series, and that is great, but the next one sucks, and the rest get worse. Yes Anne Macaffry i am talking about you, and everything you have written for twenty years, you hack.

I really liked "Old Mans War" and this one both builds upon its strengths, like good writting style and quality characters, and loses what i thought was its biggest flaw, its rushed ending. This book has a natural and balenced flow, it is full of intresting stuff and resolves itself at a decent pace at the end, which is why it gets 5 stars. I would say it is a more confident and better technical book than "OMW", and was left happy and wanting to see where the trilogy goes next.

Where next is probebly self evedent. But this book did not lead on conventionaly from the first, and that was the best thing about it. There is precedent for Scalzi doing some thing unexpected. By introducing new characters and a diffrent narrative point of view the series got richer, and our knowlage of its universe fuller. I do not mean just more detail, but more perspective, we see the familiar and the new, places and people, through new eyes and they gain complexity and reality from the diffrence.

I leave you with this last thought, i liked this enough to seriously consider getting the hardback of the next book. I have not done so though. Not yet anyhoo. enjoy