The Ghost Brigades

(Old Man's War #2)

eBook, 356 pages

English language

Published March 31, 2007 by Tor.

ISBN:
9781429914727
Goodreads:
8934762

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (1 review)

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 …

2 editions

Different from the first book in many aspects

4 stars

This second book is different from the first one in many aspects: a more focused story, a different main character, a different philosophy. As before, Scalzi carefully lays out a background full of characters, histories and ideas before he starts building up the story.

There is certainly a lot of action, particularly during a central scene of strategic development, but the emphasis is firmly put on more peaceful concepts this time: family, life and purpose. While the galactic war is still the center of the action, Scalzi is more interested in exploring the moral implications of that war for all involved parties.

In the end, everybody - including the reader - is left with a feeling of fatigue, not of the story, or even just the events of the story, but of a war that it doesn't seem possible to end without unfathomable violence.

Subjects

  • Cloning -- Fiction.
  • Space warfare -- Fiction.
  • Genetic engineering -- Fiction.
  • Special forces (Military science) -- Fiction.