Book info

• Title The Ghost Brigades
• Author John Scalzi
• Year 2006
• Genre Science Fiction

Who can you trust, if you can't trust yourself? Three hostile alien races have united against humanity, determined to halt our expansion into space. The mastermind behind this lethal alliance is a traitor – Charles Boutin. He was a Colonial Defence Force scientist, with access to their biggest military secrets. Now the CDF's only hope is to discover Boutin's plan. Trouble is, Boutin's dead. As a super-soldier created from Boutin's own DNA, Jared Dirac may have answers. However, when Dirac fails to access the scientist's memories, he's transferred to the Ghost Brigades for training. These elite troops are also cloned from the dead, so he might fit in. But will Dirac's memory return as the enemy plots the fate of humankind? And whose side is Dirac really on?

Thoughts

I absolutely loved Old Man’s War so was keen to read the sequel, even though it didn’t have the same characters in it. Set in the same universe, one in which the elderly from Earth are repurposed into fighting soldiers, this story goes one step further and delves into the life and times of a Special Forces private.

I think I was slightly less interested in the machinations of the various species, the war they were heading towards, who was fighting who. But I did love the philosophical complications that were addressed with transferring souls and consciousnesses, and what it means to be human. I also enjoyed the dialogue, witty characters getting through difficult times together.

Perhaps not as good as the first, but still very much enjoyed.

Rating: 3 / 5