The Ghost Brigades
February 10, 2025 10:40 AM - Subscribe
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.
Written by MeFi's own jscalzi.
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 is a perfect soldier, but as Boutin's memories slowly surface, Jared begins to intuit the reason's for Boutin's betrayal. As Jared desperately hunts for his "father," he must also come to grips with his own choices. Time is running out: The alliance is preparing its offensive, and some of them plan worse things than humanity's mere military defeat…
In honor of the 20th anniversary of Old Man's War, and in anticipation of September's release of book 7 of the series The Shattering Peace, we're revisting this SF mainstay with one post a week for the next 5 weeks.
This is a 'Reread' post, comments that touch on future events in the series are most welcome.
Written by MeFi's own jscalzi.
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 is a perfect soldier, but as Boutin's memories slowly surface, Jared begins to intuit the reason's for Boutin's betrayal. As Jared desperately hunts for his "father," he must also come to grips with his own choices. Time is running out: The alliance is preparing its offensive, and some of them plan worse things than humanity's mere military defeat…
In honor of the 20th anniversary of Old Man's War, and in anticipation of September's release of book 7 of the series The Shattering Peace, we're revisting this SF mainstay with one post a week for the next 5 weeks.
This is a 'Reread' post, comments that touch on future events in the series are most welcome.
After reading both this and OMW, I had a bit of trouble separating the narrator's voice in this from the narrator's voice in Old Man's War. Like, "wait, did this happen to this guy or that guy?" But that kind of separation/differentiation is something I think Scalzi has greatly improved on in later novels. Or maybe these two were more of a fluke in similar voice.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:36 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 7:36 PM on February 10 [1 favorite]
The present-day Ukrainian command are/ had-been pretty insistent on having older soldiers and sparing the "young adult"/ 18-25ish(?) cohort from conscription is thematically similar.
edit: obviously if they are able to recreate brand new bodies, then there isno less downside to harvesting "oldsters"'s minds into warfare
posted by porpoise at 12:49 AM on February 11 [1 favorite]
edit: obviously if they are able to recreate brand new bodies, then there is
posted by porpoise at 12:49 AM on February 11 [1 favorite]
Scalzi has a lot of strengths as a writer, but creating non-human aliens that really feel like something other than human isn't one of them. Everyone in this story is pretty much the same, some of them just have different bodies -- which may well be a point Scalzi is trying to make, I dunno.
That said, I find a lot to like here. The relationship that develops between Sagan and Cainen feels earned and real, as done the arc of Jared's story. There's a lot less humor than Old Man's War, but what is here works. And there are some fantastic sequences, like the Ghost Brigade's basic training, that feel truly original.
I probably put this book in the 3 or 4 slot of the series overall. Nowhere near the worst, nor the best,
posted by Frayed Knot at 2:18 PM on February 12
That said, I find a lot to like here. The relationship that develops between Sagan and Cainen feels earned and real, as done the arc of Jared's story. There's a lot less humor than Old Man's War, but what is here works. And there are some fantastic sequences, like the Ghost Brigade's basic training, that feel truly original.
I probably put this book in the 3 or 4 slot of the series overall. Nowhere near the worst, nor the best,
posted by Frayed Knot at 2:18 PM on February 12
I admit this is probably the least memorable book for me of the series (well, that and "The Sagan Diary"), but the plot developments in it are very important, so.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:29 AM on February 15
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:29 AM on February 15
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posted by wenestvedt at 4:55 PM on February 10