The Ghost Brigades [Hardcover]

This book is billed as a sequel to Old Man's War, but it really isn't. While set in the same universe, it has only marginal ties to the earlier book, in the person of Jane Sagan, John Perry's love interest in that book. Instead, this book is a much closer look at the Special Forces, soldiers created from the genetic material of several people, including some now dead (hence the `Ghost' appellation). These people are force grown, then decanted into the world with their Brain Pal as their immediate mentor, giving them the capabilities and knowledge of adults when only hours old. The same Brain Pal technology allows them to integrate with their squad mates: a form of aided telepathy that allows not only for quick training but gives these individuals a sense of community and family they would otherwise not have.

The story revolves around the search for a traitorous scientist, Charles Boutin, who helped developed the Brain Pal technology and the ability to store and relocate a person's consciousness (or, depending on your point of view, their soul). Jared Dirac is a newly created clone (with enhancements) of this person, and an attempt is made to load Dirac's brain with a copy Boutin's consciousness in an effort to find out why Boutin became a traitor and where he might have gone. This attempt apparently doesn't work, and Dirac is placed with a Special Forces squad led by Jane. Dirac's development as a person is the main focus of the work from this point on.

The book starts well, with an action-oriented opening chapter that grabs, but then the next fifty pages drag somewhat, as Scalzi sets up the scenario for the rest of the book and explains the technology and military situation. This section is too long, and I felt that much of this material should have been better integrated with the prime story. When Dirac joins his squad, things pick up again; his 'training' and the first couple of military actions he is part of are probably the best part of this book. The last quarter of the book falls off a little again, as the thematic focus of the book comes to the fore - that of what makes an individual 'free' - free to make his own choices, free to decide for himself what is correct and moral, free to live his own life without being subject to the imperatives of not only others, but his genetic heritage. Only a little of this theme is directly explicated, but it dominates the action of the final portion of this book.

The political/military situation is nicely envisaged, with three alien races allied against humanity, and each of these races are well defined in their differences from humanity. The human's military strategy to break up this alliance is well thought out, and plays upon each race's unique characteristics. It also brings up a secondary thematic point of this book, about what actions are 'moral' and justified in war, when the very survival of the species is at stake, and just what the basis is for deciding whether humanity should survive.

Not as strong as Old Man's War, with too much poorly integrated 'background' material, but still a good read, with lots of food for thought nestled in its pages.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Other than names, no specifics (i.e., spoilers) are given in this review. Incidentally, I do not consider 3 stars to be a "bad" review--the book is okay. It is fine as a bridge between Old Man's War (O.M.W.) and the Last Colony [anyone else find that title to be a bit of a spoiler?].

Make sure you read OMW first. It comes first sequentially, but is also a much better book. While Ghost Brigades uses the same recipe as the first book, it uses inferior ingredients in cooking up a similar piece of fiction.

The protagonist from OMW (John Perry) is missing from this book. The other characters from OMW that DO appear in the sequel are flat. Jane Sagan, who should have a great deal more depth and empathy than anyone else in the Special Forces, is completely superfluous to the story [anyone could have replaced her as the SF commander]. She is not developed one iota from the first book, and appears to have actually flattened in the interim.
Harry Wilson returns in what could have been a great supporting role, but is made completely unnecessary by a scientist called Cainen.

The "mystery" inherent to the story suffers from at least one major plot-hole: no one ever reads the suspect's personnel file. The characters involved ALL have the highest level of clearances, including two generals, one colonel, and a military intelligence officer (Sagan), among others. They live in a world in which the internet more-or-less exists inside everyone's head. Files can be downloaded and read almost instantaneously. While trying to deduce the villain's motivations, it simply never occurs to them to access his file.
The mystery also suffers from other common problems: part I of the big reveal is obvious to everyone but the characters in the book, and part II is based on facts not given to the reader at any point in the story.

But all is not lost: the protagonist's (Jared Dirac's) development is fairly engaging. The concept for the story which drives the action is excellent (but only mediocre execution). The action sequences, though sparse, are generally well-written and exciting. If you are a reader anxious to revisit OMW's universe [but not its characters], you will get your wish. This book gives quite a lot of secondary information to understanding past and current events of the Colonial Union, as well as some technological explanations for the science-minded. [I'm not saying they are good explanations--I'm no scientist--but they are there.]

The Ghost Brigades (2006) is the second novel in the Old Man's War series, following Old Man's War. In the previous volume, John Perry became an official CDF hero and made barnstorming tours around the colonies. Jane Sagan went back to work in the Special Forces, AKA the Ghost Brigades.

In this novel, Jane leads a raid on an Obin colony world. The Special Forces take one Rraey prisoner from the Eneshan facility. After a slight biological adjustment of his body, Jane convinces the Rraey to cooperate.

The prisoner Cainen tells of a concerted effort by the Rraey, Eneshan and Obin to conquer the Terran colonies. This alliance has resulted from the defection of one human -- Charles Boutin -- who had been a senior scientist in Military Research. The Colonial Defense Forces were greatly surprised at this news, since Boutin was already dead and buried.

When Harry Wilson finds a recording of Boutin's consciousness among his effects, the CDF decides to create another version of the man. The standard Special Forces processing is used to produce a modified body from Boutin's DNA. Then the recorded consciousness is downloaded into it. Everything goes according to plan, except that the resulting mind seems to be a tabula rasa.

In this story, the new body is named Jared Dirac and integrated into a Special Forces training squad. After his training, Jared is assigned to a Special Forces ship under Lieutenant Jane Sagan. He serves in the Special Forces for almost a year before something brings back one of Boutin's memories.

Jared is reassigned to Military Research to try to stimulate more memories. Cainen and Harry Wilson work with him on the project. He is gradually gaining more memories and his mind displays are looking more like Boutin's every day. Then they send him to Boutin's former home station in hopes that the familiar surroundings will bring further progress. Since the station is now in Obin hands, Jared has to sneak into the habitat and the aliens detect his presence.

This story provides more information on the CDF, the Colonial Union, and their relationships with the nearby aliens. It also mentions weapons of mass destruction: nuclear weapons and biological warfare. The nukes are used as shipkillers and one passage implies that they have been used against alien colonies. The Obin have also used a virus to destroy an army of alien clones.

This tale also introduces a new type of WMD: cybernetic weapons. Computer viruses and other hostile softwares have appeared prominently in many SF stories. Now, however, the author has created a possibility of mass destruction through such a virus.

This sequel builds upon, but differs greatly from, the first novel. Some continuity is provided by characters and institutions, but the plot is nothing like the first story. A difficult effect, but well done. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Scalzi fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of military operations, transferred consciousness, and dutiful persons.

-Arthur W. Jordin

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