The Ghost Brigades

by John Scalzi

eBook, 356 pages

English language

Published March 31, 2007 by Tor.

ISBN:: 978-1-4299-1472-7
Goodreads:: 8934762

(14 reviews)

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 …

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…

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

1 edition

LemmiSchmoeker reviewed The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

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.

Orlion reviewed The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

Review of 'The Ghost Brigades' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is a very quick read (I finished it in a day, even with various work obligations I had to fulfill). As The Ghost Brigades unfolds, I felt I enjoyed it more than its predecessor. We then get to the ending that, though satisfying and leaving a good hook to continue to the next book, kinda also undermined some of the fantastic emotional turmoil that occurred during the course of the novel.

If you liked Old Man's War, there is absolutely no reason for you to avoid this book. Sure, it focuses on different characters but frankly, they're more interesting.