The Ghost Brigades

The Ghost Brigades (Old Man's War #2)

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4.04 of 5 stars 4.04  ·  rating details  ·  13,744 ratings  ·  878 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. Th...more
Paperback, 374 pages
Published May 1st 2007 by Tor Science Fiction (first published January 1st 2006)
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Ready Player One by Ernest ClineOld Man's War by John ScalziAltered Carbon by Richard K. MorganAnathem by Neal StephensonRevelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
Best Science Fiction of the 21st Century
15th out of 210 books — 1,245 voters
Ender's Game by Orson Scott CardStarship Troopers by Robert A. HeinleinOld Man's War by John ScalziThe Forever War by Joe HaldemanOn Basilisk Station by David Weber
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Community Reviews

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Kemper
James Cameron and John Scalzi Share An Awkward Elevator Ride

James Cameron: Could you hit the button for the top floor, please?

John Scalzi: Sure. Say, aren’t you James Cameron?

JC: That’s right. My friends call me King of the World! Ha Ha! Just kidding.

JS: Right.

JC: You look kind of familiar. Have we met?

JS: Met? No. Maybe you recognize me from my author’s photo on my books. I’m John Scalzi.

Long pause

JC: Uh……No, sorry. I don’t think I’ve read your books.

JS: Really? You haven’t read Old Man’s War...more
Seak (Bryce L.)
Warning: Spoilers for Old Man's War, book one in the Old Man's War sequence.

A secret is discovered and war is looming. Former enemies are allied against the Colonial Union and it's up to the Special Forces, the Ghost Brigades, to stop them. They only take the dirtiest jobs and this is no exception.

The Ghost Brigades deals almost exclusively with the Special Forces who have been nicknamed the Ghost Brigades on account of their entire Forces using the bodies of people who did not enter the militar...more
Dan Schwent
In order to catch a traitorous military scientist, Charles Boutin, the Colonial Defense Forces transfer a recording of his consciousness into a new body. Thus, Jared Dirac is born. The transfer apparently didn't take and Dirac joins the CDF's special forces, the Ghost Brigades. When Boutin's personality begins surfacing, Jared's life takes a turn for the worse. Can Jared stop Boutin before the CDF goes to war against three alien armies?

This wasn't exactly what I was expecting from a sequel to O...more
Jon
4 stars

Due to the acquisition of GoodReads by Amazon on March 28, 2013 and my existing and continuing boycott of all things Amazon, the review I wrote after reading this book has been relocated to my blog and can be found in its entirety by following this link: http://bit.ly/X98bcI
Laurel
I believe that science fiction and fantasy are the most effective way of exploring our own morality. When we see people in an alternate world, it is easier for us to step back and look at the choices they make as a parallel to the choices we make. It forces us to really consider the state of our world, and whether or not changes need to be made for the better. Scalzi has written incredibly real and humane characters, in a plot that is very timely to the world we live in. This book will stay with...more
Ian
Weaker than the previous entry, but still fairly readable. Scalzi's work as a film-critic really shows through here, as he relies heavily on sci-fi and military film tropes and cliches to build his story. The perspectives chosen to construct the narrative (third person and close third person) are an unwelcome departure from Old Man's War's first person, and this results in a slight feeling of disjointedness and a lack of intimacy. Only loosely connected to the previous novel in terms of characte...more
Megan Baxter
Before reading this book, a bunch of people had told me that it wasn't very good, didn't live up to its predecessor, Old Man's War. But while I do agree it's not quite as good as Old Man's War, I liked The Ghost Brigades a great deal more than I was expecting.

It's about an entirely new cast of characters, taking place almost entirely among the Special Forces soldiers whose existence was revealed in the first book. One scientist has defected and is aiding an alliance between three other races aga...more
Carol
Dec 12, 2011 Carol rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Scalzi fans, people looking for modern sci-fi
Shelves: male-lead, sci-fi
Perhaps twice a winter, I enjoy making a big pot of chili, suitable for snowy nights and bone chilling cold. I spend much of the morning slicing, dicing and simmering. Although I follow the same general recipe every time, on occasion it just doesn't turn out as savory. I don't know if I boiled instead of simmered, uncovered instead of covered, or failed to sneak in extra secret spice. All the same ingredients and yet it doesn't quite spark. Still decent, mind you--I wouldn't throw it out--but I...more
Nikki
I really like John Scalzi's writing. It's not too fancy, no particular bells and whistles, but it's not stilted either. It goes down easy. The Ghost Brigades is set in the same context as Old Man's War, and links up to it in various ways, but the main protagonist is a different one with a whole different bundle of issues. I wasn't surprised that Scalzi decided to write more about the Ghost Brigades, and I was half-expecting it not to link up at all -- which would have been disappointing, really....more
Joel
Perfectly enjoyable, fairly shallow retread of the themes expressed in Old Man's War. Plus one evil mastermind who gives a big third-act villain speech, sealing his doom, instead of just keeping his stupid mouth shut. The lead character is a cypher (literally) and not nearly as much fun as the old man from book one.

I'd go on to book three but my library is all out of audiobooks and I don't think I'd get too far trying to actually read one.
Jim
A sequel to Old Man's War, the story continues following Jane Sagan, an important character from the previous book, but it can stand alone very well which gets in an extra 1/2 star. If you've read the previous book, you can guess that this story follows the special forces & a lot of questions about them get answered.

I can't put my finger on it, but I wasn't quite as taken with this book as the previous one. It still receives high marks & was quite well done. The plot was basically a myst...more
Tim
John Scalzi was one of my best literary finds this year, and after reading Old Man’s War in the spring, I picked up the pseudo-sequel The Ghost Brigades. Like the previous novel, this second installment takes place in the far flung future where soldiers are made from the recycled elderly, and the heroes and heroines are embattled with moral dilemmas stemming from their "supposed" lack of humanity.

As with most sophomoric attempts, the uniqueness of Scalzi’s universe was expected and the book had...more
Ron
Excellent work. If anything it expands on both the universe and the depth of Old Man's War. If the first book was a rousing war tale, this was a more introspective insight into what makes us human in the midst of the inhumanity of war.

Amid all the techno-babble about DNA Scalzi erred on what seems to be the latest thinking on "junk DNA", that is, that it's not junk. It's a minor quibble which in no way imperils the story. Assumedly, the science of that day would be able to still get everything c...more
Ric

As y'all may have learned to expect from John Scalzi, this sequel to Old Man's War is quite entertaining. The battle scenes are as good as any in this list: The Forever War Starship Troopers Gateway The Mote in God's Eye.

Though there's a bit too much of 'explaining' the technology and the alien cultures for my taste (after several instances, I skimmed over the rest.), I do not consider this as diminishing the overall likeability of the book. The tone is more serious than its predecessor, an improvement IMHO; the funny scene setups can detract from the st

...more
Irfon-kim
Set in the same universe as Old Man's War, and immediately following it, this nonetheless defies the concept of a true sequel by being about almost totally different people. Unfortunately, while it may be marginally less predictable than Old Man's War, it also lacks the strong sense of character and depth of personality that the prior novel had. For me, that sapped it of most of the reasons to want to keep reading. I knew that I loved Zoe's Tale (which I read before reading any of these) and I'd...more
Minh
Jul 08, 2010 Minh rated it 3 of 5 stars
Shelves: sci-fi
Hot off the first novel I jumped into the Ghost Brigades and was instantly disappointed when I realised that John Perry, from 'Old Man's War' wasn't featured in the novel. Apart from a few paragraph mentions John isn't a part of the story at all.

Instead the novel focused on the lesser known solders, the Special Forces, an elite soldier created almost from scratch, bodies created from DNA of unfortunate CDF volunteers who didn't quite make it and minds born solely from the BrainPals stored withi...more
Kiri
In this sequel to Old Man's War, Scalzi focuses on the Special Forces of the Colonial Defense Forces. The Special Forces are also known as the "Ghost Brigades" because they're formed from people who signed up to serve as soldiers... but died before they actually made it to boot camp. The actual soldiers aren't ghosts, of course, but inhabitants of fast-grown bodies made from the super-augmented DNA of the dead enlistees. The Special Forces spring into being as adults and must then learn to live...more
Bruce
-entertaining future warfare read
-full of logical loopholes or "retarded" science premises
-cumbersome wordy writing style, but not one that slows you down

Colonel James Robbins gazed down at the rotted, exhumed body on the morgue slab for a minute, taking in the decay of the body from more than one year under the dirt.

Just sayin'

The popularity of Scalzi is a bit surprising to me... scooping up hugo nominations left and right. OTOH Lois McMaster Bujold owned the hugos for a while. I guess it's mor...more
James
I save five-star ratings for books either of consummate skill or of dramatic social significance. Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades earns five stars from me for achieving both in the same work.

The second book in the series initiated by Old Man's War, this novel takes a sharp turn towards fundamental questions of humanity as asked and ultimately answered by one whose humanity is in grave doubt. The outsider at the center of this book, along with his fellow bio-engineered freaks, take the disturbing not...more
Marva
My husband checked this out from the library and I snagged it when he finished. Today, the book was due and we couldn't renew because somebody else had a request on it.

My feeling about 1/3 into the book? Oh, well. I won't try to check it out to read the rest.

I do NOT want to condemn this book for others. I do believe Scalzi is a fine SciFi writer worth reading. Thing is, I'd read the book following this one and I just couldn't get my interest up for something that had gone before.

I have to say t...more
Reed
While I don't read as much sf as I used to, I fully enjoyed Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades--more than I expected, actually.

I pondered why I dug it so much, and pretty much drew a blank. The only possibility I can come up with is the fact it (deliberately, I assume) hearkens back to the Heinlein juvenile sf novels I read as a kid. Fun, personal, easy to read, engaging adventure.

This is not a slight in the least. I do not think Scalzi's books are juvenile fiction, but I do feel they are written in th...more
Rope
This morning I finished listening to the audio version of The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. I'm a huge Scalzi fan and the first book of this series Old Man's War was quite possibly one of the most enjoyable sci-fi books I've ever read. Though I didn't much care for the naration (good naration, I think, is damn hard to do) the book was awesome. Scalzi's creative genius, humor, and expertise in geek lore mix together for a great story. Favorite quote:

"After watching Star Wars everyone wanted a li...more
Chris
Back in aught-Six I read Scalzi's breakout book Old Man's War and loved it. It had everything - high-end science fiction, philosophy, cool battle scenes and a protagonist whose sense of humor reminded me a lot of my friend Jon. The book's premise was very simple - why do we use young people to fight in wars? Because they have the bodies that work best for the task. If that were not an issue, then who would we want? Why, old people, of course. They have the life experience, the patience and the p...more
Longwing
Ghost Brigades picks up where Scalzi left off in Old Man's War. While I'd suggest reading both, I was surprised how little anyone needed to learn from Old Man's War before picking this book up. The two are nearly independent, and really could be read in either order.

Where Old Man's War was a (fairly strange) personal story, Ghost Brigades deals with far more global issues. Scalzi discusses the ominous trends he set up in Old Man's War, debating them through the lens of a newborn special-forces s...more
Jim
The Ghost Brigades returns to the universe of Scalzi's novel Old Man's War. In the first book, Scalzi introduced readers to John Perry and Earth's rejuvenated soldiers, the Colonial Defense Forces. This time around, he takes us into the world of The Ghost Brigades, the special forces of the CDF. Jane Sagan must track down a traitor, and what better way to find a traitor than to copy his consciousness into a freshly-baked Ghost Brigade soldier? But the transfer doesn't work ... at least, not righ...more
Chris
I like that it doesn't slavishly extend the plot of the original, instead following a minor character (are all the books in this series tied together by the same secondary character? I don't know yet...), but this sequel doesn't bring the novelty of the original.

Old Man's War had an absurdly capable & lucky protagonist. Here the perspective broadens a bit, and it becomes clear that, really, humanity is absurdly capable and lucky.

We have BrainPals/SmartBlood/MPs, an augmented clone army, supe...more
Leo
A more thoughtful followup to Scalzi's first book, Old Man's War. Whereas OMW was rip-roaring good space opera with a sprinkling of harder scifi elements thrown in, TGB explores the implications and ethical considerations of the technology introduced in OMW in much greater depth and with added sensitivity. Oh, there's still lots of action and the characters are every bit as likable, but if OMW is a nice juicy steak, then TGB is a five course meal topped off with coffee and a loaded dessert cart...more
Pygmy
Perhaps a 3.5? Good stuff, solid, intelligent and exciting, with interesting concepts of the evolution of a species and technology. Just, for some reason, it wasn't quite as good as Old Man's War (which was the best of Scalzi's so far) or Android's Dream.

Scalzi's characters were more convincing (and funny) as old people turning into young bodied super soldiers than babies being grown in an adult body. For one thing, I wasn't convinced that these super soldiers were 1 year old or less. They talke...more
Matt
Child soldiers have never been so much fun! Okay, so maybe they’re not really children, and, maybe they are actually genetically designed super soldiers that vary in shape and size from lime green Adonises to space-voyaging turtles. I don’t think I’m doing a good job selling this book, but, suffice it to say, it is an enormously enjoyable read and a great sequel effort to boot. While the first of the series, Old Man’s War, was flawless, Ghost Brigades falls a little short in my view, but I think...more
Clinton
I read this book after enjoying The Old Man's War. John Scalzi is a really cool author. He has set up a high science-fiction universe but doesn't appear to take things too seriously. His treatment of the world is almost tongue-in-cheek, but it definitely keeps things light, a plus given some of the heavy settings he's writing about.

I didn't find Ghost Brigades to be quite as captivating a read as The Old Man's War, but it was still highly entertaining. It's just what I want out of a good sci-fi...more
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The Ghost Brigades (Old Man's War, #2)
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John Scalzi, having declared his absolute boredom with biographies, disappeared in a puff of glitter and lilac scent.

(If you want to contact John, using the mail function here is a really bad way to do it. Go to his site and use the contact information you find there.)
More about John Scalzi...
Old Man's War Redshirts The Last Colony Fuzzy Nation Zoe's Tale

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