Thoughts - Part 3: Chapters 13-18

[Ryan]

The conclusion to Old Man's War. What did you think of the ending? Did you see it coming? Were there any loose ends you thought should have been addressed?

[Ryan]

So... Ghost Brigades, the CDF Special Forces unit that had been mentioned in an offhand way during the first two parts. The idea that they can implant a brand new consciousness into a grown body is an interesting one, but it raises a bunch of different questions that could undermine the premise of the book. Where do these new consciousness' come from, and if the war was going so bad wouldn't it be more effective to increase the order on Special Forces troops? Is there some sort of weakness that we dont know about?

I had a strong feeling that John and his wife would be reunited, but I didn't predict exactly how it would happen. It felt like Jane accepted the situation too quickly, but then its like I would have any idea how a 6 year old Special Forces troop would react to meeting her progy's husband.

I've been slightly negative about this part so far, but honestly I really enjoyed it. The action sequences and the interactions with the various aliens were the aspects that kept me turning the pages in rapid succession. The final battle for coral was built up as an epic set piece, and Scalzi delivered an epic set piece. There was a panoramic sense of scale, the battle felt huge, and then as the troops hit the ground it felt like tight and restrictive close quarter firefights.

And that was it. Our overachiever won the day, recovered some advanced technology, and saved the girl. He got promoted, he got decorated, and his influence saved the lives of his friends by keeping them out of harms way and putting them into jobs where they can contribute with their minds. He didn't get the girl immediately, that would be too much achieving, but the epilogue indicates he would get the girl later. All in all a satisfying conclusion.

[Jasper]

OK so already the last part of Old Man's War. With all the action that has been building up in the first two parts and an ending of the second part. I could not really guess where the story would go to.

I liked how the special forces the Ghost Brigade was highlighted during the recovery phase of John. They are better than the standard recruits, more modified to suite the extremes of battle. Instead of the normal swapping the special forces are entirely made up from DNA, and it is a good point that Ryan raises here, without a transferred conscious how can they have thoughts of their own? They must be coming from some place, or is there a darker plot at play here? Are the CDF genetic scientists capable of more? Maybe this question will be answered in the other books set in this universe.

Soon after the recovery phase of John it did feel for me that the story was winding down a bit, I got this book in the paperback format so I knew there were only a few pages left. But suddenly there was a plan to destroy the tracking beacon on Coral! After this decision the books goes for final interval setting. You got the scenes on the ship further building up the relation between Jane (who has a nice twist to it) and John towards the action on the planet Coral.

In the end of the book, all the rushing comes down to a nice set of achievements for our hero. Though the normal recruit, John managed to up his came, become heroic, save the day and the girl. With this last chapter Old Man's War ends on a nice conclusion and makes up for a great stand alone book.

Just lastly, I really liked the part where the Rraery went to ask the Consu for help again and there ship got imploded. HA! take that!