Series: Old Man's War by John Scalzi

[Eva]

On February 15th, some of us would like to read The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi, which is on our SFFBC group shelf. Feel free to join us, the more the better!

[Anna]

Ghost Brigades is not on the group shelf, but the first book is:

Old Man's War >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More

[Eva]

Oops, thank you so much for the correction, Anna! So sorry I misremembered that. It's a bit of a bummer, but I hope people will be interested, anyway.

[Eva]

Ready to go!!



Book 1 was great, so I hope this one will be the same. Anyone else joining?

[Leticia]

I'm happy to join! This book has been in my TBR for years now.

[Emma]

Me too although I may need a couple of days to finish up some of my current reads!

[Eva]

That's cool, I'm going to read this one slowly, anyway. I'm reading some other group reads simultaneously. Looking forward to hearing your first impressions.

[Emma]

I just hope I can remember enough of Old Man’s War, that I can understand what’s going on without having reread it!

[Anna]

Emma wrote: "I just hope I can remember enough of Old Man’s War, that I can understand what’s going on without having reread it!"

(view spoiler)[ Old people get young bodies and fuck a lot. (hide spoiler)]

[Eva]

And this is how a single sex scene in a long book full of other scenes is remembered! 😅

So, I've read the first 14% now, and Scalzi actually does a good job of catching you up on what you need to know. Since this book focuses on different/new characters, one only needs to know the basics about how this universe and tech works and what the overall situation is, and all that is explained.

One thing that left me scratching my head (chapter 2 spoiler): (view spoiler)[They say that this "stored consciousness" tech is ONLY useful in this one single case, because they happen to have Boutin's genes, but that it couldn't be useful for other people... But they have everybody's genes! All you need is a few cells, et voilà! Store consciousness, put consciousness into infinite clone bodies. I don't understand why it's supposed to only work for Boutin. Am I nitpicking? (hide spoiler)]

[Anna]

Eva wrote: "And this is how a single sex scene in a long book full of other scenes is remembered!"

It's literally the only thing I remember!

[Emma]

Anna wrote: "Emma wrote: "I just hope I can remember enough of Old Man’s War, that I can understand what’s going on without having reread it!"

[spoilers removed]"

Lol- the succinct summary!

[Emma]

I’ve caught up to end of chapter 2 and will continue on now that we’re level!

[Emma]

I’m stopping at the end of chapter 5:
(view spoiler)[ I’m really enjoying the integration and training methods for the squad and find it interesting that differences between them still exist. Is there any of Charles Boudin showing up in Jared yet? I’m not sure.. <\spoiler> (hide spoiler)]

[Eva]

Yes, I'm also at your point now and it's really fascinating! But also utterly chilling, to think of (view spoiler)[these human beings born for one single purpose (war - and to be expendable cannonfodder, too!) and possibly also without any free will or ability to opt out of the whole thing thanks to their ever-present brainpal... (hide spoiler)]

[Kimberly A. TenEyck]

Anna wrote: "Ghost Brigades is not on the group shelf, but the first book is:

Old Man's War >> First impressions | Final thoughts & More"

Absolutely one of my favorite series of all time! Old Man’s War is what started my love of science fiction. What an awesome read! I have read all the books in the series or related to it and enjoyed each one. Highly recommend.

[Eva]

Thank you, Kimberly! I'm really enjoying it so far.

[Emma]

Chapter 6
(view spoiler)[ I was initially a bit shocked then thought it was funny that the Special forces of Jared’s new platoon celebrate after a battle with an orgy! <\spoiler> (hide spoiler)]

[Emma]

Chapter 7
(view spoiler)[ Ingenius way of tracking using the cellular virus in hand lotion to track positions

Sarah Pauling dying: I hadn’t thought about the reverse effect of integration - how this would affect the soldiers linked to her, particularly Jared

I wonder if Jared being unable to kill the baby plus Pauling dying will be the trigger to gaining Boutin’s brain consciousness
<\spoiler> (hide spoiler)]

[Emma]

Chapter 8
(view spoiler)[ I am only just realising what a cruel thing it is they’ve done to Jared <\spoiler> (hide spoiler)]

[Eva]

Yes, I agree, Emma! There's this odd combination of a light-hearted, action-y fun *tone* together with a really, really dark and horrifying reality being described. It's a weird mix, I'm not sure it works. Especially - spoiler for chapter 8(?) - (view spoiler)[the scene in which they kidnap an innocent child, sterilize her against her will while filled with irrational hatred toward her, and then kill her (hide spoiler)] is so incongruous with the rest of the tone of them trying to develop a sense of humor, telling jokes, having fun with this and that...

I'm now done with the book (sorry, I ended up reading it faster than I originally thought) and while I liked it and found a few scenes very moving, I also had problems with some aspects: some bad science, flawed logic (the one mentioned above as well as the fact that a species that "isn't self-aware" logically cannot recognize that they aren't self-aware (since this would require self-awareness) and therefore cannot develop the wish to change that about themselves).

Also characterization (spoiler for ending): (view spoiler)[the characters felt pretty flat with everyone sharing pretty much the same personality and way of speaking, just with a little preference/quirk added for each, and while it was *claimed* that Jared's and Boutin's minds were practically identical, they actually seemed the most different from each other of all characters in the book. In addition, the book did too good of a job of making the villain sympathetic: his reasons were so good that I ended up agreeing with him and wanting him to succeed, although his methods were incredibly short-sighted and stupid.

That was actually another weak spot for me: everyone is outfitted with super intelligent brains, but is also incredibly stupid, just to make the marginally less stupid main character look smart in comparison. Did Scalzi really expect me to believe that *none* of the hyper-smart super soldiers ever thought of making their blood (which they know can combust) combust when it hits an enemy soldier?? None of them has ever thought of that? And the elite scientists who invented/worked on/tested the brain pal never ever thought of uhm... actually closing the backdoors, possible entry points for viruses, etc.? Never thought of how their soldiers could be made to keep functioning without it if it ever got jammed or damaged? Never once thought that maybe seeing 97% of the galaxy as enemies might be a bad idea if you're not strong enough to defeat them all?

Another weak point for me: not just one but two assisted suicides that were portrayed as the good and honorable choice, in terms of death being better than the life they could live... I don't like euthanasia/suicide being portrayed so positively, and without anyone even agonizing about it nor looking for an alternate solution.

(hide spoiler)] And the very dark content combined with the happy-go-lucky tone was such an odd mix. On the other hand, it was very readable and entertaining, and had some very cool ideas (which were borrowed from other books, but still given a bit of a unique twist).

So, overall, it gets 3.5 stars from me personally. Quite good, I liked it, but it didn't completely convince me. What did you guys think?

[Leticia]

I'm finished! This was interesting and I think I liked it as much or even more than the first book in the series because it talked more about the Special Forces. And stories with humans developed by technology are my science fiction favorites since I read Brave New World. I'm curious about how this series will resolve its bigger scope questions.

[Eva]

Glad you liked it, Leticia! :-)

I'm curious about the bigger picture, as well, but my TBR is too full to squeeze in book 3 anytime soon.

[Emma]

I’m probably going to read The Last colony in the next couple of months

[Leticia]

I happen to have book 3 already so I might just start it tomorrow.