A review by thebradking
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
5.0
So, the first thing you need to know about [b:The Ghost Brigades|239399|The Ghost Brigades (Old Man's War, #2)|John Scalzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403295928l/239399._SY75_.jpg|18279845]—book two in the Old Man's War series—is that it's [b:The Empire Strikes Back|77111|The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars Novelizations, #5)|Donald F. Glut|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1335122639l/77111._SY75_.jpg|2512960] crossed with [b:Star Wars: Rogue One Adaptation|36686737|Star Wars Rogue One Adaptation|Jody Houser|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1511990065l/36686737._SY75_.jpg|56085653].
I was initially off-put that the series moved away from John Perry, the protagonist of the first book, but Scalzi's choice was correct. (I did have to tell myself to hang in there because I wanted more Perry. However, I'm a writer and I know books aren't about what the reader wants, they are about the story the author wants to tell.)
The story delves into the Special Forces, a group briefly touched upon in [b:Old Man's War|51964|Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)|John Scalzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1487044882l/51964._SY75_.jpg|50700]. This construct served as a way to delve deeper into the the "enemy" of the Colonial Defense Force while also building on the galaxy [a:John Scalzi|4763|John Scalzi|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1562613145p2/4763.jpg] set up in the first book.
This story felt more complete than Old Man's War, in part because the story world was already built (and thus this isn't a criticism) and in part because the several of the main characters—and one of the alien races—become integral to the next two books, which tell the same story through two very different point-of-view lenses.
I was initially off-put that the series moved away from John Perry, the protagonist of the first book, but Scalzi's choice was correct. (I did have to tell myself to hang in there because I wanted more Perry. However, I'm a writer and I know books aren't about what the reader wants, they are about the story the author wants to tell.)
The story delves into the Special Forces, a group briefly touched upon in [b:Old Man's War|51964|Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)|John Scalzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1487044882l/51964._SY75_.jpg|50700]. This construct served as a way to delve deeper into the the "enemy" of the Colonial Defense Force while also building on the galaxy [a:John Scalzi|4763|John Scalzi|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1562613145p2/4763.jpg] set up in the first book.
This story felt more complete than Old Man's War, in part because the story world was already built (and thus this isn't a criticism) and in part because the several of the main characters—and one of the alien races—become integral to the next two books, which tell the same story through two very different point-of-view lenses.