Book 5, The Human Division: Old Man's War

Note: Slight spoiler.

OK, we've got another Old Man's War novel! Great! It's a serialized novel, which is a neat new thing, which incentivizes coherent beginnings and endings to volumes. Although some of us who like their novels, even if they read like collections of short stories, to be in one chunk, because we read it straight through in one sitting. So we wait for the book edition to come out. Also great! Except that it's an unsatisfying read because there's all this awesome intrigue and problem solving and IT DOESN'T GO ANYWHERE EXCEPT A POTENTIALLY EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM. It's like there's another story that was supposed to wrap up all of the plot lines that got started, and it got left out in a giant editing mistake.

So, great story, great universe, I loved some of the lines, and this is very much the "New" (post-Fuzzy) Scalzi who lets his sense of humor out and isn't trying too hard to become an established sci-fi writer. But, one star off, because Scalzi accidentally the.

(Yes, that was on purpose.)

This is a first-rate book with excellent and wildly disparate characters. It is, admittedly, much like a collection of short stories on a common theme, but it is still an excellent read. - John Johnston, Active Member, SFWA

This book was much like a previous book. The story had considerable information from another book. Even so it was enjoyable to read. The typical writing by this author became more like his other stories.

The book advances the story by chapters. These chapters use different characters and the timeline can be a bit hard to follow between them. Some of the chapters don't really add much, unless their part of the story continues in a later book.

In response to some of the reviews listed on the store that said this isn't a complete story I must disagree. The story is complete from the beginning to the end.

Was it thirteen short stories strung together? No, I can't agree with that as well. Since I have an audio copy it was presented as thirteen chapters each with their own titles, which has been used a number of times. Each chapter is dependent on the last and except for one chapter (key word doggie) is necessary for the flow of the story.

After the story ends is there a set up for the next story? Yes. Nothing new, I've read other series or serials that end with what is known as a hook for the next book.

I have to agree with the "Wilson said" "Schmidt said" "Abumwe said", that did get a bit much in some of the chapters, especially when you hear it over and over again in a short span of time. More so in the audio version, my grown son who could hear the book playing in my room also commented on the repeated usage.

The story moves at a good speed, I like how the relationship between some of the characters developed and grew into respect for one another. (Not that they would admit it.)

I did like the bonus stories, I've read one awhile ago on line and enjoyed it. I had no problems with the publisher throwing in a couple of short stories (bonus items). Except for the appearance of the same characters the short stories stood separate from the novel.

One additional comment, the narrator William Dufris did an excellent job even with the female characters. He didn't use a high shriek voice that some male narrators use for female characters and I did like his use of accents.

Others have said it, but this is just some loosely connected short stories cobbled together in (mostly) chronological order and marketed as a novel. That said I have a few other gripes with this installment in the Old Man's War series:

1. Harry is just a clone of John Perry. Scalzi's character dialogue guage must be stuck permanently on "snarky smart-ass" because that's how everyone talks in this book. The disjointed short story format doesn't help but I get very little sense that there are multiple characters in this narrative, just one guy switching masks.

2. Scalzi reminds us what happened every 20 pages or so. You're reading along and suddenly a character goes into expository mode to tell us what happened in a previous chapter/story. It's annoying at best.

3. No ending. Yep, this is the clincher. The last chapter/story does not end. Questions remain unanswered. Conflicts remain unresolved. It's just a convenient point to stop typing and say "to be continued..."

That's ok in a TV episode, but it leaves the reader in a flaccid state of literary anorgasmia. I can't even call it a cliffhanger because there isn't much of a cliff. It's like Scalzi got off the toilet without wiping.

Author John Scalzi has answered our wishes to read more stories based on the Old Man's War series with this book of 13 superb short stories in that universe. While each story is a stand alone story our protagonists appear in most of the stories.

The back ground to the stories for those not yet enlightened by the Old Man's War series is that when you reach 75 years old you can join the CDF and have your consciousness transferred into a young body with enhanced capabilities. The main condition to this happening is that you have to leave Earth, and YOU NEVER GET TO GO BACK. You become an enhanced, sort of human. soldier with a 75% chance of being killed during your 10 year term with the Colonial Union. But you are young again.

The main character is a soldier in the Colonial Defense Force (CDF); Lieutenant Harry Wilson who although he is an enhanced warrior has in fact been doing desk work with technology for the past few years. The main diplomat in the series of stories is Ambassador Abumwe who we find is part of the "B" team in the diplomatic corp.

Ambassador Abumwe and Lieutenant Wilson are soon sent all over the universe to negotiate various treaties. Inevitably these negotiations are never straight forward but always with an adventure attached.

Great character development and story arcs make each short story a delight to read. As a bonus there is a 14th story thrown in for good luck.

RECOMMENDED HIGHLY.

If you like the temp and nature of these stories be sure to check out the entire Old Man's War series including: Old Man's War - The Ghost Brigades - The Last Colony - Zoe's Tale.

This is another great installment in an awesome series. The shift from following Perry/Sagan in the first 4 novels to Harry in this one was a nice change of pace. The story moves along at a nice pace, as do all of Scalzi's novels. There is plenty of humor, and action. If you enjoyed the other Old Man's War books, this one is a must read.

Loved this episodic book. It is more a collection of short stories using the same characters than a novel. It makes it easier to read in short bursts, but it is good enough to just sit and read it through.

Scalzi is reliable like the tide. I enjoyed this offering in the Old Man's War vein just as I did the others, and it's easily among my favorite series. His work, to me, is a lot like crossing Larry Niven with Jim Butcher; both experts of character and scene, themselves.

I definitely recommend this "B-Team" story for those as enamoured of this universe.

John Scalzi has become one of my favorite authors over the years. Old Man's War blew me out of the water and the rest have grabbed me like very few things. The Human Division was an interesting turn and really enjoyable read. Rather than following one person and seeing things from their perspective Mr. Scalzi gives us the view of the situation from different members of a human diplomatic team as they work different diplomatic "events". Each character is pretty unique, showing individual characterisitcs but there's always a slight centering (the writer). With the story being told from different characters perspective the story does shift around but a little but the plot is nicely contained and progresses the Old Man's War universe nicely, opening up some interesting possiblities for Mr. Scalzi (I'm really surprised at how far he took one character and is just now starting to expand things). For me it was a 4 to 4.5 star book. I was entertained and loving the story but it in this series Old Man's War is the 5 star bar so this one has to settle for 4.

I happened on this series by chance sand have been enamoured of it since. It is equally driven by a complex plot in a rich works and interesting characters. John Scalzi is now one of my favorite authors.

John Scalzi has become one of my favorite authors over the years. Old Man's War blew me out of the water and the rest have grabbed me like very few things. The Human Division was an interesting turn and really enjoyable read. Rather than following one person and seeing things from their perspective Mr. Scalzi gives us the view of the situation from different members of a human diplomatic team as they work different diplomatic "events". Each character is pretty unique, showing individual characterisitcs but there's always a slight centering (the writer). With the story being told from different characters perspective the story does shift around but a little but the plot is nicely contained and progresses the Old Man's War universe nicely, opening up some interesting possiblities for Mr. Scalzi (I'm really surprised at how far he took one character and is just now starting to expand things). For me it was a 4 to 4.5 star book. I was entertained and loving the story but it in this series Old Man's War is the 5 star bar so this one has to settle for 4.

A very different format from the previous "Old Man's War" books, The Human Division was published chapter by chapter as Tor ebooks before the whole book was collected in one volume. So it reads as a series of separate "episodes" whose various plot lines gradually converge. The events take place in the aftermath of The Last Colony and Zoe's Tale, when the Colonial Defense Force is trying to pick up the pieces of its relationship with Earth and the Conclave. Some familiar supporting characters show up, and the main character in most episodes is John Perry's best friend, Harry Wilson, who acquires his own "family" of close associates. Since the narrative is told in third person, not the first person of the other books, we get to see a lot more perspectives, place and different kinds of people and aliens than we have before. Best thing about this book, though, is that, very clearly,there will be more!
As an added bonus, the ebook contains two very entertaining standalone short stories set in this universe.

Interesting book continuing the Old Man's War setting, can be skipped though as it offers very little new in terms of information. It is however also a very quick read so is ideal for short periods of time.

Much like Attack of the Clones, this book is sometimes bogged down by politcal manuevering and diplomacy sessions that make it a little slow in parts. That's not to say that the book isn't enjoyable and a reasonable continuation of the Old Man series.

I'd truly forgotten how witty and entertaining Scalzi's writing style is. I frequently find myself chuckling or laughing about the things his characters say and do. His books are always a pleasure to read for this reason.

This book nicely shows what happens after Last Colony and describes, sometimes in boring, excruciating detail, the lengths the Colonial Union is going to win back the Earth. On the whole, the book was quite good, and as usual, i look forward to more from Scalzi.

Probably my favorite book in the series so far. Scalzi manages to keep the world going while offering up a different storytelling style in every entry and this was my favorite so far. We'll see of the finale can top it.