The End of All Things (Old Man's War)

Solid. A little grittier than The Human Division, I thought, but in a good & necessary way. This has been building up well & delivered beautifully (& after reading the alternate first chapter, I very much liked the version he went with :) ).
Funny, exciting, engaging, some surprises still, and a very satisfying wrap up.

This collection of 4 novellas does integrate plot-wise into a complete story. But the discontinuities in narrator do not (IMO) entirely work because they break the reader's sense of immersion.

But my main issue is that the book is maybe 30% tedious "filler" - especially the endless, intricate political wrangling. Similar to how David Weber kind of lost it in his later Honor Harrington books.

Having said that, about 50% of the book is very good. Especially the first novella.

WAY too much politicians talking, talking, talking, way too little action, way too little actual SciFi....
Scalzi is capable of MUCH better writing... when he wants to. Doesn't seem motivated to give his best. Coasting on his rep? Writing just to pay the bills? Good enough to get by (not even that really)?

Disappointing, after the others in the series. The opening "brain in a box" was good, and then things went political. Lots of talking, lots of explaining rather than doing, lots of hoping for it all to end so I could move onto something more exciting. I love Scalzi, but this wasn't up to usual standards.

WAY too much politicians talking, talking, talking, way too little action, way too little actual SciFi....
Scalzi is capable of MUCH better writing... when he wants to. Doesn't seem motivated to give his best. Coasting on his rep? Writing just to pay the bills? Good enough to get by (not even that really)?

Disappointing, after the others in the series. The opening "brain in a box" was good, and then things went political. Lots of talking, lots of explaining rather than doing, lots of hoping for it all to end so I could move onto something more exciting. I love Scalzi, but this wasn't up to usual standards.

Scalzi is a fantastic science fiction writer. He does excellent character development and uses humor to great effect in his dialogue. If you like SF, you have to read Scalzi. This book is the continuation of the Old Man's War series, so you need to read the books in order.

More of his good writing. The characters were engaging, and the build up was really good. The end was ever so slightly a let down, but I look foward to the next book in the series (maybe something involving poor neglected Jess?)

I love this author, but I read a book, or maybe I barrow it, anyway I bought this book and found I had already read it. the store should tell you if you barrowed it at the time you try to purchase it again.

John Scalzi has decided to write novels by writing shorter works and then reselling them as novels. In the abstract, perhaps that could work. In fact, he has failed miserably. Old Man's War started an excellent series that has ended far worse than I could have imagined. It is not the money I threw away that so bothers me but the talent that has been wasted. At the end of "The End of All Things," the author offers up an alternate ending for a portion of the story (an ending for an early part of the story?) that was discarded, saying in an introduction that he no longer discards what he finds lacking but rather saves it for another day. It is hard to imagine a word processor put to worse use.

This book is classic Scalzi! On the one hand, a darn good story - one that kept me reading, even when I had other things I should have been doing. But that is never all there is to a Scalzi story. He pulls you into his characters' lives, and gives them (and you) things to think about. The world in a Scalzi novel is never as simple as it seems. I know there are people who don't like that. For me, though, that kind of thing is like brain candy! The Old Man's War series has been going on for quite a while, and the history of all that happened in the earlier books plays into this story. By now, I knew most of these characters, and liked most of them, too. They've had a really hard time so far, and this book does not let up on them at all. The ending is hopeful, all though a lot remains to be resolved. I would call this a very good read.

This was somewhat of a disappointment. If you're looking for non-stop thrills and action, with space battles, and everything else that keeps you on the edge of your seat, then this is not the book for you.

The writing style of this book was disjointed and odd at best. One part was told from the prospective of one character, then another part from another character and so forth. The connections between the characters was often just a thin line.
The plot was just plain boring.
It's as if he took the plot of a movie based on some 1960's cold war era espionage and government muddling and transported it into space.

Wait to the book is at your library and then read it for free

I wasn't that far removed from finishing the first 5 books, so all was fresh. Was pleasantly taken back that there were 3 separate novellas that tie to each other and to the rest of the series - have to love Harry Wilson. If this is the last one (hoping not) - than was disappointed that there wasn't an update on John, Jane and Zoe. Overall a great book and a great series - would recommend it.

The End of All Things is the end of the line for the Old Man's War series and another delightful Scalzi book. Note- you basically HAVE to read all the prior book in the series first on this will not make and sense. Plus the first three book are brilliant, and you will thank me for insisting that you do so.

The great thing about John Scalzi's writing is that I enjoy it, even when it's not something I would have picked up if someone else wrote it. This man has clearly honed his craft, established a personal style, and polisher his prose. Fun to read a masterful writer at work.

The great thing about John Scalzi's writing is that I enjoy it, even when it's not something I would have picked up if someone else wrote it. This man has clearly honed his craft, established a personal style, and polisher his prose. Fun to read a masterful writer at work.

I have read most of Scalzi's stuff and loved everything except Redshirts (for a different reason) but this book is just bad.

As his writing style has evolved his actual story telling has grown shorter. There is not enough meat in the writing. Yes its three parts but it doesn't flow right. Some things don't make sense from one part to the next or it is so short he didn't take time to give us background to know what was what.

The end? Might have well said "they walked into the sunset hand in hand. The End." It was totally vanilla and not exciting at all.

I won't be buying any more of his work.

(Warning: some spoilers ahead)

Despite the dramatic title, this book is less about endings and more about finding equilibrium (with a small "e") ... picking up shortly where "The Human Division" left off, "The End of All Things" resumes with the uneasy and fragmenting relationship between the Earth, the Colonial Union, and the Conclave ... with a new group ("Equilibium") out to further disrupt this balance. Like "The Human Division", this novel is really a series of fairly self-contained novellas, each with their own protagonist and perspective. That being said, "The Human Division", while disjointed, told a gripping narrative and ended on a high note ... despite--or because of--the cliffhanger ending, I'd argue that the last chapter of that book ("Earth Below, Sky Above") was Scalzi at his best--combining humor, action, suspense, unexpected twists, and genuine peril for characters we cared about as readers. In contrast, I'd argue that while "The End of All Things" started well, by the end it had lost coherence and believability.

As is expected with Scalzi, this book was an addictive page-turner filled with action, humor, and a deceptively large amount of bigger picture ideas. Starting the novel with a new character in an unusual predicament (he's a brain in a box ... yet he's in the middle of hatching an escape plan ... all while subverting a mysterious and menacing foe!) was a gripping and interesting start. At the very end of the novel, Scalzi included an earlier draft of that chapter from a different perspective ... let's just say he wisely chose which version to include in the final novel. We move on to the perspective of Hafte Sorvalh, General Gau's right-hand woman (?) and confidant, a likable character from earlier books. Indeed, one of the most interesting aspects of this series is that in many cases the "aliens" are more likable than the humans, individually and institutionally (I'd trust the Conclave over the CU any day!). It is in this part, as we see the political wranglings and factions within the Conclave, that the long-time reader is amazed at how far this series has come--from a tightly-woven military thriller in the tradition of Heinlein, to a sprawling *political* space opera. After an unexpected and emotional event, Sorvalh finds herself in a difficult predicament. A predicament that is solved largely through sheer will-power ... which sounds nice, yet is the first of many moments to follow that seem to solve incredibly tricky situations by getting the principal actors in the room, basically deciding through sheer force of will, personality, and insight what needs to be done, and making it happen because they're all basically good people with the same vision who want to do what's best for the greater good. In other words, pretty much the complete opposite of how politics really happens ...

The third part is told by Heather Lee, who appeared in the previous book as a relatively minor but memorable character (she escaped captivity in a brothel by setting her blood on fire! How many people can say they've done THAT?). For me, at least, the transition from high level politics back to old-school boots-on-the-ground military action was a bit jarring (albeit making me a bit nostalgic for the "simpler days" of the first two books in the series--I just wish Scalzi had done this section better justice). From a narrative standpoint, this part really only serves to show that the Colonial Union is falling apart ... the characters aren't really developed, and many of the plot elements are just like those wind-powered crowd control devices--creative, humorous, but ultimately nonsensical with even a minute's contemplation.

The book is brought home by the always likable Harry Wilson ... by the way, he's really the de facto protagonist of this series now, isn't he? What happened to the Perry family!? The Consu? Hickory and Dickory? So many unanswered questions! Sorry, tangent over. Anyway, having Wilson as the narrator is good in the sense that having likable people around, like him and Abumwe, partially made up for the unraveling storylines. Equilibrium turns out to be a bunch of megalomaniac, incompetent chin-strokers and mustache-twirlers straight out of a James Bond movie (at one point Wilson idly comments that it's amazing Equilbrium was ever seen as a serious threat--the reader will immediately agree! And this is to the detriment of the story--what's the old adage about a story only being as good as its villain ...). The responsible adults get together and do the responsible things, leading to the defeat of the bad guys and yet another uneasy stalemate between Earth, the CU, and the Conclave ... a new (small-e) equilibrium is reached with the destruction of (big-e) Equilibrium. To some degree, it feels like we're kind of back where we started ... did we even "need" Equilibrium? I feel like we would've gotten to this point even without them ...

All-in-all, however, this is still an exciting, fun, page-turner--which is why I give it 4 stars despite my complaints. Scalzi at his worst is still better than most writers at their best. It just didn't quite live up to its potential. Other reviewers felt like Scalzi didn't care and was going through the motions ... to me it felt more like he was rushed, resulting in some sloppiness, and I think this infatuation with the serialized format is a big mistake at a time when the plot is getting bigger and more complicated--it makes it harder to get to "the end", whatever it might be. In the afterword, Scalzi mentions that there will be at least one more book in this series ... I look forward to seeing what comes next, but I hope he can get the quality back up to where it was at the beginning of the series. That said, it's always easier for an author to start a novel (or series) well than to end one well ... so, fingers crossed!

2.5 stars
This really feels like a book that was jammed, maybe forced together. Maybe the writer is sick of this universe and was only interested in doing it this way, with four separate voices? I can see how this could be an interesting challenge for a writer. But as a reader I was very disappointed. The characters were not especially like-able, and once you started to maybe like them, bam time for a new character. And the plot/narrative did hold together in a timeline, but I wouldn't say it was an especially tight or cohesive "novel."

I loved the Old Man's War universe and story lines, so I'm happy to get even a little more of it. Thats why this book gets as many stars as it does. If it was about anything else, and written this way, I'd give it even less stars. I have to say this format is great for commuters because it was very easy to put the book down, repeatedly. If I hadn't been sick one day it would have probably taken an extra week to get through. It just didn't really grab me. The stories were too short, and i would have much preferred a novel length outing starring Harry Wilson and Rafe. Everybody seems to agree that was the best story of the bunch, I'm not sure why he didn't/couldnt make that into a full length novel.

And the story wasn't quite the end of all things.. It should have been titled "things change." It really feels like the author just doesnt especially want to write about this anymore. He was under contract to do one more book after this and that will be a couple years later. So while I'm sure this was an ok way for him to keep interested in the subject matter and fulfill his contract it left me really underwhelmed.

Scalzi's The End of All Things winds down the (continuing) story and events from The Human Division. Lieutenant Harry Wilson, Ambassador Abumwe, Hafte Sorvalh and others seek to stave off the seemingly inevitably conclusion that the alien alliance known as the Conclave and the Colonial Union are on a course that seems to lead to their mutual obliteration. But pulling the strings of both the Conclave and the Colonial Union is a shadowy organization known as Equilibrium whose plans, should they come to fruition, may ultimately be far worse than anyone in either organization imagined.

This maybe-perhaps-possibly final tale in the Old Man's War universe was well-written with a quick pace and, of course, included Scalzi's sarcastic, quick-witted prose. Scalzi's sense of humor alone make his books worth reading though this tale did a fine job bringing the major plot lines to a reasonable conclusion. That said, the primary weak spot in the book was its ending, which while appropriate, just felt too abrupt, especially after all the solid storytelling through better than three-quarters of the book. Still, I love the Old Man's War universe and hope that Scalzi, at some point in the not-too-distant future, decides to add to the Colonial Union's story once again.

This book is actually a collection of novellas, four novellas in all with an added bonus of a different version of the first novella. It took me a while to see what Scalzi was up to. He craftily takes a character from one story and makes him the center of the next story which turned out to be great fun, just very unusual. The four stories taken together make up one continuous tale. Good. the action takes place in the universe he began with "The Old Man's War" and that he has continued in several other books.
I like his descriptions of the many alien species and their life styles. That shows great imagination. His political maneuverings would feel right at home to the Italian despots and princes of Renaissance Italy.
What I didn't like was that I could never know who was speaking. His male, female and alien characters all used the same voice and general point of view-that of sophisticated power brokers. Often I would be several pages into a character only to find her referred to by a gender adjective
. Maybe in the future such things are of no note but it confused me. I don't mind female ship captains or politicians but I want to be reminded from time to time who is who.
Still, I like his worlds. I have read others in this line and will read more which is the praise that matters.

I love this series. The first four books are fun and engaging and full of charm. The 5th book, while disjointed feeling, given that it was a series of novellas, still retained the charm and fun of the original four books.

And then we get to 'The End of All Things'... What a terrible not to end off on. The first part was great, and fun, and still showed that spark, but then in part 2, it just turned into what people used to joke about the Phantom Menace being. Basically endless conversations among politicians discussing things in uninteresting ways, ad nauseum. In Phantom Menace, it's not actually that bad and most of the movie it spent in the other parts of the story. Not so in this book. We're basically stuck with these proceedings for the entire section for what seems like hours on end (I was listening to the audiobook and it seemed like that).

I won't even comment on the audiobook issue, changing up the narrator mid stream, as that has its own set of issues. The fact that the story itself... once so engaging and full of charm, turned into a borefest of characters all blending together.

This is really where it feels like the author lost his way.

In part 3, at least things pick up, though just barely and the story still feels rather charmless. Part 4, with the return of the narrator from part 1, is ok, but rather meh.

And then you have the 'alternate version', which just had me rolling my eyes. It would have been more of the crap from part 2, it seemed. Instead of showing us what happened, as John Scalzi thankfully did in the rewritten part 1, his characters in the alternate version just talk about it, ad nauseum, with a lot of posturing.

Thankfully, he rewrote that part into the only good part of the book, but it is a shame he didn't rewrite the rest of the book. He created some new engaging characters for the last book and even one new engaging character for this one (the star of part 1), but then he made those characters all secondary in the rest of the book and everything that brought life to the series just ceased to exist. I hear he is moving on to newer and different storylines, which is good, since he clearly has lost his way in this one.

and Hart Schmidt on the back burner, who had been interesting in the previous book

I am a huge John Scalzi fan, and have enjoyed the Old Man's War series immensely. The Human Division serial novel worked. The End of All Things simply does not. The four novellas are ok, but it feels like Scalzi cheated his fans. He is at his best with character development and story-telling. The use of novellas did not permit him to flesh out characters in depth. Instead, we got a lot of politics. It was reminiscent to me of my feelings in trying to get through the Orson Scott Card "Giant" sequels to Ender's Game, Just not compelling. I understand why he did it, but it just does not work. I would have loved to see much more of Rafe (whose novella was quite good, and got me extremely excited about this book - only to be let down with the next novella) and Lt Harry Wilson.

A plea to John Scalzi -- Please, please, please --- no more serial novel/novellas in this universe. Go back to what makes you one of the best science fiction writers today -- novel-length story-telling.

So i have liked all of this series (and loved books 3 and 4). The cast here is predominantly that of book 5; the narrative is made more complex by having multiple narrators. The narrative is made—perhaps—more difficult because the reader knows that this is the last book (or the last set of novellas?). The conclusion is ambiguous, reminding me of The French Lieutenant, a 1970s novel that had multiple endings; this book doesn’t contain a selection of endings to choose from, but there is room for whatever conclusion you’d like to construct.
Engaging. Interesting world and series!

I love the Old Man's War Universe and have enjoyed each of the books in it. That being said, The End of All Things is a bit of a mixed bag. Let me qualify this by saying that my review is based on the audible version. I might of liked the written version better. We have two different narrators in the episodes that make up this book, something that usually doesn't bode well. Part are done by William Dufris and part are done by Tavi Gilbert. Dufris has read the rest of the series and has done excellent job here as well. Ms. Gilbert is an excellent narrator but, she brings a different interpretation of the characters that I didn't enjoy. Scalzi doesn't get off the hook either as he makes some changes to some key characters that really seems inconsistent. I would elaborate but, I try not to do spoilers. As you can see, my issues are clearly with the audio version. The change in narrators won't introduce any distraction in the written version.

Though the first story took a bit to get into, I really enjoyed it. The next two, however, bored me. I've loved all the books set in this world, so persisted. Still not sure I see any point to the existence of stories two & three. The final story was a bit better, but I was so done with this collection by the end of it, I couldn't force myself through the alternative story at the end.

Each time I read a John Scalzi book, I marvel again at how much I enjoy his writing style. I think I pinpointed a reason for that while reading this book. His protagonists are always intelligent people, and make few mistakes. I think it must be more fun to read about someone who always knows the right thing to do or say in any given moment. Also his characters are sarcastic. Who doesn't love a smart-smartass?
Similar to The Human Division, this book contains short stories or novellas, although The End of All Things has fewer stories than The Human Division. I found the final story, and the story about Heather Lee, a bit more difficult to get through, especially the story about Heather Lee, which starts out slow, and never seems to pick up. Also, sorry John Perry fans, he once again is only mentioned in passing. You'll have to settle for Harry Wilson.

Fans of John Scalzi who are looking for more OMW intergalactic adventure would do well to steer clear of his latest effort, in which many of the set pieces are long meetings among various diplomats and politicians who happen to be aliens. The first section, "Life of the Mind", is very well-done - great writing and plotting. But most of the rest of the "action" shifts from one conference room to another. I finished the book out of a sense of obligation more than any interest in how it turned out; by then I just wanted the characters to stop talking. It was sort of like tuning in to The Walking Dead and seeing Rick in a suit and tie, giving a Power Point presentation on reducing the walker population.

This was a nice way to round out the "Old Man's War" story. I don't think this will be the "End", but it could very well be. Like the previous book in the series, this was released first in a serialized format. I didn't think the last book lost anything for it, but this book had a stuttering quality to it and didn't have a smooth continuity. Not in any way a bad book, just not as good as many of Scalzi's other works.

I love Scalzi's characters and have grown to really appreciate many of those in this story. I am still a fan, and look forward to reading much more from Scalzi even if it isn't "Old Man's War" universe.

If I had to pick one word....er....noise.... to describe this book it would be "hrm."

More adventures in the universe of "Old Mans War", which I genuinely enjoyed but I cant help but feel that it sorta of wheezed along.

Theres some great stuff in here, there really is, as well as some great cynical ranting (my favorite of the sections was part 3, following around a CDF platoon). Its still got the dry humor and a wonderful and vivid universe, but there was just something..... off... and maybe.... tired? And I agree with another review that said it felt forced together.

Despite being written from the perspective of 4 different beings, they ALL sounded almost exactly the same. Theyre reasonably entertaining stories, but all of the characters seem to fall into one of a few rote types, and almost all of them have the same mannerisms and humor.... I realized I started at the wrong section at one point and it took me a while to realize I was dealing with a different set of characters.

Anyways. 3 Stars. Will gladly read another in the future.

I've been a fan of this series from the beginning, and this book, which may be the last one for the universe, doesn't disappoint. As a fan of seeing what goes on behind the scenes, and how political, military, and economic issues fit together, this book hit all the right notes for me. Seeing the story from first person perspectives makes these individual stories accessible, so I care about the characters and who they interact with. The last novelette brings together all the previous stories and wraps up the issues first posed in first book. Do I want to see more? Sure. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled with the series from beginning to end, and highly recommend it. If you were waiting to make sure there were no major loose ends, now is the time.

I have read all of the old mans war books and enjoyed them up to now. I think Scalzi is a good writer, but these last 2 books are really just a collection of short stories that just kind of tie together at the end. The end also seemed rushed, like he was writing and then just thought "well I better wrap this up in the next 10 pages. I have read that he does not want to get tied down to the old mans war universe, but come on if you are going to take fans money, please at least give them a real story and not a collection of half hearted short stories that you just throw together.

I'm not sure why all the good low scores, but I enjoyed this book. This is the first and only book I've read in this series, but it stands-alone just fine. Even though it's technically a science fiction book, it's really more about politics and diplomacy than anything else. You see a lot about the dark side of human nature, but you also learn about humanity's capacity to solve problems and overcome obstacles. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this book and think others will too!

Stipulated: Scalzi is a fine writer. His supple prose and keen wit kept me going to the end of "The End of All Things."

But as others have commented, I found the book too talky, with too much emphasis on politics, and not nearly enough on science fiction. At times I thought, this could have been written by Allen Drury during his SF phase, had he had one. It's not a bad book, but I struggled to stay interested when Scalzi went into the weeds on the machinations of various humans and aliens.

This is the final book in the Old Man’s War series. Told in the same style as the previous book, it involves even different ancillary characters from previous books. Scalzi does much tie together all the loose ends of the previous books, while still leaving a couple of big things to the reader to decipher how they ended. Overall, this was a good way to wrap up the series.

Book number six of a six book milsf series. This may be the last book in the series, I do not know what Scalzi's intents are. I read the MMPB printing.

A book in four parts, often called novellas. I do not know why Scalzi is writing these books in parts now but, it is distracting from the story. He even has an alternate ending for the first part.

This is the seventh and (presumably) last of the "Old Man's War" series. It is also the weakest of the group, composed of four loosely related novellas (or "novelettes?") that consist mostly of fictional aliens discussing fictional politics. The aliens, however, are not very alien and except for some odd names sound and act pretty much like humans in rubber alien suits. Now fictional politics can be engaging, even dramatic (see Drury's "Advise and Consent") but not here. The best part is when one of aliens blows himself up during yet another speech. At least we don't have to listen to him any more. The best part is the first section in which a human pilot is captured by bad aliens and used as a "brain in a box." The rest of the book, as noted, is mostly about interstellar politics. This could be very interesting if the aliens were presented as alien, the politics weren't routine and the humans didn't sound like present day Americans.

Trivia: back in the 1930s and 40s when westerns were popular the lesser ones were called "horse operas" (not a compliment). This gave rise to the term "space opera" meaning a standard western plot transformed into science fiction by calling six-shooters blasters, railroads became space ships, horses renamed gleeb mounts or something similar. You get the idea. The End of It All is essentially twentieth century politics with the numbers filed off.

Even more trivial: the term "space opera" later came to mean science fiction stories on a grandiose scale. That applies here as well.

Scalzi has clearly reached the "for the paycheck" stage of his writing. Old Man's War is used up and worn out, yet we're still getting these cranked out novels which feel like every left-over idea just cut and pasted together. This book has THREE first-person POV characters, at least. In truth I lost count as it got so confusing where we were and who we were from scene to scene. The humans get 1st person, the aliens get 1st person. That just kills any sense of time or place, kills any frame of reference. The novels narrative is certainly no help, as to call this a "novel" is very generous, as its more just a collection of separate scenes stitched together. The previous Old Mans War book was at least honest about what it was, a collection of short stories. This book is the exact same thing, just disingenuous about it.
The whole thing is very disappointing, as the heroes of the original OMW are now long gone, lost in a cast of thousands narrative that isnt worth a cast of thousands. Taking an enjoyable 1st person novel like OMW and then watering it down it into a galaxy wide saga just doesnt work.
Very sad ending to the series. At least it better be the end. I cant stand another short story collection

A wonderful conclusion (?) to the Old Man’s War series. The story is told from a few different points of view giving a more complete view of the plot. The book has Scalzi’s classic mix of sci-fi, action and humor with great and interesting characters. The story moves along well and is engaging but does loose its way a bit in the middle, however it recovers rather quickly. Overall a great and fun read.

I'm not sure why all the good low scores, but I enjoyed this book. This is the first and only book I've read in this series, but it stands-alone just fine. Even though it's technically a science fiction book, it's really more about politics and diplomacy than anything else. You see a lot about the dark side of human nature, but you also learn about humanity's capacity to solve problems and overcome obstacles. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this book and think others will too!

Stipulated: Scalzi is a fine writer. His supple prose and keen wit kept me going to the end of "The End of All Things."

But as others have commented, I found the book too talky, with too much emphasis on politics, and not nearly enough on science fiction. At times I thought, this could have been written by Allen Drury during his SF phase, had he had one. It's not a bad book, but I struggled to stay interested when Scalzi went into the weeds on the machinations of various humans and aliens.

This is the final book in the Old Man’s War series. Told in the same style as the previous book, it involves even different ancillary characters from previous books. Scalzi does much tie together all the loose ends of the previous books, while still leaving a couple of big things to the reader to decipher how they ended. Overall, this was a good way to wrap up the series.

Book number six of a six book milsf series. This may be the last book in the series, I do not know what Scalzi's intents are. I read the MMPB printing.

A book in four parts, often called novellas. I do not know why Scalzi is writing these books in parts now but, it is distracting from the story. He even has an alternate ending for the first part.

This is the seventh and (presumably) last of the "Old Man's War" series. It is also the weakest of the group, composed of four loosely related novellas (or "novelettes?") that consist mostly of fictional aliens discussing fictional politics. The aliens, however, are not very alien and except for some odd names sound and act pretty much like humans in rubber alien suits. Now fictional politics can be engaging, even dramatic (see Drury's "Advise and Consent") but not here. The best part is when one of aliens blows himself up during yet another speech. At least we don't have to listen to him any more. The best part is the first section in which a human pilot is captured by bad aliens and used as a "brain in a box." The rest of the book, as noted, is mostly about interstellar politics. This could be very interesting if the aliens were presented as alien, the politics weren't routine and the humans didn't sound like present day Americans.

Trivia: back in the 1930s and 40s when westerns were popular the lesser ones were called "horse operas" (not a compliment). This gave rise to the term "space opera" meaning a standard western plot transformed into science fiction by calling six-shooters blasters, railroads became space ships, horses renamed gleeb mounts or something similar. You get the idea. The End of It All is essentially twentieth century politics with the numbers filed off.

Even more trivial: the term "space opera" later came to mean science fiction stories on a grandiose scale. That applies here as well.

Scalzi has clearly reached the "for the paycheck" stage of his writing. Old Man's War is used up and worn out, yet we're still getting these cranked out novels which feel like every left-over idea just cut and pasted together. This book has THREE first-person POV characters, at least. In truth I lost count as it got so confusing where we were and who we were from scene to scene. The humans get 1st person, the aliens get 1st person. That just kills any sense of time or place, kills any frame of reference. The novels narrative is certainly no help, as to call this a "novel" is very generous, as its more just a collection of separate scenes stitched together. The previous Old Mans War book was at least honest about what it was, a collection of short stories. This book is the exact same thing, just disingenuous about it.
The whole thing is very disappointing, as the heroes of the original OMW are now long gone, lost in a cast of thousands narrative that isnt worth a cast of thousands. Taking an enjoyable 1st person novel like OMW and then watering it down it into a galaxy wide saga just doesnt work.
Very sad ending to the series. At least it better be the end. I cant stand another short story collection

A wonderful conclusion (?) to the Old Man’s War series. The story is told from a few different points of view giving a more complete view of the plot. The book has Scalzi’s classic mix of sci-fi, action and humor with great and interesting characters. The story moves along well and is engaging but does loose its way a bit in the middle, however it recovers rather quickly. Overall a great and fun read.

The first thing to know about “The End of All Things” is that if you haven’t read the Old Man’s War series, this is not the place to start. John Scalzi has created a true “Space Opera” universe populated by fascinating characters with a deep and broad history. Many of those characters return in “The End of All Things” and the story will resonate much more revisiting old friends and understanding the history. At minimum you need to read “The Human Division” which was the ‘reboot’ of the series after the original trilogy (I don’t count “Zoe’s Tale” as part of the original :))

For those like me who have been anxiously awaiting “The End of All Things”, I have to say that while I liked it is not my favorite by any means. My primary issue is the four novellas, four different narrators structure. While that works for each individual novella, when combined as one book it loses the narrative flow of other books in the series and has much less impact. We are already familiar with two of the four narrators, Hafte Sorvahl and Harry Wilson, and it was easy to reconnect with those old friends. And I quickly came to love Rafe Daquin, the narrator of the first novella which I found to be best of the four. But we just don’t get enough time with the third narrator, Heather Lee to really engage. As a result the third novella was more a collection of random events and philosophy than a push to move the story forward.

At the end of the book the author shares an early version of “Life of The Mind”- the final product was much better :)

So while I found parts of “The End of All Things” powerful (Rafe’s story, General Gau) and really loved getting a chance to revisit Harry and the Old Man’s War universe, it just didn’t have the impact of the rest of the series. But I hope that this isn't the last of the series. I would definitely want to visit again.

Edit to add: I just took a look at the author’s blog and this is NOT the final book. (Yea!) To quote:
I’m very happy with The End of All Things — it’s not the last Old Man’s War book ever (my Tor contract specifies at least one more), but it’s likely to be the last one for a few years. (I've removed the last sentence from his post which might be considered a minor spoiler)

Not much to say other than it ties up most loose ends. About the only thing missing is a "where are they now" tidbit about the original protagonists from the first 4 books. Aside from that, great writing, solid sci-fi, and a satisfying conclusion (all things considered). Would definitely recommend for fans of the other books.

This starts as decent but pretty standard sci-fi, then goes off the rails into aimless, needless proselytizing. By part 2 it has become less a story and more a lecture. It's not what I was looking for in the genre.

I LIKE the Old Man's War Universe. I loved Zoe'sTale, loved Locked In. But there are times when Scalzi is clearly writing simply to pay the mortgage. This is one of those times. The End of All Things is a boring political tract, cobbled together from almost unrelated novellas. Endless blah-blah-blah dialog, by characters created in other books. So, if you haven't read the other books, there's no character development, which just leaves the blah-blah-blah. Scalzi, you can do better. So DO BETTER !

The End of All Things (2015) is the sixth SF volume in the Old Man's War universe, following The Human Division. It contains four related novellas and the first chapter of an alternative version.

- "The Life of the Mind" is about a brain in a box. Rafe Daquin is a pilot who didn't do his research before taking a job on the Lastan Falls. He had to buy back his contract from Captain Ostrander.

He has been out of work for nine months because Ostrander has been blackballing him. Luckily the Chandler XO has prior experience with his former captain. Rafe is hired as the third pilot.

The Assistant Secretary of State of the Colonial Union -- Tyson Ocampo -- is going on vacation. He buys a ticket on the Chandler to go to Huckleberry. He has a little talk with the captain of the Chandler before the ship goes through the Jump.

- "This Hollow Union" tells the story of Hafte Sorvalh, a Lalan female. She is the special assistant to General Gau, the founder and leader of the Conclave. She has always been an advisor and never a leader.

The Conclave is being visited by delegates from Earth and the Colonial Union. Information from Ocampo has been received by various members of the Conclave. Gau has been informed that the CU has a different version of the data.

The Odhiambo was attacked within the system. The CU delegation was onboard the ship. Various systems on the ship were destroyed. It was now on a path toward the Conclave asteroid.

Gau decides to send a rescue party. However, the CU delegation was already being rescued by a party from the Chandler. The Colonial Defense Forces were already onboard and putting the Earth delegation in spacesuits.

- "Can Long Endure" follows CDF Lieutenant Lee as she leads her platoon in various engagements against rebelling colonies. The first affair is on Franklin. She drops on the global capital with a fireteam and threatens the legislature with loss of their lives, fortunes and honor.

Then she takes the fireteam to Kyoto to kill a sniper. Wallace wants to drop the entire building with the sniper inside. Lee decides to mark the sniper with trackers.

The next assignment takes the full platoon to Kyiv. They are reinforcing the police outside the CU administrative skyscraper. They are using hurricane funnels to blow the protesters back from the building.

The team decides that the CDF is not handling the root problems, but just putting out fires. They become more disgruntled at each planet. Then they drop on Khartoum.

- "To Stand or Fall" brings CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson to Khartoum in the Chandler. The first thing they did was to destroy two ships that were shooting at the Tubingen. Then they check the condition of the CDF ship.

The Tubingen was a wreak. The only systems working were emergency power and lights. The engines were not repairable without a spacedock. The ship was written off the books.

The two survivors of the platoon sent after the prime minister had brought him back to orbit. Wilson interrogates the prisoners. The Rraey commander was wounded, but the Rraey specialist was uninjured. The politician was willing to talk after Wilson pushes the right buttons.

- An Alternate "The Life of the Mind" was composed from the discards. It features Rafe, but the other characters are different. It terminates with the Jump.

These tales portray the political problems of the Earth, CU and the Conclave. Something has to be done or all three are going to dissolve. Ambassadors Abumwe and Lowen meet with Sorvalh to discuss ways and means.

The next installment in this sequence has not yet been announced on the store.

These novellas provide a view of the three powers. They show the problems of each. Earth remains much the same as it is now, but the CU and the Conclave are both breaking into various factions. Yet a few people want to build a better galaxy and oppose the splinter groups.

Highly recommended for Scalzi fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of political intrigue, armed combat, and a bit of romance. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

This can be read as a novel, or as what it is: a collection of four connected novellas. It's also a direct sequel to the similarly-constructed The Human Division.

"The Life of the Mind"--Rafe Daquin is a pilot on the Colonial Union freighter Chandler, when it is commandeered for a special mission by the Colonial Union's Assistant Secretary of State Tyson Ocampo. In short order, most of the crew is dead, Rafe is a brain in a box installed in Chandler, and he knows a great deal about a conspiracy aimed at destabilizing both the Colonial Union and the alien Conclave. Scalzi very effectively gives us Rafe's experience of waking up and realizing that he can feel nothing physical. Even his terror fails to produce normal physical effects. Then we experience with Rafe his discover of what's going on, who's behind it, and what, exactly, are his opportunities to do something about it.

"The Hollow Union"--Secretary Ocampo's carefully doctored report, as well as Rafe's undoctored version, have both been released and beamed to as many places as possible. It's wreaking political havoc in the Conclave, and Councilor Sorvalh has to help General Gau maneuver through the chaos and keep the Conclave together--if that is even possible. This is a very nice exploration of the twisty, complicated politics of the Conclave, but also a wonderful character study of Sorvalh herself.

"Can Long Endure"--Colonial Defense Forces Lieutenant Heather Lee and her platoon get a series of assignments crushing rebellions and attempts at secession from the Colonial Union by various colony worlds. Mostly, it only takes Lee and her own squad. As the problems get worse, and bigger, and they have to kill CU civilians who aren't part of any big conspiracy, but just frustrated by the admittedly deceptive and duplicitous Colonial Union government, they start to wonder if they're doing more harm than good. Lee in particular has to do some serious soul-searching and make some critical decisions.

"To Stand or Fall"--Our old friend Lieutenant Harry Wilson, who has had smaller roles in the earlier stories in The End of All Things, finds he's in the middle of the mess created by the Ocampo report and the Equilibrium conspiracy, and if he, Schmidt, Abumwe, and the rest of their team don't create a solution, they're facing the possible extinction of the human race. It's not that Sorvalh wants to commit genocide; it's that the maneuvering of the Equilibrium, and the Conclave's internal stresses, may leave her no choice. This is a dandy visit with some of the most familiar characters from The Human Division.

It all hangs together very well, and moves the overall story of the Old Man's War universe forward in useful and interesting ways. Scalzi deals with the moral ambiguity of the Colonial Union, evident even in Old Man's War, with subtlety and clarity.

I think this is best considered as a set of four novellas, rather than a novel, and that's probably how I'll approach it when Hugo nominating season comes around.

Recommended.

I bought this book.

It seems like this was written to fulfill a contract rather than something he did out of enthusiasm. He shouldn't have written it, kind of leaves a bad aftertaste like stale wine or guests who've overstayed their welcome.

Scalzi is the classic case of discovering more of the author's personality killing the enjoyment of his work for me. I fell in love with the OMW universe ages ago and really enjoyed those stories--but now his SJW preoccupations are just so grating. He preens about being so open minded. He just really gets on my nerves now.

The bit about the "interesting life" adage and how "the Chinese never said something so foolish." C'mon dude? Really? I'm pretty sure the Chinese have their own fair share of xenophobic morons, just like everyone else. I really don't get it. It's like he's been locked inside the echo chamber for so long and lovingly coddled by his "mallet of loving correction" that the confirmation bias is so deeply ingrained...and most of his social views I don't even dispute, but his way of setting up stupid strawman situations for his protagonists to knock down.

The sniper scene critiquing the US military efforts in the ME-he knows f*** all about being in that situation, and it shows that he gave it very little thought beyond his narrow views.

Beyond those irritants that are largely personal and other readers mileage may vary on-hey whatever floats your boat-all my own opinion here. But he really seemed to phone in the writing. A few good twists, but the dialogue is s***. He's seriously got to work on differentiating his characters styles and tone, or just except that his only strong style is first person POV stories that keep you locked into a consistent narrative. Honestly, when an alien politician, brain in a box pilot, genetically modified soldier, and a handful of ambassadors all have the same voice...then it starts to get a little preachy and displays full-on apathy from a writer who has displayed some serious writing chops in the past.

This book picks up right where the last novel in the main-line series left off. It fills in the holes in some of the stories (I can't go into the details without spoilers.), and re-introduces us to some characters which should be familiar to readers of the earlier works. Like the others in the series, it is a page-turner.

This can be read as a novel, or as what it is: a collection of four connected novellas. It's also a direct sequel to the similarly-constructed The Human Division.

"The Life of the Mind"--Rafe Daquin is a pilot on the Colonial Union freighter Chandler, when it is commandeered for a special mission by the Colonial Union's Assistant Secretary of State Tyson Ocampo. In short order, most of the crew is dead, Rafe is a brain in a box installed in Chandler, and he knows a great deal about a conspiracy aimed at destabilizing both the Colonial Union and the alien Conclave. Scalzi very effectively gives us Rafe's experience of waking up and realizing that he can feel nothing physical. Even his terror fails to produce normal physical effects. Then we experience with Rafe his discover of what's going on, who's behind it, and what, exactly, are his opportunities to do something about it.

"The Hollow Union"--Secretary Ocampo's carefully doctored report, as well as Rafe's undoctored version, have both been released and beamed to as many places as possible. It's wreaking political havoc in the Conclave, and Councilor Sorvalh has to help General Gau maneuver through the chaos and keep the Conclave together--if that is even possible. This is a very nice exploration of the twisty, complicated politics of the Conclave, but also a wonderful character study of Sorvalh herself.

"Can Long Endure"--Colonial Defense Forces Lieutenant Heather Lee and her platoon get a series of assignments crushing rebellions and attempts at secession from the Colonial Union by various colony worlds. Mostly, it only takes Lee and her own squad. As the problems get worse, and bigger, and they have to kill CU civilians who aren't part of any big conspiracy, but just frustrated by the admittedly deceptive and duplicitous Colonial Union government, they start to wonder if they're doing more harm than good. Lee in particular has to do some serious soul-searching and make some critical decisions.

"To Stand or Fall"--Our old friend Lieutenant Harry Wilson, who has had smaller roles in the earlier stories in The End of All Things, finds he's in the middle of the mess created by the Ocampo report and the Equilibrium conspiracy, and if he, Schmidt, Abumwe, and the rest of their team don't create a solution, they're facing the possible extinction of the human race. It's not that Sorvalh wants to commit genocide; it's that the maneuvering of the Equilibrium, and the Conclave's internal stresses, may leave her no choice. This is a dandy visit with some of the most familiar characters from The Human Division.

It all hangs together very well, and moves the overall story of the Old Man's War universe forward in useful and interesting ways. Scalzi deals with the moral ambiguity of the Colonial Union, evident even in Old Man's War, with subtlety and clarity.

I think this is best considered as a set of four novellas, rather than a novel, and that's probably how I'll approach it when Hugo nominating season comes around.

Recommended.

I bought this book.

The first book in this series "The Human Division" did not review particularly well. More than 56% of reviewers rated it lower than 5-Star. My own review for the first book was also 3-Star (same as this one). The reason is pretty simple ... both books are well-written and edited, but lack the power, creativity, action and adventure that most good novels in this genre tend to consistently produce. Both books contain too much "smart-alec dialog" which quickly becomes tiresome as many other readers also did not care for, myself included. Most important, neither the author nor publisher warn you in advance that these books are part of a series. The books have no conclusive ending. That means if a reader is looking for closure in the story, they will need to buy the next sequel. Many other readers have stated in their review of the first novel "Human Division" that this was very off-putting. I found the same to be true with both books.

Warning: My copy of this preview included the first story in the collection, The Life of the Mind, and the second, The Hollow Union. I will be basing my review on these two stories.

The Life of the Mind, the first story in John Scalzi's new collection The End of All Things, picks up where the last book in the Old Man's War series, The Human Division, left off. The main character is a pilot named Rafe Daquin. He is, quite literally, a brain in a box. How he got there and what he does is the crux of the story.

Rafe makes for a fascinating point of view character, as he is rather limited in what he can do and where he can go due to his being just a brain. However, he is connected to his ship, the Chandler. He is a slave to the Rraey, an alien race who opposes the Colonial Union as a member of the group called Equilibrium. Daquin's resourcefulness and intelligence make him an ideal narrator, and his desire for revenge serves to propel the plot along. There are also some appearances by some of the major characters in previous stories, which helps tie in Rafe's tale to the greater whole.

Scalzi's writing style is in full force here, with Daquin's humor and sarcasm, along with some fun reveals.

The second story, The Hollow Union, focuses on the Conclave, a coalition of alien worlds in opposition to the Colonial Union. This story runs somewhat concurrently to The Life of the Mind in the Old Man's War timeline.

The point of view character in The Hollow Union is Hafte Sorvalh. She is the second in command (almost like a chief of staff) to General Tarsem Gau, the leader of the Conclave. The story consists of Sorvalh dealing with several disputes of a more political nature, including what to do with Earth, who isn't fond of the Colonial Union but is still full of humans, much to the chagrin of many of the Conclave member races. As a conspiracy reveals itself, Sorvalh is put in a precarious position.

Again, Scalzi strays from the typical human narrator, but his style works very well with this. As in The Life of the Mind, the uniqueness of his protagonists, combined with their very specific voices, is one of the best parts of his writing. Scazi also does a great job building up suspense and paying it off without the reader feeling cheated or talked down to.

I would highly recommend The End of All Things to readers/fans of John Scalzi's Old Man's War series. It isn't really the best place to jump into the series, but if you're a fan of what came before, you'll love this book too.

I received a preview copy of this book from Tor/Macmillian in exchange for an honest review.

I'm really fed up with fake reviews. I was reading the latest reviews for The End of All Things and they were really low compared with the overall 4 star rating of this book. So I skipped down and found garbage review after garbage review all 4 and 5 stars: "Scalzi did it again, great book", "my new favorite scifi author!", "excellent read i want more", "Enjoy all things Scalzi", "Scalzi delivers again"... and it goes on and on. Come on! Why does a good author need fake reviews and who's doing them? Unfortunately, there are just too many items on the store that resort to this. Maybe this book is good and maybe it isn't, but I am boycotting all products that have fake reviews and it starts here.