The Ghost Brigades cover art

The Ghost Brigades

Old Man's War, Book 2

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The Ghost Brigades

By: John Scalzi
Narrated by: William Dufris
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About this listen

The military SF sequel to his extraordinary Old Man's War, John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades is the second in The Old Man's War series.

Who can you trust, if you can't trust yourself?

Three hostile alien races have united against humanity, determined to halt our expansion into space. The mastermind behind this lethal alliance is a traitor Charles Boutin. He was a Colonial Defence Force scientist, with access to their biggest military secrets. Now the CDF's only hope is to discover Boutin's plan. Trouble is, Boutin's dead.

As a super soldier created from Boutin's own DNA, Jared Dirac may have answers. However, when Dirac fails to access the scientist's memories, he's transferred to the Ghost Brigades for training. These elite troops are also cloned from the dead, so he might fit in. But will Dirac's memory return as the enemy plots the fate of humankind? And whose side is Dirac really on?

Continue the gripping space war series with The Last Colony.

©2008 Macmillan Audio (P)2008 Macmillan Audio Fantasy Fiction Humorous Military Science Fiction Space Opera War Comedy Haunted

Critic Reviews

"A mix of Starship Troopers and Universal Soldier, Ghost evokes awakening, betrayal, and combat in the best military sci-fi tradition." ( Entertainment Weekly)
"Scalzi's prose harkens back to the Golden Age of science fiction while still remaining fresh and vibrant ( Strange Horizons)
"Like Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades is thinking fans' space opera.... The Ghost Brigades maintains Scalzi's standing as one of SF's most rewarding purveyors of thrilling, gut-wrenching, and thoughtful space opera." ( SF Reviews)
"If anyone stands at the core of the American science fiction tradition at the moment, it is Scalzi." ( The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction)
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New to this series, but very addictive and fun! Enjoyed the back story, new character and ending.

Back story to the ghosts

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Science fiction at its best! well rounded characters, great plot and ties in nicely in the series. This author hasn't let me down yet. Will be buying and reading the next book in this series.

Science fiction at its best

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Rather a lot of She said he said she said he said. If you can get over that, it’s an excellent and exciting story.

She said he said

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Excellent story, great narration, believable with some deep science (ish), looking forward to the next book. Worth a listen for sure

Science fiction with a heart

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Well written and well told.

I was a captured audience from the first 5 mins. would stay awake just to be able to listen more.

I loved the naked truth of life story told as matter of fact.

A most excellent story

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… the tone of the character’s voices can be quite jarring. Often Jarrod comes across as a whiny teenager. When the performer is reading sex scenes, or alluding to the act (which happens quite frequently) the voice he puts on, especially for the female characters, sounds like your alcoholic aunt’s best friend (who hasn’t had any action since her divorce 15 years ago) trying to drum up some much needed action at a family get together. While trying to emulate genetically engineered, highly sexy and sexual characters, it’s just not the voice performance to match unfortunately.

Good reading, but…

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The next story in the old man's war universe delivers in spades! Continuing along the timeline, but not the protagonist, from the first book delves the listener into the special forces and fleshes out what makes them special and vulnerable at the same time.

Love this universe.

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Good to see new ideas. I WISH that American readers would learn to say "MIRROR" not "meor". I mean, seriously.

Mostly good

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Once again John takes you on a journey wrapped in a great story to investigate what makes an individual. Carrying on from his previous book, The Old Man’s War, he’s capture your imagination as a well as your security.

The quality of Narration is also of a very high standard.

Overall, most enjoyable.

Great combination of sci-fi and philosophy

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The second part of the series does not continue the characters from the first part but introduce new characters who are only related to the actors from the first book. The story is exiting enough but feels at times a bit dragged out and complicated. Apart from this a very good book again.

The first part was better but still it’s a very good story

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