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More than a year after the latest installment in John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series was published and I finally got around to reading it! And it did not disappoint.
Like the last book, this novel is a compilation of novellas that were published a couple months before the full book came out. I don’t know if it was Scalzi’s idea or Tor’s to do it that way, but either way I admire their willingness to experiment with new things in book sales in the wake of the ebook revolution. Lots of authors are trying new things when it comes to their book marketing, but they’re mostly self-published authors. It’s rare for a publishing house to do much of anything that can be considered innovative, so props to Tor for getting ahead of the game (or at least in the game).
The novellas are all closely related enough that it’s not a stretch to consider them as all being part of an overarching story, but each novella is told from a different perspective. It starts with Daquin telling the reader how he was turned into a brain in a box after his ship was captured and how he escaped and made it back to the Colonial Union with extremely valuable information.
The next story is told from the point of view of a higher up in the Conclave: Gau’s second in command. Then we get an inside look at a Colonial Defense Forces (CDF) platoon as they run around from planet to planet controlling riots and putting down rebellions. Harry Wilson makes an appearance in each novella and the final one is told from his point of view.
Essentially, while the Colonial Union is busy dealing with the aftermath from Earth cutting off all ties with the CU and also trying to work on its rocky relationship with the Conclave, it turns out the Conclave is having its own internal issues, and just to make things more fun, there’s another secret association of human and various alien races that is working to take down both the CU and the Conclave. Fortunately, thanks to the inside information provided by Daquin and some other captives, the CU manages to get ahead of the problem, warn the Conclave, and enlist their help to save Earth.
First of all, I’m not sure why Scalzi insisted on calling it “the Earth” when I think the proper noun eliminates the need for “the,” but that minor issue aside, I loved this book. Aside from the fact that it was as fun, fast-paced, and sarcastic as all his other works, I think his portrayal of the CU is nothing short of masterful.
Because he tells his story from multiple viewpoints, we get to sympathize with the aliens who think the CU is an evil and dangerous force that needs to be stopped. The CU has also intentionally kept the Earth in the dark so they can use it as a source for soldiers and colonists, which is also definitely not appropriate for “good” status.
But we also get to see the lives of soldiers working in the CDF, and even some of the diplomats who are trying to put out the fires created by some of the information that has come to light. Granted, not everything is the CU’s fault. The union got blamed for a massive attack on their space station right above Earth. They were not responsible, but they’ve done enough questionable things that it’s still hard to blame Earth for taking a break from its relationship with the CU.
Even some of the soldiers working for the CU start to question what’s going on. A number of them are content to simply focus on the job at hand without thinking further into it, but Scalzi’s characters are rarely stupid. Most of them can’t help but question what it is they’re really doing and what exactly has the CU gotten them into?
My other favorite part about Scalzi’s writing is how human his characters are and how easy it is to understand their motivations. I think it’s best exemplified in the first novella in which Daquin escapes from his captors, attacks them, managing to do major damage, and takes information and a captive back to the CU. It’s explained that Daquin doesn’t do any of this out of loyalty to the CU. At no point does he think, “Oh my God, I have to warn them!” Instead, his thinking is more along the lines of, “You fucktards messed with the wrong pilot!” Just about everything he does from there is not for the sake of the CU, but to get revenge on the ones who killed his whole crew, turned him into a brain in a box, and tried to send him on a suicide mission. It’s not rational. But it is human.
The book ends with the CU promising to make some serious changes to its structure, because if it doesn’t, everyone (including other humans) will turn against it and it will die. The last line of the book is Schmidt asking, “So, what’s next?” which I hope is a lead in to another book, but it’s pretty ambiguous. Scalzi could easily leave this series where it is and go on to write other stuff, but I sincerely hope that’s not the case because I want more!
What did you guys read this week? Any other potential series finales?