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jgolomb's review
4.0
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Short Story from Terrific Author, July 30, 2010
This review is from: After the Coup: A Tor.Com Original (Kindle Edition)
"After the Coup" is a short story set in the same world as John Scalzi's "Old Man's War", and its' sequels "Ghost Brigade", "Last Colony" and "Zoe's Tale". While the focus is on one of Scalzi's minor characters from the first two books, this is really just a fun snippet of interplanetary diplomatic relations resolved by good old-fashioned alien vs. human hand-to-hand combat.
Scalzi always writes amazing character dialogue and fully half of this 20-page story is a simple discussion. In the conversation, Scalzi's able to subtly but clearly set exposition, motivation and the structure for the story itself. And he does it with his usual humor, which typically draws out a couple of laugh-out-louds.
The battle scene is creative, sharply written, and comes to a satisfactory conclusion.
I highly recommend this book. And what's to stop you? It's only a dollar.
benbert's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
wordwrestler's review
4.0
Excellent teaser for the Old Man’s War series, the first of which I’m currently in line for.
merrinish's review
4.0
Short fiction about a diplomatic incident involving Harry Wilson. Really, really funny, but would probably only make sense if you've read at least Old Man's War.
cesarbustios's review
4.0
I absolutely love the Old Man's War universe. I can keep reading and reading non-stop.
A short story featuring Harry Wilson, one of the original members of the "Old Farts", in which he is asked to fight a member of the korban race in an attempt to save a diplomatic mission. An invitation for the next book.
A short story featuring Harry Wilson, one of the original members of the "Old Farts", in which he is asked to fight a member of the korban race in an attempt to save a diplomatic mission. An invitation for the next book.
par3's review
5.0
4.75 Stars! Fun and exciting little short story. It was included at the end of my copy of The Human Division.
Read: 3/28/21
Read: 3/28/21
shanhaddock's review
5.0
I've read other things by John Scalzi and while they were enjoyable, I couldn't understand why people loved his fiction so much. (His blog is a different thing entirely. I totally get why people love it.) With this story, I begin to understand. The dialogue was the best part, but everything about this story was great. I loved the surprise towards the end of the fight, and how the main character dealt with it.
This story stands alone really well, though I'm sure I would've understood more about the underlying situation if I was more familiar with the setting.
This story stands alone really well, though I'm sure I would've understood more about the underlying situation if I was more familiar with the setting.