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trike 's review for:
The Human Division
by John Scalzi
To quote another reviewer: If you like Scalzi's Old Man's War, you'll like this. I did, and I do.
Released as a 13-part ebook serial, this book reads more like a series of interconnected short stories than a novel with a cohesive narrative. It feels a lot like classic Niven at the top of his game working his magic in Known Space. Since I love short stories and classic Niven, I'm okay with this.
Some of the tales are straight up space opera, a couple are mysteries, some are stylistic exercises, a couple are downright hilarious. This lends to the somewhat disjointed feel to the book, despite the fact we follow three or four main characters throughout much of it.
There are a couple weak entries in the book, but overall it's quite good. My only reason for giving this 4 stars rather than 5 is that we never find out whodunit. There's an over-arching mystery at work here with a shadowy organization causing trouble among our four main divisions: the Earth (now independent from the Colonial Union), the Colonial Union (trying desperately to get back in Earth's good graces), the 400-alien-race strong Conclave and the 200-odd races who are as yet unaffiliated. Someone seems hell-bent on starting a war. All we can say with reasonable accuracy is that it isn't the Earthlings, since the CU has kept Earth ignorant and powerless for more than 200 years.
Minor spoiler about the title here:
Since Scalzi seems to have set himself up for a sequel, I hope it comes sooner rather than later. I really enjoy spending time in this universe.
Here's the bonus short story at the end of the book, available for free at Tor.com. This actually happens *before* the events in the story: http://www.tor.com/stories/2008/07/after-the-coup
Released as a 13-part ebook serial, this book reads more like a series of interconnected short stories than a novel with a cohesive narrative. It feels a lot like classic Niven at the top of his game working his magic in Known Space. Since I love short stories and classic Niven, I'm okay with this.
Some of the tales are straight up space opera, a couple are mysteries, some are stylistic exercises, a couple are downright hilarious. This lends to the somewhat disjointed feel to the book, despite the fact we follow three or four main characters throughout much of it.
There are a couple weak entries in the book, but overall it's quite good. My only reason for giving this 4 stars rather than 5 is that we never find out whodunit. There's an over-arching mystery at work here with a shadowy organization causing trouble among our four main divisions: the Earth (now independent from the Colonial Union), the Colonial Union (trying desperately to get back in Earth's good graces), the 400-alien-race strong Conclave and the 200-odd races who are as yet unaffiliated. Someone seems hell-bent on starting a war. All we can say with reasonable accuracy is that it isn't the Earthlings, since the CU has kept Earth ignorant and powerless for more than 200 years.
Minor spoiler about the title here:
Spoiler
The book's title comes from the focus of the four main divisions: that of the Earth and the Colonial Union. Like a lot of the twists both major and minor in the book, the "human division" is the one Scalzi is focused on. Said division is also occurring within those two polities, since, you know, people are people and they'll find any reason to argue.Since Scalzi seems to have set himself up for a sequel, I hope it comes sooner rather than later. I really enjoy spending time in this universe.
Here's the bonus short story at the end of the book, available for free at Tor.com. This actually happens *before* the events in the story: http://www.tor.com/stories/2008/07/after-the-coup