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destrier 's review for:
The Human Division
by John Scalzi
This is 13 short stories set in the Old Man's War universe that collectively form a narrative arc centered around the series recurring characters Wilson and Schmidt.
Scalzi handles the "episodic" format well. He gives each story a unique tone and mixes humor, awe, cleverness, and badassery. It doesn't feel like TV show episodes or like a serialized novel, but a collection.
I found the strongest short stories to be the ones that aren't about the recurring characters. Unfortunately that includes the opening story, which assumes you already know and care about them. I was mostly confused during the first story because despite having read most of this series, that reading was spread over a lot of time and the characters are all so similar to each other that I had a hard time just keeping track of what was happening and who was who.
I skimmed one of the middle chapters about a family holiday, and wish I'd skimmed the shock-jock story (which was well done, but means reading an entire chapter from an irritating character's point of view, including their rants).
Scalzi handles the "episodic" format well. He gives each story a unique tone and mixes humor, awe, cleverness, and badassery. It doesn't feel like TV show episodes or like a serialized novel, but a collection.
I found the strongest short stories to be the ones that aren't about the recurring characters. Unfortunately that includes the opening story, which assumes you already know and care about them. I was mostly confused during the first story because despite having read most of this series, that reading was spread over a lot of time and the characters are all so similar to each other that I had a hard time just keeping track of what was happening and who was who.
I skimmed one of the middle chapters about a family holiday, and wish I'd skimmed the shock-jock story (which was well done, but means reading an entire chapter from an irritating character's point of view, including their rants).