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thebradking 's review for:
The Human Division
by John Scalzi
There are two major changes in [a:John Scalzi|4763|John Scalzi|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1562613145p2/4763.jpg]'s book [b:The Human Division|15698479|The Human Division (Old Man's War, #5)|John Scalzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1341582413l/15698479._SY75_.jpg|21356077]. First, the series moves away from the Perry family's point-of-view in this story and replaces them with Harry Wilson, a wise-cracking Colonial Defense Force soldier. Second, this is a serial, which means the stories–while connected the universe—aren't necessarily narratively related to each other. Instead, we're treated to a series of episodes with Harry and the misfit B-team.
As with [b:Zoe's Tale|2102600|Zoe's Tale (Old Man's War, #4)|John Scalzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1301108028l/2102600._SX50_.jpg|18280032], I had to ease into this new storytelling mechanism. Once I got passed the jolt, I enjoyed the short stories (which is really how I experienced them) and I appreciated that Scalzi didn't just continue retreading the Old Man's War series framework. I usually ditch other series around book four or five for just that reason.
The other part I enjoyed was the focus on the Earth-Colonial Union galaxy-politics instead of expanding to the Conclave or other species. The move made the story feel smaller and more intimate, as much as one can do that in a galactic space opera.
Since this was serialized, there are moments when—reading it as a collective novel—I could feel the different tones happening in the stories. But, that's a minor writer-nerd quibble and not something that got in the way of my enjoyment.
All told, this was a fine addition to the series, and I'm looking forward to Harry Wilson's next adventures.
As with [b:Zoe's Tale|2102600|Zoe's Tale (Old Man's War, #4)|John Scalzi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1301108028l/2102600._SX50_.jpg|18280032], I had to ease into this new storytelling mechanism. Once I got passed the jolt, I enjoyed the short stories (which is really how I experienced them) and I appreciated that Scalzi didn't just continue retreading the Old Man's War series framework. I usually ditch other series around book four or five for just that reason.
The other part I enjoyed was the focus on the Earth-Colonial Union galaxy-politics instead of expanding to the Conclave or other species. The move made the story feel smaller and more intimate, as much as one can do that in a galactic space opera.
Since this was serialized, there are moments when—reading it as a collective novel—I could feel the different tones happening in the stories. But, that's a minor writer-nerd quibble and not something that got in the way of my enjoyment.
All told, this was a fine addition to the series, and I'm looking forward to Harry Wilson's next adventures.