The Human Division: Old Man's War, Book 5

Episode 8 is hilarious! John Scalzi has a way of winding short stories together in an interesting and unique way. Awesome read and I can wait to keep reading more of this excellent author!

Graham Greene, the magnificent English author from the 20th century, claimed he wrote both serious fiction (e.g., The Power and the Glory) and "entertainments" (e.g., Our Man in Havana). Scalzi writes an "entertainment" here.This is cotton candy summer beach writing at its best. Fun, fast, sets up the sequel. BUT these aren't "real people" and everything is too perfect. Especially the witty snappy dialog that could come from a sitcom at times.These are really a collection of short stories strung out to move the plot and make some laughs, all to set up the final book.I originally read the first 3 books in the series way back in the day and thoroughly enjoyed them. Then bought the fourth, yet never read it, and decided recently I should finish the series. (I'll read Zoe's Tale last.)Now on to the final entry....

No spoilers.Not an original idea, this book is not a novel but a series of novellas and short stories published separately over a 3 month period then brought together to become the 5th book in the Old Man's War series. As a novel it doesn't really work. The overarching plot of the series isn't really focused on or brought much forward. As 13 (+2 "Extras") individual stories set in the Old Man's War universe, most are really good, some are OK, a couple are passable, and one is just dumb (Hello "The Dog King"). The most entertaining of these stories involve Lt Harry Wilson and Hart Schmidt, especially when Ambassador Abumwe and her sardonic wit is also involved (in my head while reading, I think of Angela Bassett portraying Abumwe). They make for quite the comedic team. At times, Harry's and Hart's relationship is almost rom-com-like. The overall plot of the series is not completely ignored, and it does move along slightly though by the end of this book not enough to consider it a true sequel in the series. And though I mostly enjoyed the stories and the writing, there was nothing at the end to really tie all of the stories together. There is a big event, but that really only brings to conclusion (within the book, not the series) about half of the included stories' threads, leaving others for the next book? Maybe?In all, if you like Scalzi's writing style or like the universe he's created for this series you should like this book.My ratings of the individual stories averaged 4.1 stars, broken down thus:1: The B-Team - ★★★★★2: Walk the Plank - ★★★3: We Only Need the Heads - ★★★★4: A Voice in the Wilderness - ★★★5: Tales from the Clarke - ★★★★★6: The Back Channel - ★★★★★7: The Dog King - ★1/28: The Sound of Rebellion - ★★★★★9: The Observers - ★★★★★10: This Must Be the Place - ★★★★★11: A Problem of Proportion - ★★★★12: The Gentle Art of Cracking Heads - ★★★★★13: The Earth Below, Sky Above - ★★★★Extra 1: After the Coup - ★★★★Extra 2: Hafte Sorvahl Eats a Churro and Speaks to the Youth of Today - ★★★

Ever feel hungry, eat some snacks, and then realize that while you enjoyed the snack, it just didn't hit the spot? The Human Division is just like that.The Human Division is a collection of related short stories by John Scalzi, set in the same universe of Old Man's War, but without the same driving narrative of the Old Man's War novels. Instead, each story focuses on the activities of a particular character or set of characters as part of an overall storyline. Because it's a collection of short stories, the book ends with no real resolution and instead functions as a set up for the sequel novel due later in 2015.The title itself refers not to a group of fighting humans, but instead the division between Earth-humans and Colonial-humans. A back-knowledge of the Old Man's War universe is not necessary, but the book will be a lot more enjoyable if you read Scalzi's prior works.While the stories are interesting and enjoyable, by the end of the book, you can't help but feel like this book was released simply to squeeze a bit more money from readers/fans without having to do a lot of work by writing a whole novel-length story with a real beginning and end. The short story format is a great format, but placing it into a book format without a really good short story to properly tie it off takes away from the promise implied by a novel-length collection. Scalzi is a fantastic writer, but I have to take a star away for failing to satisfy the audience.So--good reading, but be prepared for a structural and satisfaction problem. This is one time where leaving us wanting more isn't because we don't want it to end; rather, we just want some kind of resolution. The last story involving an alien ambassador seems to be a pause or bookend to the short stories, but emotionally it's completely unsatisfying and too short to explain the aftermath of the penultimate story.Two bonus stories are included, but they don't add to the overall narrative.Hopefully, the sequel novel due in August 2015 will be a more complete story and place The Human Division into better context. It just feels like paying the full price at the movie theatre and only getting the movie previews.

Another good read in this series

I enjoyed reading all of the six books of the Old Man War series. This book (The Human Division) was good, par with the other book if the series. I like the writing of John Scalzi but for my personnal taste, I would have preferred less of a political story.

Ah, yes. I remember listening to The Human Division back in the 80s.Ok, not to be confused with Joy Division or The Human League, this is a book rather than a band and is the fifth in the "Old Man's War" series. (John Scalzi really needs to work on his naming, as i've always thought that "Old Man's War" sounds like a cross between Last of the Summer Wine and Dad's Army.)Essentially, if you enjoyed the other books in the Old Man's War series then you'll enjoy this. It's better than the slightly odd diversion that was "Zoe's Tale" (Yes John, we have a good idea what's going to happen already. You told us in the last book) and returns us into the capable(?) hands of Harry Wilson.The only reason that this doesn't get a full five stars from me is that it continues Scalzi's habit of incredibly convenient escapes at the last possible second. Scalzi seems to be writing much of the time with an action movie playing out in his head, where the hero achieves everything but only after dramatic suspense and "will they, won't they" cliffhangers (of course they will — don't be silly). Many things in the universe just happen to fall into place as if by magic and everybody is either incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky depending on convenience, the needs of the story or which side of any conflict you happen to be on. Personally, I'm permanently rooting for the Conclave and would be happy for the Colonial Union to all get flushed down some kind of galactic hyper-toilet. Things never seem to go my way, though.

En ma qualité de fan de l'univers du  vieil homme et la guerre , je m'étais réjoui d'apprendre qu'enfin on allait pouvoir lire la suite de la  dernière colonie .Après l'accident industriel nommé  Zoé , après quelques pochades SF plus ou moins réussies (plutôt moins à mon sens) c'était une très bonne nouvelle.Malheureusement mon enthousiasme a vite été douché en apprenant qu'il s'agissait d'une suite de nouvelles. Mais en fait c'était juste le moyen pour l'auteur de nous livrer un roman disparate et inégal, même s'il ose prétendre qu'il a été plus difficile à écrire que ses autres romans dans ses remerciements. (On reconnait bien là le fumiste intelligent, champion du désamorçage).De plus, on n'y croise pas la famille Sagan / Perry, les nouvelles étant portées par d'autres personnages, que j'ai trouvé au démarrage plutôt inintéressants. Les premières nouvelles m'ont même laissé de marbre.Comme souvent, Scalzi se laisse aussi aller à pas mal de facilités. Je pense en particulier aux chutes des épisodes 7 (The Dog) et 13 (skydiving), cousues de fil blanc : dès les premières pages de ces nouvelles, on sait exactement comment elles vont se terminer. Il y a aussi de grosses failles dans certains raisonnements, comme par exemple le fait que la terre soit laissée à la merci de n'importe quelle attaque, sans aucun moyen de défense, dans la dernière histoire.Heureusement, au fil des nouvelles, Harry Wilson, Hart Schmidt et d'autres prennent de l'épaisseur, et deviennent plus agréables à suivre.C'est toujours du Scalzi : c'est donc souvent drôle, les dialogues sont pleins de malice, il y a de très jolis moments (comme la nouvelle dans laquelle le falot Hart Schmidt rentre à la maison pour les fêtes), de l'action, de l'aventure spatiale.Certes les différentes races peuplant la galaxie semblent toujours un peu trop humanoïdes, mais l'auteur ne s'est jamais préoccupé de ce genre de détails.Reste l'intrigue globale, qui est excellente, mais qui a le gros défaut de ne pas trouver de solution à la fin du recueil...On a donc au final avec "la Division Humaine" une reprise en douceur par l'auteur de sa série phare, avec toujours beaucoup de talent et toujours pas beaucoup de sérieux. En espérant qu'il parvienne a nous sortir une vraie suite rapidement. Après tout ce travail de background, l'auteur à de quoi nous offrir un très grand livre. Faut il encore qu'il s'en donne les moyens. vieil homme et la guerredernière colonieZoé

This has been a weird series for me. Enjoyed the first 3 books immensely, thought they were well written and engrossing, each slightly different to keep my attention. Book 4, does a weird 180, retreading old ground as a teenager I hated so I was hoping book 5, The Human Division would bring the quality back.It does... up to a point.My problem is it seems to be a collection of short stories stitched together with a general plot running underneath. While I found the writing excellent and many of the scenarios interesting I found it hard to really engage with the overall story and by the end don't really feel like it especially went anywhere. Feels like a lot of set up for the next novel in the series.Overall a fun read I'd recommrnd if you like the series, I certainly enjoyed it, but it doesn't reach the heights of the first three books.+ Excellent writing.+ Interesting scenarios and set pieces.+ Likeable characters.- Book structure jumps around all over the place. (is this a short story collection?)- Conclusion is unsatisfying.