The Ghost Brigades was published by Tor Books in 2006. Where Old Man’s War followed elderly volunteers in new bodies, this sequel focuses on the Colonial Defense Forces’ Special Forces — the “Ghost Brigades,” soldiers grown in tanks from the DNA of people who signed up to the CDF but died before their seventy-fifth birthday. These soldiers are born adult, with accelerated education and no personal memory, making them faster, more adaptable, and more expendable than regular troops.
The plot centers on Charles Boutin, a brilliant CDF scientist who has defected to an alien alliance and threatens to reveal humanity’s military secrets. The CDF grows a new body from Boutin’s DNA and attempts to implant his consciousness-copy into it, hoping to recover his memories and discover his plans. The experiment appears to fail — the new soldier, named Jared Dirac, shows no sign of Boutin’s personality. But as Dirac develops his own identity and fights alongside his squad, Boutin’s memories begin surfacing unpredictably.
The novel explores questions of identity with more philosophical depth than its predecessor: is Jared Dirac the same person as Charles Boutin? If identical DNA plus identical memories equals identity, what does it mean when those memories produce different moral choices? Scalzi handles these questions with his characteristic lightness of touch, never letting the philosophy overwhelm the adventure.
Collecting The Ghost Brigades
First edition (Tor Books, New York, 2006): Hardcover with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $40–$100
- Signed copies: $75–$200