UPDATE: removed statements falsely accusing Scalzi of borrowing ideas from Joe Haldeman.
After trying to fight through some tough literary jungle, I was happy to find myself blazing through The Ghost Brigades (2006) by John Scalzi. This book lasted me all of one weekend; it felt really great to be reading voraciously again.
If one were to hybridize Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War and Forever Peace, you might end up with something very much like The Ghost Brigades. However, apparently John Scalzi himself (or someone acting on his behalf) commented on this blog entry to inform me of the coincidental nature of the similarities.
Although I was seeing familiar themes, there are good reasons why I tore through The Ghost Brigades in a couple of sessions; the book is a lot of fun and there is plenty of originality. Cool battles, alien intrigue, manufactured super soldiers, downloaded consciousnesses, interesting characters, and questions about humanity’s future… this book definitely hit my scifi sweet spot.
“On the negative side, the book is a blatant ripoff of Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War and Forever Peace.”
No, it’s not; as I explained in the recent foreword to the newest edition of The Forever War, I hadn’t read “War” until just before I wrote the introduction in July 2008, and I still haven’t read “Peace.” The similarities are coincidental (but as you may imagine, I don’t mind the comparisons one bit; Joe’s a hell of a writer).
Glad you liked the novel!
My apologies! I’ve updated the post accordingly.