Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

This is kind of a sequel to Old Man's War which the book group read last fall. We enjoyed the concepts and - I almost hate to phrase it this way - the simplicity of the book. And by simplicity I mean it wasn't a 900 page grind with huge creative words and broad universe spanning concepts.

But I digress. Ghost Brigades focus's on the Special Forces of the Colonial Forces. These are elite troops that are created, rather than a human being who has their consciousness transferred from an old body into a new one while they are alive. These are people who have someones else's consciousness.

Jared Dirac was created for one purpose, to find a traitor. He carries - no, he is Charles Boutin who has turned against the human race by pitting three other races against humanity with the single purpose of wiping them out. But yet he's not. Jared is himself with someone else's memories. The story was an interesting look at consciousness transfer and the ramifications of putting someone else's conscious into a new body. It rather asked the question - Who is the person ultimately?

I enjoyed the story and the idea presented. I enjoyed the length (short). I look forward to Scalzi's next book. Not much else to say.