The Shattering Peace

enne📚 reviewed The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (Old Man‘s War, #7)

3 stars

Classic Scalzi popcorn, spiced with snark.

It's a solid book, don't get me wrong. Good foreshadowing and callbacks. Good worldbuilding for the series and setup for future books. The plot was grippy in the moment.

My biggest disappointment is that protagonist's defining characteristic is that she's naught more than a hypercompetent ball of snark; it makes her uninteresting, and it felt like we were told more about her emotions from her father than we got shown ourselves.

Classic Scalzi popcorn, spiced with snark.

It's a solid book, don't get me wrong. Good foreshadowing and callbacks. Good worldbuilding for the series and setup for future books. The plot was grippy in the moment.

My biggest disappointment is that protagonist's defining characteristic is that she's naught more than a hypercompetent ball of snark; it makes her uninteresting, and it felt like we were told more about her emotions from her father than we got shown ourselves.

Antolius reviewed The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (Old Man‘s War, #7)

The shattered expectations

3 stars

Content warning Light spointers

I was looking forward to returning to the Old Man's War universe, but was left somewhat disappointed by this novel. I liked how it expands the lore around the Consu. The sci-fi elements of the plot were clever, and though contrived at times, the plot as a whole makes sense. I also liked where it takes the general state of affairs in the universe. The book works well as the next instalment in the broader space opera series.

When it comes to characters, Gretchen is a typical Scalzian protagonist: witty, smart, capable. Even her arrogance is justified. She more-less wins for 288 pages and then the story ends. Her perspective is fun, but as a character she feels boring.

The rest of the ensemble is comically weak at times. Characters that are supposed to be top tier professionals or superior beings end up bickering like children. It ruined the book for me. Having half of the cast, including antagonists, be total doofuses breaks the emersion.

Jonathan Zacsh

rated it

January 21

The Shattering Peace

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