The Human Division by John Scalzi

Following the events of The Last Colony, John Scalzi tells the story of the fight to maintain the unity of the human race. The people of Earth now know that the human Colonial Union has kept them ignorant of the dangerous universe around them. For generations the CU had defended humanity against hostile aliens, deliberately keeping Earth an ignorant backwater and a source of military recruits. Now the CU's secrets are known to all. Other alien races have come on the scene and formed a new alliance—an alliance against the Colonial Union. And they've invited the people of Earth to join them. For a shaken and betrayed Earth, the choice isn't obvious or easy. Against such possibilities, managing the survival of the Colonial Union won't be easy, either. It will take diplomatic finesse, political cunning...and a brilliant "B Team," centered on the resourceful Lieutenant Harry Wilson, that can be deployed to deal with the unpredictable and unexpected things the universe throws at you when you're struggling to preserve the unity of the human race. Being published online from January to April 2013 as a three-month digital serial, The Human Division will appear as a full-length novel of the Old Man's War universe, plus—for the first time in print—the first tale of Lieutenant Harry Wilson, and a coda that wasn't part of the digital serialization. Old Man's War Series #1 Old Man’s War #2 The Ghost Brigades #3 The Last Colony #4 Zoe’s Tale #5 The Human Division #6 The End of All Things Short fiction: “After the Coup” Other Tor Books The Android’s Dream Agent to the Stars Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded Fuzzy Nation Redshirts Lock In The Collapsing Empire (forthcoming) At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Excited to read the next in the series.

not every one of these short stories is a winner, bit overall I enjoyed the book quiet a lot.

I liked it, it felt a little disjointed at times.
I lost track of some of the characters but the stories were interesting and an SF book about diplomacy was unusual enough to add some fun to it.
Might have benefited if the book version of the serial and been editted to feel more like a single story rather than a collection.

Executive Summary: This might be my favorite book in the Old Man's War universe yet. Though it's not really a book, so much as a collection of short stories. Either way, I can't wait for the next one!Audio book:William Dufris is a great fit for this series. I really like Wil Wheaton for Scalzi books, but I was really missing Mr. Dufris for [b:Zoe's Tale 2102600 Zoe's Tale (Old Man's War, #4) John Scalzi https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1301108028s/2102600.jpg 18280032] (though I totally understand why they didn't use him). He does a great job delivering the snark and really just the dialogue in general that I'll continue to listen to this series despite all the “saids”.Full ReviewNot really a novel, but a collection of short stories. Though not exactly that. Mr. Scalzi liked it to episodes in a season, and that seems a good fit. This book collects 13 “main” stories along with 2 bonus stories.Some of these stories are far better than others. The lengths vary quite a bit. I'm not sure if I would have been happy about buying each story individually. It's not really a price thing either, they seemed to have been reasonably priced. But much like TV and Netflix, I think I prefer binging on a season rather than doing one/week.This story has far less action than many of its predecessors, but it's far form devoid of it. It instead focuses more on the politics and aftermath as a result of events in [b:The Last Colony 88071 The Last Colony (Old Man's War #3) John Scalzi https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406858062s/88071.jpg 18279847].One of the main character is a familiar face from [b:Old Man's War 51964 Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1) John Scalzi https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1402867788s/51964.jpg 50700], in Harry Wilson (one of the “Old Farts”) whose on special assignment to the Colonial Union diplomatic core. The stories focused on Harry and company are the better ones, and I found most of the ones covering other locations/characters not nearly as enjoyable.Since this is a Szalzi book there is of course a high amount of snarky humor and far too many occurrences of the word “said”. It's fast paced and fun and really breathes life into a series I felt was losing some of it's steam with [b:The Last Colony 88071 The Last Colony (Old Man's War #3) John Scalzi https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406858062s/88071.jpg 18279847] and especially [b:Zoe's Tale 2102600 Zoe's Tale (Old Man's War, #4) John Scalzi https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1301108028s/2102600.jpg 18280032].I think the first story “The B Team” is the best of them, but “The Observers” is a very close second, and none of the stories are bad by any means.I'm eagerly awaiting [b:The End of All Things 23168809 The End of All Things (Old Man's War, #6) John Scalzi https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1411134775s/23168809.jpg 42713953], and need to decide if I can put up with doing the weekly episodes, or if I'll wait for the final collection.Main Story RatingsThe B Team- 4.5 starsWalk the Plank - 3 starsWe Only Need the Heads - 4 StarsA Voice In The Wilderness - 3.5 starsTales From the Clarke - 4 StarsThe Back Channel - 3.5 StarsThe Dog King - 3 starsThe Sounds of Rebellion - 4 StarsThe Observers - 4.5 StarsThis Must Be the Place - 3.5 stars.The Problem of Proportion - 4 starsThe Gentle Art of Cracking Heads - 4 starsEarth Below, Sky Above - 4 starsExtra Story RatingsAfter the Coup - 3.5 starsHafte Sorvalh Eats a Churro and Speaks to the Youth of Today - 3 stars