Walk the Plank

The Human Division #2

by John Scalzi

The second episode of The Human Division, John Scalzi's new thirteen-episode novel in the world of his bestselling Old Man's War. Beginning on January 15, 2013, a new episode of The Human Division will appear in e-book form every Tuesday.

 

Wildcat colonies are illegal, unauthorized and secret—so when an injured stranger shows up at the wildcat colony New Seattle, the colony leaders are understandably suspicious of who he is and what he represents. His story of how he’s come to their colony is shocking, surprising, and might have bigger consequences than anyone could have expected.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Space Opera, Short Stories, Ebooks, Military Fiction

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 22, 2013

About the author

John Scalzi, having declared his absolute boredom with biographies, disappeared in a puff of glitter and lilac scent.

(If you want to contact John, using the mail function here is a really bad way to do it. Go to his site and use the contact information you find there.)

Reviews

[Zain · Rating 4 out of 5]

While waiting for supplies for his new colony, El-Masri is informed by his crew, that they have a stranger in their sick bay.

Dr. Spurleagh is treating someone from the Morning Star, the supply ship they have been waiting on.

The teenager, Malik Damanis, tells them that the supply ship has been attacked by soldiers and the crew has been murdered.

Although he has somehow escaped, once he made it to the planet, he was attacked by a pack of animals and is now infected with The Rot.

El-Masri has to decide what to do with him.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second part of The Human Division isn't much like the first: it has a different format, characters I think we're less likely to see again, and less explanation of what's going on. I quite liked the transcript format, which mostly worked well, and I'm intrigued to know how this episode will be relevant later on.

I'm unsure about the point of the big emphasis on one of the characters' medical problems: that makes me assume this planet will be the setting for more of the story, if nothing else.

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

No narration at all, the whole section is a transcript of a conversation. A most unusual conversation. A compelling little mystery within the context of the whole. I'm really going to enjoy the weekly sections a lot, I think.

I bought it.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice quick read. The style of this chapter (segment?) read like a play, which was interesting. It's a testament to Scalzi's realistic dialogue that, without any stage direction, I still pictured the entire scene.

This could serve as a standalone, but I'm not sure why you would want it to. It works best as the second section of the ongoing serial novel that follows up Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, and The Last Colony (I haven't yet read Zoe's Tale, but my understanding is that I'm okay with missing that one).

This one fell short of the first episode (The B-Team), simply because the first one was much longer and had more of a full story to it (more of a short story than this just being an episode).

That being said, this was still worth reading and worth the $0.99 that it cost to entertain me on my lunch break. If you're a John Scalzi fan, pick this up.

[Claire Fun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shorter than the last, this is the second of thirteen e-episodes released weekly that will make up the next 'Old Man's War' novel by John Scalzi, 'The Human Division.'

This one felt less like a stand-alone short story and more like a chapter in a book, which I assume is going to happen more often as the episodes are released. While I enjoyed it, I didn't love it, and it felt less like an Old Man's War book than the previous episode, less familiar. I also didn't feel it was long enough to learn who the characters were particularly well or deeply, and again comparing to last weeks episode where the characterisation was brilliant, this was slightly disappointing. It also had no links to the previous episode (aside from a vague 'bad things are happening in space' one) but then I assume it's the sub-plot being introduced. I do have firm faith that it will all gel together wonderfully in the end, though, and despite my slight disappointment in this one, I'm still enjoying the whole idea of weekly releases and can't wait to see where it goes, and what else there is in store for us next week!

[Enzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second episode of John Scalzi's "The Human Division". In this one we get what looks like information on both a wildcat Colony and the attack on a supply vessel. This leads to the story of a survivor and a little insight into life in a wildcat colony.
We see the attack in the story from the survivor and see that even to the supply contractors the risk of maintaining an illegal colony is not always profitable.
I have a couple issues here. First that there is no mention of any of the previous characters. I guess I have to wait for another episode to see how this two episodes connect. The second problem is that I feel this one was way too short. It might be that everything is very new and getting the info straight feels extremely brief.

[Anissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second in a thirteen part serial. This was very enjoyable and over before I was ready (I was fairly engrossed & was actually taken by surprised when it was over; so much so I checked the contents to make sure that I hadn't skipped something). I enjoyed the recount of the Erie Morningstar's fall & the fate of the crew from Malik (poor guy). Mostly though, I was pulled in by El-Masri the colony leader of New Seattle. He has a thankless job & seems to be the right person to do it. I'm curious to see how this bit ties in with the rest & who exactly it was who attacked the Erie Morningstar. I look forward to the next installment.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Had this been an episode of a TV series, I'd hate to think what the Neilsen Rating would be.

Good, well-done science fiction, just not very interesting.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walk the Plank is another short story set in John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War universe but not focusing on the military. I only read the original book in the Old Man’s War series, but really like the short story, The B-Team so I was anxious to see the diplomats in action again. Much to my surprise, there were no diplomats in this tale which features an injured survivor from an act of piracy who is being interrogated by officials of the colony that the survivor was bringing cargo to. The story is harsh and the ending is brutal, providing a window into the kind of risks many of the new colonists have to endure to start their new lives.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Meg GlitteryOtters · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Zain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too Short

I loved Walk The Plank. I like the way the book is part of a series of episodes. I will happily buy the next book.

[Tommy Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it's clear that I cannot continue trying to review these as standalone books. The second release in this series is a good read, but doesn't really work at all as a standalone story. It's also annoyingly written in the form of a play, I guess. Maybe a transcript? But, it doesn't actually seem to do anything with the chosen format. I dunno. Maybe I'm missing something. It reminded me of Scalzi's attempt in Redshirts to write a story in the second person. (You read this review. You ask yourself What is the second person perspective anyway?)

Anyway, the story itself is good. It has a totally different feel than the first chapter. It's not breezy. It's blunt and raw. It's clearly setting up things for later chapters and if I view it solely as being the second chapter of a larger book, I really enjoyed it, apart from the weird experimental format.

That said, I shalln't be reviewing subsequent chapters. Rather, I'll wait until the book is finished.

[heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This installment has zero overlapping characters from the last story, but in itself is interesting and hearkens back to Golden Age scifi again, with a tip o' the hat to Stopping at Slowyear.

Once again, the story starts with a bang and ends with a crash and I'm dying to see what happens next week.

Read if: You want a short story/vignette of a harsh wildcat colony and some mysterious Space Pirates.

Skip if: You are waiting until the whole thing comes out.

Read while you're waiting:
Stopping at Slowyear

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a difference one episode makes. This story was about a third of the length as the first episode but it was drawn out, boring, didn't tie into the first episode (that I could tell). I saw absolutely no reason to include this episode in his tale.

Hopefully it will make more sense as the tale unwinds but at this point - this was a pretty big letdown.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this a whole lot more than the first. Would Scalzi be experimenting with formalism if not for the serial aspect of the book, I wonder, or is he using the serial as a way to experiment with formalism?

[G. Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished the complete John Scalzi series of books The Human Division in one week. It wasn’t that hard. There are only 13 of them and they average about 50 pages each. It centers on a Lieutenant Wilson, a highly modified super soldier in the Colonial Defense Force who has been reassigned to the diplomatic corps. Each story centers around him or one of his friends and highlights the scrapes they get into and their creative escapes.

Scalzi has been an excellent job with this series of stories!

[Karlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the series more as I went through each episode. At first I struggled because it seemed like random stories set in this universe. But as it continued and I realized it was interwoven story lines I enjoyed them more. The main characters were enjoyable. It's pretty traditional sci fi fare but still worth the read.

[Luiz Fabricio Calland Cerqueira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose the being part of a series is the excuse for its lack of a better story and this awful script format.

I got the drama and it was fine, but a bit oversold, or unrealistically sold. Not sure. This survivor telling his story would be better, in my opinion, if we got some more material from the mind of any of the characters.

[Robert Stout · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Scalzi's Walk the Plank is about a sole survivor of the Erie Morningstar cargo vessel that is hijacked by pirates. The survivor named Damanis lands near a cat colony and he is bitten by one of the doglike creatures which swarm in a pack. The colony leader, named El-Masri interrogates Damanis and his harrowing tail is told. This is a short story that can be read in about 45 minutes.

[T · Rating 1 out of 5]

A completely random side story that feels like reading the setup scene for another book without any payoff whatsoever. To date it seems to be knowledge that's completely irrelevant for further books later in the series as well (at least up through book 5). A waste of time.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cargo drop to a wildcat colony goes horribly wrong. The sole survivor is in the medical unit getting treated for injuries sustained during the crash landing and predator attack. This is written in the form of a one act play. Interesting read.

[Steve Smythe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brutal narrative of a horrible incident

I had shivers reading this episode. It really was vivid and intense. I felt bad for these characters. Such good writing in a concise story. I'll remember this one for a while.

[Call me Jeeves · Rating 3 out of 5]

This shorty has Murphy written all over it. It really is a shit show. That what can go wrong will go wrong . But as long as long as we can have some pain killers we still have a chance.
As short as this story is , it really is worth reading. Scalzi is still at the top of his game.

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very short, sort up set up like a play with lines (but not stage directions).

[Cybercrone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short 'n sweet. Good read, but Scalzi lite. Not as much to think about here, but one big question for a short story is enough I guess.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing start, good premise.

[Stacie Haden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story, but interesting.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very brief but good.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

See my review for the first book of this series. It’s classic Scalzi (which is not a bad thing!). Boom bang bam Sci Fi fun then on to the next one.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not a huge fan of anything written in play or script form. It never really flows.