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Old Man's War #7
The Shattering Peace
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction (2025)After a decade, acclaimed science fiction master John Scalzi returns to the galaxy of the Old Man's War series with the long awaited seventh book, The Shattering Peace
THE PEACE IS SHATTERING
For a decade, peace has reigned in interstellar space. A tripartate agreement between the Colonial Union, the Earth, and the alien Conclave has kept the forces of war at bay, even when some would have preferred to return to the fighting and struggle of former times. For now, more sensible heads have prevailed – and have even championed unity.
But now, there is a new force that threatens the hard-maintained peace: The Consu, the most advanced intelligent species humans have ever met, are on the cusp of a species-defining civil war. This war is between Consu factions... but nothing the Consu ever do is just about them. The Colonial Union, the Earth and the Conclave have been unwillingly dragged into the conflict, in the most surprising of ways.
Gretchen Trujillo is a mid-level diplomat, working in an unimportant part of the Colonial Union bureaucracy. But when she is called to take part in a secret mission involving representatives from every powerful faction in space, what she finds there has the chance to redefine the destinies of humans and aliens alike... or destroy them forever.
THE PEACE IS SHATTERING
For a decade, peace has reigned in interstellar space. A tripartate agreement between the Colonial Union, the Earth, and the alien Conclave has kept the forces of war at bay, even when some would have preferred to return to the fighting and struggle of former times. For now, more sensible heads have prevailed – and have even championed unity.
But now, there is a new force that threatens the hard-maintained peace: The Consu, the most advanced intelligent species humans have ever met, are on the cusp of a species-defining civil war. This war is between Consu factions... but nothing the Consu ever do is just about them. The Colonial Union, the Earth and the Conclave have been unwillingly dragged into the conflict, in the most surprising of ways.
Gretchen Trujillo is a mid-level diplomat, working in an unimportant part of the Colonial Union bureaucracy. But when she is called to take part in a secret mission involving representatives from every powerful faction in space, what she finds there has the chance to redefine the destinies of humans and aliens alike... or destroy them forever.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 16, 2025
763 people are currently reading
14070 people want to read
About the author
John Scalzi
185 books28.4k followersJohn 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.)
(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.)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 459 reviews
September 21, 2025
3.5 Stars
I enjoyed the first novel in the Old Man's War series so I was excited to receive the newest installment.
I didn't get the opportunity to read and review the books in the middle of the series and that definitely impacted my reading experience here.The first book worked very well as a standalone which almost makes this sequel more challenging to judge fairly. I would love the opportunity to review this series as a whole so that I can see how the books progressed from there to here.
As for this novel, it was an easy read. While technically labeled as space opera, the scope of this one felt very narrowly focused around the characters. I struggled with the last few books by this author because I found them to be overly silly. Thankfully this one was a return back to the balance I was looking for. It had enough serious moments and stakes to keep me better invested.
I would recommend this one to fans of the series who are caught up on the previous books. Don't jump into this one without that context. I did myself a disservice by doing that.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
I enjoyed the first novel in the Old Man's War series so I was excited to receive the newest installment.
I didn't get the opportunity to read and review the books in the middle of the series and that definitely impacted my reading experience here.The first book worked very well as a standalone which almost makes this sequel more challenging to judge fairly. I would love the opportunity to review this series as a whole so that I can see how the books progressed from there to here.
As for this novel, it was an easy read. While technically labeled as space opera, the scope of this one felt very narrowly focused around the characters. I struggled with the last few books by this author because I found them to be overly silly. Thankfully this one was a return back to the balance I was looking for. It had enough serious moments and stakes to keep me better invested.
I would recommend this one to fans of the series who are caught up on the previous books. Don't jump into this one without that context. I did myself a disservice by doing that.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
September 18, 2025
This was a disappointment, I’m sorry to say.
To start, my general feelings on Scalzi: I loved the Old Man’s War series for the most part, and a lot of his earlier stuff. I enjoyed The Kaiju Preservation Society for what it was (which is exactly what Scalzi intended it to be - he called it the book version of a “pop song.”). Starter Villain didn’t really work for me - I was just bored with his style, and I decided I wasn’t going to read anything more from him. But I loved the OMW series well enough that when I saw this I decided to give it a read.
Mild spoilers for the OMW series below.
It’s set about a decade after The End of All Things. Our main character is Gretchen, whom you might remember (I admit I did not) as Zoë’s best friend on the Roanoke colony. Gretchen is part of the Colonial Union diplomatic core, working at the Obin desk (having gotten to know the Obin pretty well hanging out with Zoë on Roanoke).
The treaty between the Colonial Union, Earth, and the Conclave is holding, more or less, but the strain is building. As Gretchen learns early on in the book, those three groups decided to make a joint colony to show they could all live together. It was going ok, not great. Not much mingling, but no violence either. Then things get complicated when the colony just … disappears. It had been built on an asteroid, and it’s just gone. Not moved, not destroyed, just gone. Signs point to the involvement of the Consu, the enigmatic hyper advanced race that’s been lurking on the edges of the entire series doing their own thing.
So why was this disappointing? Three reasons.
First is a matter of taste. John Scalzi is always going to be John Scalzi, and that means tons of banter with everyone in every conversation trying to show they’re the cleverest person in the room. I enjoyed it in his earlier books, felt it reached its apex in Kaiju Preservation Society, and was bored with it in Starter Villain. It was toned down a bit here compared to those two books, which are meant to be silly and fun, but it was still a LOT. I didn’t enjoy it, but your mileage may vary.
Next is the matter of the Consu. As a device within the story, they do not benefit from closer examination. They’re kind of like the Borg or the Q from Star Trek: nigh-omnipotent, enigmatic, more than a little terrifying. Or, to be more precise, like the Borg and the Q when they first appeared. Every Star Trek fan knows what happened over the course of TNG, DS9, and Voyager: we learned more and more about them, and the more we learned, the less unknowable and terrifying they became. Learning more about them made them mundane. That’s exactly what happened with the Consu in this book. We learned a great deal about them, and in the course of that, what made them such a powerful force in the story was drastically weakened.
Last is the status of the OMW universe in general. As I mentioned in my summary, the treaty is getting creaky. There is lots of concern over whether it will hold; there are many factions, in all three signatories to the treaty, who want it broken. The colony disappearing is a major shock to the treaty, and the repercussions of this event might well shatter it. Hell, the book is titled The Shattering Peace.
None of that is addressed.
I assume Scalzi is working on book #8 in the series, because this leaves a LOT of questions unanswered. Which is fine in the context of a bigger ongoing series, but I honestly thought OMW was done with The End of All Things. But there’s no hint of that; an epilogue setting up book #8 would have improved things greatly. Something that didn’t leave me blinking and going, “That’s it? But what about [all this important stuff?]”
If #8 does come out, I’m going to wait to read it until I get some reviews. Overall, I’m going back to being done with Scalzi. All respect to him as both an author and a decent human being, but he’s just not working for me anymore.
My blog
To start, my general feelings on Scalzi: I loved the Old Man’s War series for the most part, and a lot of his earlier stuff. I enjoyed The Kaiju Preservation Society for what it was (which is exactly what Scalzi intended it to be - he called it the book version of a “pop song.”). Starter Villain didn’t really work for me - I was just bored with his style, and I decided I wasn’t going to read anything more from him. But I loved the OMW series well enough that when I saw this I decided to give it a read.
Mild spoilers for the OMW series below.
It’s set about a decade after The End of All Things. Our main character is Gretchen, whom you might remember (I admit I did not) as Zoë’s best friend on the Roanoke colony. Gretchen is part of the Colonial Union diplomatic core, working at the Obin desk (having gotten to know the Obin pretty well hanging out with Zoë on Roanoke).
The treaty between the Colonial Union, Earth, and the Conclave is holding, more or less, but the strain is building. As Gretchen learns early on in the book, those three groups decided to make a joint colony to show they could all live together. It was going ok, not great. Not much mingling, but no violence either. Then things get complicated when the colony just … disappears. It had been built on an asteroid, and it’s just gone. Not moved, not destroyed, just gone. Signs point to the involvement of the Consu, the enigmatic hyper advanced race that’s been lurking on the edges of the entire series doing their own thing.
So why was this disappointing? Three reasons.
First is a matter of taste. John Scalzi is always going to be John Scalzi, and that means tons of banter with everyone in every conversation trying to show they’re the cleverest person in the room. I enjoyed it in his earlier books, felt it reached its apex in Kaiju Preservation Society, and was bored with it in Starter Villain. It was toned down a bit here compared to those two books, which are meant to be silly and fun, but it was still a LOT. I didn’t enjoy it, but your mileage may vary.
Next is the matter of the Consu. As a device within the story, they do not benefit from closer examination. They’re kind of like the Borg or the Q from Star Trek: nigh-omnipotent, enigmatic, more than a little terrifying. Or, to be more precise, like the Borg and the Q when they first appeared. Every Star Trek fan knows what happened over the course of TNG, DS9, and Voyager: we learned more and more about them, and the more we learned, the less unknowable and terrifying they became. Learning more about them made them mundane. That’s exactly what happened with the Consu in this book. We learned a great deal about them, and in the course of that, what made them such a powerful force in the story was drastically weakened.
Last is the status of the OMW universe in general. As I mentioned in my summary, the treaty is getting creaky. There is lots of concern over whether it will hold; there are many factions, in all three signatories to the treaty, who want it broken. The colony disappearing is a major shock to the treaty, and the repercussions of this event might well shatter it. Hell, the book is titled The Shattering Peace.
None of that is addressed.
I assume Scalzi is working on book #8 in the series, because this leaves a LOT of questions unanswered. Which is fine in the context of a bigger ongoing series, but I honestly thought OMW was done with The End of All Things. But there’s no hint of that; an epilogue setting up book #8 would have improved things greatly. Something that didn’t leave me blinking and going, “That’s it? But what about [all this important stuff?]”
If #8 does come out, I’m going to wait to read it until I get some reviews. Overall, I’m going back to being done with Scalzi. All respect to him as both an author and a decent human being, but he’s just not working for me anymore.
My blog
September 22, 2025
¡SCALZI HA VUELTO!
Por fin, tras varios libros normaluchos (para lo que se espera del autor) volvemos a leer personajes con carisma, situaciones absurdas que se resuelven de maneras aún más absurdas y tramas originales que mezclan acción con política como sólo el tito Scalzi sabe hacer.
Como recordatorio, no es un libro para leer sin haber leído los anteriores. Es una séptima parte que está vinculada sobre todo con los libros 3 y 4 de la saga, aunque también toma una idea que aparece en el primer libro. La he buscado y es en el capítulo 12, aunque merece la pena leerlo entero una vez más, La vieja guardia siempre merece una relectura más ;P
Sería 4/5 alto que redondeo hacia 5/5 porque lo he disfrutado mucho, y también porque al haberlo leído en inglés seguro que ha habido detalles que se habrán escapado pero que sin duda merecen redondeo al alza.
Por fin, tras varios libros normaluchos (para lo que se espera del autor) volvemos a leer personajes con carisma, situaciones absurdas que se resuelven de maneras aún más absurdas y tramas originales que mezclan acción con política como sólo el tito Scalzi sabe hacer.
Como recordatorio, no es un libro para leer sin haber leído los anteriores. Es una séptima parte que está vinculada sobre todo con los libros 3 y 4 de la saga, aunque también toma una idea que aparece en el primer libro. La he buscado y es en el capítulo 12, aunque merece la pena leerlo entero una vez más, La vieja guardia siempre merece una relectura más ;P
Sería 4/5 alto que redondeo hacia 5/5 porque lo he disfrutado mucho, y también porque al haberlo leído en inglés seguro que ha habido detalles que se habrán escapado pero que sin duda merecen redondeo al alza.
July 30, 2025
Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the eARC!!!
I read all of the Old Man's War series a few years ago and had no idea that Scalzi planned to eventually release a 7th book, so I was super excited when I saw that The Shattering Peace was coming out this year. And I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed it! I've read a bunch of Scalzi's other books now, and this was fun, fast-paced, classic Scalzi. We open up with Gretchen Trujillo, daughter of Manfred Trujillo, former resident of Roanoke Colony and best friend of Zoe Boutin Perry (all of whom we spent time with in the earlier OMW books), who's just found out that Unity Colony and the asteroid it's on have disappeared without a trace and she's being sent to investigate what happened. Are our old friends the Consu to blame? We'll find out...
Gretchen Trujillo was a great main character - She's strong, she's feisty, she's witty, and I really enjoyed spending time inside her head. I also loved Ran - Non-human characters in speculative fiction always get me, and Ran's humor and personality (or, sometimes, lack there of) were lovely. The science was fun - I'm no physicist, but I enjoyed reading about skip drives. While there are references to earlier in the series, I liked that it could likely also work as a standalone. I'd forgotten a lot of the details from Old Man's War, but it didn't impact my reading experience at all. Overall, I loved this latest (last?) installment of the Old Man's War saga, and will be recommending it to all my sci-fi friends!
I read all of the Old Man's War series a few years ago and had no idea that Scalzi planned to eventually release a 7th book, so I was super excited when I saw that The Shattering Peace was coming out this year. And I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed it! I've read a bunch of Scalzi's other books now, and this was fun, fast-paced, classic Scalzi. We open up with Gretchen Trujillo, daughter of Manfred Trujillo, former resident of Roanoke Colony and best friend of Zoe Boutin Perry (all of whom we spent time with in the earlier OMW books), who's just found out that Unity Colony and the asteroid it's on have disappeared without a trace and she's being sent to investigate what happened. Are our old friends the Consu to blame? We'll find out...
Gretchen Trujillo was a great main character - She's strong, she's feisty, she's witty, and I really enjoyed spending time inside her head. I also loved Ran - Non-human characters in speculative fiction always get me, and Ran's humor and personality (or, sometimes, lack there of) were lovely. The science was fun - I'm no physicist, but I enjoyed reading about skip drives. While there are references to earlier in the series, I liked that it could likely also work as a standalone. I'd forgotten a lot of the details from Old Man's War, but it didn't impact my reading experience at all. Overall, I loved this latest (last?) installment of the Old Man's War saga, and will be recommending it to all my sci-fi friends!
September 17, 2025
The seventh entry in John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War” series opens a decade after the conclusion of the previous volume, The End of All Things, with the hundreds of species of the known universe enjoying an uneasy peace resulting from a halt to their competing efforts to colonize the galaxy. On the planet Phoenix, Gretchen Trujillo works as a diplomat for the Colonial Union specializing in relations with the Obin, a species with which she enjoys a particular familiarity thanks to her years on the colony of Roanoke. When she is summoned to a high-level meeting, however, she is told that an asteroid in Obin space containing a secret experimental colony – a collaborative effort between the Colonial Union, the multi-species Conclave, and the Earth – has vanished, and that she has been assigned to a team being sent to investigate. And she soon learns the possibility that the disappearance may be related to the recent activity of the Consu – the most technologically advanced species known, and one pursuing its own inscrutable agenda.
Scalzi’s novel offers a welcome return to the series that made his name as a science fiction author. Fans of the series will find in its pages all of the elements that made his previous volumes so popular, from its plucky protagonist to the humorous banter characterized by the author’s signature wit. This time, however, the story is told from the perspective of one of the secondary characters from two of the previous volumes in the series, who with the passage of time has graduated from being a friend of one of the central characters to one in her own right. That her voice is indistinguishable from those of the previous first-person narrators in the series will be regarded by many of his fans as part of the appeal of his works, while others might find it a sense of his limits as an author.
What matters most, however, is how Scalzi employs his skills in service to his tale. Here his focus is twofold. The first is on relating the progress of the galactic détente established at the end of the last book, which has played out in ways that are all too plausible. The other focus is on the Consu, a species that until this entry was largely shrouded in mystery. Scalzi picks up on the plot threads scattered in the previous volumes in the series and adds others to provide the clearest picture yet of them. While much mystery persists about them, Scalzi provides enough detail to make their actions entirely plausible within the context of the world he has created. And though the ending may be a little too tidy, the overall effect makes for enjoyable reading, particularly for those who have treasured the previous volumes in Scalzi’s flagship series.
Scalzi’s novel offers a welcome return to the series that made his name as a science fiction author. Fans of the series will find in its pages all of the elements that made his previous volumes so popular, from its plucky protagonist to the humorous banter characterized by the author’s signature wit. This time, however, the story is told from the perspective of one of the secondary characters from two of the previous volumes in the series, who with the passage of time has graduated from being a friend of one of the central characters to one in her own right. That her voice is indistinguishable from those of the previous first-person narrators in the series will be regarded by many of his fans as part of the appeal of his works, while others might find it a sense of his limits as an author.
What matters most, however, is how Scalzi employs his skills in service to his tale. Here his focus is twofold. The first is on relating the progress of the galactic détente established at the end of the last book, which has played out in ways that are all too plausible. The other focus is on the Consu, a species that until this entry was largely shrouded in mystery. Scalzi picks up on the plot threads scattered in the previous volumes in the series and adds others to provide the clearest picture yet of them. While much mystery persists about them, Scalzi provides enough detail to make their actions entirely plausible within the context of the world he has created. And though the ending may be a little too tidy, the overall effect makes for enjoyable reading, particularly for those who have treasured the previous volumes in Scalzi’s flagship series.
August 6, 2025
Oh my gosh, I loved this book! I was so happy to learn that Scalzi decided to return to the Old Man’s War universe and get back to his space opera-style stories, which are my favorite of his.
This story centers on Gretchen Trujillo, who was Zoe’s best friend in the series. She’s gritty and tough and her Obin assistant, Ran, is such a fun and endearing character as well.
This story has an epic scope and interesting pseudoscience as well as satisfying conflict and resolution. The pacing is fast and the plotting is smart. Thanks to Tor and NetGalley I was able to read an ARC of this book, but I’ll probably buy the audiobook and ebook version when it comes out—both to complete my Old Man’s War series and for the re-read and re-listening pleasure.
I would recommend this book to fans of Andy Weir, Ernest Cline, and Dennis E Taylor. And of course, folks who love Scalzi’s other books, too.
This story centers on Gretchen Trujillo, who was Zoe’s best friend in the series. She’s gritty and tough and her Obin assistant, Ran, is such a fun and endearing character as well.
This story has an epic scope and interesting pseudoscience as well as satisfying conflict and resolution. The pacing is fast and the plotting is smart. Thanks to Tor and NetGalley I was able to read an ARC of this book, but I’ll probably buy the audiobook and ebook version when it comes out—both to complete my Old Man’s War series and for the re-read and re-listening pleasure.
I would recommend this book to fans of Andy Weir, Ernest Cline, and Dennis E Taylor. And of course, folks who love Scalzi’s other books, too.
September 12, 2025
Twenty years ago, a book by a then up-and-coming author was released on January 1, 2005. That book was Old Man’s War (original cover is pictured at left). The story is still stuck in my head all these years later, because the premise was just so utterly bonkers. It begins with 75 year old John Perry fulfilling his earlier enlistment in Earth’s Colonial Defense Forces.
Which is where all the fun began – for ‘may you live in interesting times’ values of ‘fun’. First because Earth’s Colonial Defense Forces aren’t exactly that. They don’t really belong to Earth. They use Earth for cannon fodder, while keeping the entire population under ‘mushroom management’ – meaning that they are keeping Earth’s people in the dark and feeding them (bull)shit about the actual state of the galaxy and the human colonies eking a living out amongst the stars.
This story, set in the same world twenty years and six books later, is all about reaping the whirlwind of those original choices. Because humans are far, far, FAR from alone in the galaxy, habitable planets are scarce, every species needs a place for their excess population – and no one likes being lied to, particularly not on as grand a scale as the Colonial Union had been lying to the population of Earth.
The colonies – everyone’s colonies – and the need for more of them had set the Colonial Union and the everybody-but-human Conclave on a collision course that the CDF was doomed to eventually lose even before Earth pulled the plug on recruitment. But ten years ago a fragile peace was cobbled together between the opposing parties, a peace based on a moratorium on colonization for all sides.
Of course, that agreement was broken. But the breakage – in the form of a joint colony populated by non-humans, Earth humans, and colonial humans – was more or less working. Whether it was working more, or working less depended a LOT on whose reports one had access to.
Then the reports stopped. And so did everything else. Because the colony disappeared from space. Completely. Totally. It didn’t even leave any debris behind.
Which is where Gretchen Trujillo, her Obin assistant and best friend Ran, and a whole shipload of scientists, engineers, diplomats and administrators enter the scene of the crime. Or whatever this is.
It’s their responsibility to figure out what happened to the missing colony before that fragile peace shatters into the shards of war – no matter how impossible that task might be.
Escape Rating A-: The opening scene of this book is a stunner. Literally. Gretchen Trujillo walks into a training class for potential diplomatic security personnel, promises that she’s going to kill them all, and then does so. Repeatedly. They’re not really dead, but they do, EVENTUALLY, get the point. That the universe isn’t fair and their preconceived notions about what does and does not constitute a threat to their protectees – and themselves – has to get chucked out the nearest airlock ASAP if they want to have half a chance at doing their damn jobs.
And it’s a terrific introduction to Gretchen, who will be our point of view and tour guide to the currently effed up state of the galaxy – as well as to the thoroughly FUBAR’d mission she’s about to become a part of.
She needs to go to the place where Unity Colony used to be because, as those recruits just learned, Gretchen thinks outside the box to the point that the box might as well give up and go home. But that’s not the only reason. Gretchen also needs to go because she’s the one human who has a chance of being respected and listened to by at least one of the alien races – if not a few more. And that’s because of Gretchen’s ties to the people and events of two of the earlier books in this saga, The Last Colony and Zoe’s Tale. Even if her presence and participation did not make it into the movie. Which she hates. The movie, not that she’s not included in it.
Which leads to an interesting question that I can’t really answer. The Shattering Peace is book seven in a series that’s been going on since 2005. I did read the whole thing but I haven’t read any of it recently. I believe there was enough backstory to remind me of enough of the details of past events to not feel lost in the present story. I THINK that would be true for someone who hasn’t read the whole thing – however long ago. But I can’t prove that assertion because I DID.
With that caveat, let’s get back to THIS story, which is every bit as much of an SF mystery as it is epic space opera – if not a little bit more. It’s also a story about humanity out among the stars in a situation where we are absolutely not the top dogs and where our frequent xenophobic and ethnocentric behavior is a ginormous problem.
It’s also a story about a whole lot of ‘home truths’ hiding in plain sight while everyone tiptoes around them hoping that they won’t explode. Even though they have, and are, all the damn time.
The fun part of the story is wrapped around the super-advanced aliens who are messing with ALL of the species involved, not just with the colony, but with the whole, entire galaxy. While at the same time being as completely unable to deal with their own bad behavior and interpersonal conflicts as any of us ‘less advanced’ species. Emotions get the best of everyone – and petty behavior gets very petty indeed – no matter how advanced anyone thinks they are.
(Fans of the author will get a particular chuckle over the names that a frustrated Gretchen gives to the two feuding über-advanced aliens. I’m still having a good laugh about THAT part of the story, no matter how chagrined Gretchen is at the consequences of her own petty behavior.)
The solution that Gretchen comes up with is as far out of the box as it gets – only exceeded by the out of the box problem that she’s been presented with. It feels like a happy ending, but then the previous book, The End of All Things, ALSO felt like a happy ending. So maybe.
Or maybe we’ll see Unity Colony again in another decade. They’ll have either done great things – or torn a hole in the space-time continuum. Either way, it’ll be fun to find out.
Originally published at Reading Reality
Which is where all the fun began – for ‘may you live in interesting times’ values of ‘fun’. First because Earth’s Colonial Defense Forces aren’t exactly that. They don’t really belong to Earth. They use Earth for cannon fodder, while keeping the entire population under ‘mushroom management’ – meaning that they are keeping Earth’s people in the dark and feeding them (bull)shit about the actual state of the galaxy and the human colonies eking a living out amongst the stars.
This story, set in the same world twenty years and six books later, is all about reaping the whirlwind of those original choices. Because humans are far, far, FAR from alone in the galaxy, habitable planets are scarce, every species needs a place for their excess population – and no one likes being lied to, particularly not on as grand a scale as the Colonial Union had been lying to the population of Earth.
The colonies – everyone’s colonies – and the need for more of them had set the Colonial Union and the everybody-but-human Conclave on a collision course that the CDF was doomed to eventually lose even before Earth pulled the plug on recruitment. But ten years ago a fragile peace was cobbled together between the opposing parties, a peace based on a moratorium on colonization for all sides.
Of course, that agreement was broken. But the breakage – in the form of a joint colony populated by non-humans, Earth humans, and colonial humans – was more or less working. Whether it was working more, or working less depended a LOT on whose reports one had access to.
Then the reports stopped. And so did everything else. Because the colony disappeared from space. Completely. Totally. It didn’t even leave any debris behind.
Which is where Gretchen Trujillo, her Obin assistant and best friend Ran, and a whole shipload of scientists, engineers, diplomats and administrators enter the scene of the crime. Or whatever this is.
It’s their responsibility to figure out what happened to the missing colony before that fragile peace shatters into the shards of war – no matter how impossible that task might be.
Escape Rating A-: The opening scene of this book is a stunner. Literally. Gretchen Trujillo walks into a training class for potential diplomatic security personnel, promises that she’s going to kill them all, and then does so. Repeatedly. They’re not really dead, but they do, EVENTUALLY, get the point. That the universe isn’t fair and their preconceived notions about what does and does not constitute a threat to their protectees – and themselves – has to get chucked out the nearest airlock ASAP if they want to have half a chance at doing their damn jobs.
And it’s a terrific introduction to Gretchen, who will be our point of view and tour guide to the currently effed up state of the galaxy – as well as to the thoroughly FUBAR’d mission she’s about to become a part of.
She needs to go to the place where Unity Colony used to be because, as those recruits just learned, Gretchen thinks outside the box to the point that the box might as well give up and go home. But that’s not the only reason. Gretchen also needs to go because she’s the one human who has a chance of being respected and listened to by at least one of the alien races – if not a few more. And that’s because of Gretchen’s ties to the people and events of two of the earlier books in this saga, The Last Colony and Zoe’s Tale. Even if her presence and participation did not make it into the movie. Which she hates. The movie, not that she’s not included in it.
Which leads to an interesting question that I can’t really answer. The Shattering Peace is book seven in a series that’s been going on since 2005. I did read the whole thing but I haven’t read any of it recently. I believe there was enough backstory to remind me of enough of the details of past events to not feel lost in the present story. I THINK that would be true for someone who hasn’t read the whole thing – however long ago. But I can’t prove that assertion because I DID.
With that caveat, let’s get back to THIS story, which is every bit as much of an SF mystery as it is epic space opera – if not a little bit more. It’s also a story about humanity out among the stars in a situation where we are absolutely not the top dogs and where our frequent xenophobic and ethnocentric behavior is a ginormous problem.
It’s also a story about a whole lot of ‘home truths’ hiding in plain sight while everyone tiptoes around them hoping that they won’t explode. Even though they have, and are, all the damn time.
The fun part of the story is wrapped around the super-advanced aliens who are messing with ALL of the species involved, not just with the colony, but with the whole, entire galaxy. While at the same time being as completely unable to deal with their own bad behavior and interpersonal conflicts as any of us ‘less advanced’ species. Emotions get the best of everyone – and petty behavior gets very petty indeed – no matter how advanced anyone thinks they are.
(Fans of the author will get a particular chuckle over the names that a frustrated Gretchen gives to the two feuding über-advanced aliens. I’m still having a good laugh about THAT part of the story, no matter how chagrined Gretchen is at the consequences of her own petty behavior.)
The solution that Gretchen comes up with is as far out of the box as it gets – only exceeded by the out of the box problem that she’s been presented with. It feels like a happy ending, but then the previous book, The End of All Things, ALSO felt like a happy ending. So maybe.
Or maybe we’ll see Unity Colony again in another decade. They’ll have either done great things – or torn a hole in the space-time continuum. Either way, it’ll be fun to find out.
Originally published at Reading Reality
October 23, 2025
I generally pick up every new John Scalzi book as it comes out, and the Old Man's War series is largely the reason why. I really enjoyed the world he built and the characters that inhabited it.
It's been 10 years since The End of All Things was released, so my memory of things was pretty bad. It seemed like a re-read of Zoe's Tale in particular might have been a good idea. That said I didn't feel lost and there was enough background provided in this book for me to pick up without re-reading any of the previous books.
I really enjoyed the main protagonist (who I guess was a character in Zoe's tale?), Gretchen Trujillo and her assistant Ran. The book has the usual Scalzi banter and a fast paced plot that is light on the science.
The book is self contained but certainly seems to be set up for more books in the series, which I'd welcome.
It's been 10 years since The End of All Things was released, so my memory of things was pretty bad. It seemed like a re-read of Zoe's Tale in particular might have been a good idea. That said I didn't feel lost and there was enough background provided in this book for me to pick up without re-reading any of the previous books.
I really enjoyed the main protagonist (who I guess was a character in Zoe's tale?), Gretchen Trujillo and her assistant Ran. The book has the usual Scalzi banter and a fast paced plot that is light on the science.
The book is self contained but certainly seems to be set up for more books in the series, which I'd welcome.
October 23, 2025
Lost in another universe
A good addition to this series. Scalzi is able to introduce and make us care for new characters easily.
I love how can go from drama to light humor so easily.
A good addition to this series. Scalzi is able to introduce and make us care for new characters easily.
I love how can go from drama to light humor so easily.
August 13, 2025
After the politically charged culmination of The End of All Things, The Shattering Peace arrives a decade later as a welcome evolution in the Old Man’s War saga—as well as, surprisingly, a spiritual successor to Zoe’s Tale. The book itself is set roughly a decade after the events of The Last Colony and Zoe’s Tale, and it once again finds itself examining the intricacies of diplomacy, identity, and interspecies politics—but this time, it does so through the eyes of Gretchen Trujillo, a character who once lived in the shadow of galactic legends, but now finds herself a legend in her own right.
Gretchen is no longer just Zoe’s clever, sardonic best friend—she’s a full-fledged Colonial Union diplomat, equal parts charming and unflinching, whose reputation precedes her (thanks in no small part to Roanoke, a fictionalized movie version of the events of The Last Colony). But where Zoe’s Tale explored adolescence, The Shattering Peace deals with adulthood in all its fractured expectations: estranged friendships, failed relationships, familial guilt, and the burdens of legacy.
And then there’s Ran—Gretchen’s Obin assistant attempting to understand human humor—and it is almost certainly the best side character in the series since Hickory and Dickory. Its dry commentary and earnest attempts at levity provide a wonderful counterbalance to Gretchen’s fierce pragmatism, and their bond becomes one of the major emotional pillars of the story.
Plot-wise, the book is propelled by the disappearance of Unity, a symbolic joint colony aboard an abandoned Obin space station in a hollowed-out asteroid founded by the Tripartite Agreement (which consists of the Colonial Union, Earth, and the Conclave). The mystery of Unity’s vanishing offers a perfect Scalzi hook: it’s high-stakes but grounded in character; it’s speculative but never too terribly abstract. As always, Scalzi uses familiar sci-fi tropes like lost colonies, far-future tech, vast interstellar distances, and utterly alien creatures to explore very human ideas. The story feels intimate, even when brushing against the unknowable motives of the Consu, the theologically unhinged and wildly advanced antagonists whose reappearance in this book is both menacingly unsettling and, somewhat paradoxically, comfortingly familiar for those of us who are all caught up on the series.
Scalzi’s prose remains his signature blend of brisk pacing, snappy dialogue, and well-deployed emotional sucker punches. The opening scene—where Gretchen simulates a surprise massacre of trainees—perfectly captures the book’s tone: as brutal as it is quirky, and as smart as it is wacky. War, peace, trust, and control—these are the tensions beneath the surface, and Scalzi never lets us forget that diplomacy in this universe is often just war by other means.
One small but notable improvement is his dialogue tagging: Scalzi’s usual compulsion to positively litter exchanges with “said”—no matter how unnecessary—has been mercifully toned way down here. This is an authorial tick that, for me, was both noticeably and thankfully absent in this novel.
While not every element of the mystery lands with seismic force, and while longtime readers may yearn for the presence of series stalwarts like John Perry and Jane Sagan (whose brief mention is still admittedly a delight), The Shattering Peace more than earns its place in the Old Man’s War canon. In fact, it might be Scalzi’s most emotionally intelligent book in the series—less about soldiers or colonies, and more about the fragile work of holding disparate people (and species) together in the aftermath of survival.
Ultimately, The Shattering Peace is a story about the fine line between triumph and sacrifice, the cost of intelligence and strategy, and the weight of responsibility that comes with unparalleled power. Scalzi manages to balance high-stakes action with philosophical reflection, exploring what it means to protect life and civilization even when doing so demands enormous personal loss. The novel closes on a note that is at once bittersweet and hopeful: victories are achieved, but they are never free, and the universe remains a place of infinite possibility, danger, and moral complexity. Gretchen’s Tale is one of heroism, and how it so often comes with quiet, enduring duties rather than glory.
Highly recommended.
Many, many thanks to NetGalley and TOR for the eARC.
Gretchen is no longer just Zoe’s clever, sardonic best friend—she’s a full-fledged Colonial Union diplomat, equal parts charming and unflinching, whose reputation precedes her (thanks in no small part to Roanoke, a fictionalized movie version of the events of The Last Colony). But where Zoe’s Tale explored adolescence, The Shattering Peace deals with adulthood in all its fractured expectations: estranged friendships, failed relationships, familial guilt, and the burdens of legacy.
And then there’s Ran—Gretchen’s Obin assistant attempting to understand human humor—and it is almost certainly the best side character in the series since Hickory and Dickory. Its dry commentary and earnest attempts at levity provide a wonderful counterbalance to Gretchen’s fierce pragmatism, and their bond becomes one of the major emotional pillars of the story.
Plot-wise, the book is propelled by the disappearance of Unity, a symbolic joint colony aboard an abandoned Obin space station in a hollowed-out asteroid founded by the Tripartite Agreement (which consists of the Colonial Union, Earth, and the Conclave). The mystery of Unity’s vanishing offers a perfect Scalzi hook: it’s high-stakes but grounded in character; it’s speculative but never too terribly abstract. As always, Scalzi uses familiar sci-fi tropes like lost colonies, far-future tech, vast interstellar distances, and utterly alien creatures to explore very human ideas. The story feels intimate, even when brushing against the unknowable motives of the Consu, the theologically unhinged and wildly advanced antagonists whose reappearance in this book is both menacingly unsettling and, somewhat paradoxically, comfortingly familiar for those of us who are all caught up on the series.
Scalzi’s prose remains his signature blend of brisk pacing, snappy dialogue, and well-deployed emotional sucker punches. The opening scene—where Gretchen simulates a surprise massacre of trainees—perfectly captures the book’s tone: as brutal as it is quirky, and as smart as it is wacky. War, peace, trust, and control—these are the tensions beneath the surface, and Scalzi never lets us forget that diplomacy in this universe is often just war by other means.
One small but notable improvement is his dialogue tagging: Scalzi’s usual compulsion to positively litter exchanges with “said”—no matter how unnecessary—has been mercifully toned way down here. This is an authorial tick that, for me, was both noticeably and thankfully absent in this novel.
While not every element of the mystery lands with seismic force, and while longtime readers may yearn for the presence of series stalwarts like John Perry and Jane Sagan (whose brief mention is still admittedly a delight), The Shattering Peace more than earns its place in the Old Man’s War canon. In fact, it might be Scalzi’s most emotionally intelligent book in the series—less about soldiers or colonies, and more about the fragile work of holding disparate people (and species) together in the aftermath of survival.
Ultimately, The Shattering Peace is a story about the fine line between triumph and sacrifice, the cost of intelligence and strategy, and the weight of responsibility that comes with unparalleled power. Scalzi manages to balance high-stakes action with philosophical reflection, exploring what it means to protect life and civilization even when doing so demands enormous personal loss. The novel closes on a note that is at once bittersweet and hopeful: victories are achieved, but they are never free, and the universe remains a place of infinite possibility, danger, and moral complexity. Gretchen’s Tale is one of heroism, and how it so often comes with quiet, enduring duties rather than glory.
Highly recommended.
Many, many thanks to NetGalley and TOR for the eARC.
October 14, 2025
It felt good to be back in the 'Old Man's War' universe after so many years. It is a rich and fascinating setting with plenty of narrative space still to explore. This installment gives us a closer look at the enigmatic Consu, as well as the continuing efforts of the various galactic factions to not reignite an interstellar War. All in all a very quick, fun read that leaves me wanting the next book now.
November 27, 2025
Solid space opera with a lot of snarky humor.
I thought the earlier books were better. However, I enjoyed this and was not disappointed.
I thought the earlier books were better. However, I enjoyed this and was not disappointed.
August 2, 2025
I was very excited to see that Scalzi wrote another book in the Old Man’s War series. I was even more excited to get an ARC from NetGalley (thank you!) to read before it was officially released. And the. I was again excited to read and finish the book. It’s a good one and one that is sort of on the outside of the series looking in. It is about the peace between species in the world that Scalzi built. There are new characters and very cool relationships between the species. Gretchen is a super protagonist and Ran is a perfect sidekick.
If you’ve read the series you’re going to read this book, no doubt. Enjoy it. It’s fun and exciting and puts more pieces together for the world built here. It’s a great read and you’ll love it.
If you’ve read the series you’re going to read this book, no doubt. Enjoy it. It’s fun and exciting and puts more pieces together for the world built here. It’s a great read and you’ll love it.
October 6, 2025
More like 3.5*. It does feel like he wrote this book to fulfill a contractual obligation, mixing his YA approach with older characters for an unnecessary addition to the Old Man series.
September 26, 2025
Not the Worst Scalzi book I read, that would that moon turning into cheese book. Maybe i wa just expecting too much? I really enjoyed the previous Old Man's War 1-6 books. This one....... Should be a stand alone book as it is was not worthy of the Old Man's War legacy.
Very disappointed.
Very disappointed.
September 18, 2025
It's been a long wait to return to John Scalzi's Old Man's War universe, but we slip back in without missing a beat in The Shattering Peace. It's been 10 years since an uneasy peace was brought about by an agreement between the Conclave, the Colonial Union, and Earth.
Gretchen Trujillo is a diplomat for the Colonial Union when she is called in for a secret but crucial mission. The mission and the mystery at its heart have consequences for all three parties to the peace agreement. When it turns out the Consu are involved, the consequences take on epic proportions. The Consu are so far more technically advanced than either humans or any member species of the Conclave that they might as well be magic. And the Consu are having an internal disagreement. This could get tricky fast!
Revisiting this universe is as much fun as you could hope for. The characters are mostly new, but one of the best things about this series is how relatable they are. Scalzi's characters are funny, impulsive, exasperating, and very, very clever. Gretchen is a great character from a previous book, and the Obin are one of the most fascinating species in the series. Spending time with her and her Obin assistant is responsible for much of the heart and humor in this book.
The Consu have always been a critical component of this universe, in part because much of the technology used in this future has either been gifted by the Consu or stolen from others to whom it has been gifted. The Consu as a race have always sought to help alien races advance through combat, even though their reasons for doing so are merciless and murky. Humans and members of the Conclave are seeing for the first time division among the Consu that is tantamount to civil war. The consequences for the rest of the universe are potentially immeasurable.
Scalzi's writing immediately and comfortably immerses you in his universe with a setting and characters that are easy to understand. Then he introduces the politics of the situation that are both understandable and vexing. This is where the book really levels up and makes you think about what actions are appropriate and necessary, and also makes you examine them from different points of view. This leads to action and excitement in the moment and gives you something to contemplate afterwards.
The Shattering Peace resolves its story in this book, but also leaves open the possibility of further exploration of this storyline and the Old Man's War universe. Here's hoping to more books in this series!
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.
Gretchen Trujillo is a diplomat for the Colonial Union when she is called in for a secret but crucial mission. The mission and the mystery at its heart have consequences for all three parties to the peace agreement. When it turns out the Consu are involved, the consequences take on epic proportions. The Consu are so far more technically advanced than either humans or any member species of the Conclave that they might as well be magic. And the Consu are having an internal disagreement. This could get tricky fast!
Revisiting this universe is as much fun as you could hope for. The characters are mostly new, but one of the best things about this series is how relatable they are. Scalzi's characters are funny, impulsive, exasperating, and very, very clever. Gretchen is a great character from a previous book, and the Obin are one of the most fascinating species in the series. Spending time with her and her Obin assistant is responsible for much of the heart and humor in this book.
The Consu have always been a critical component of this universe, in part because much of the technology used in this future has either been gifted by the Consu or stolen from others to whom it has been gifted. The Consu as a race have always sought to help alien races advance through combat, even though their reasons for doing so are merciless and murky. Humans and members of the Conclave are seeing for the first time division among the Consu that is tantamount to civil war. The consequences for the rest of the universe are potentially immeasurable.
Scalzi's writing immediately and comfortably immerses you in his universe with a setting and characters that are easy to understand. Then he introduces the politics of the situation that are both understandable and vexing. This is where the book really levels up and makes you think about what actions are appropriate and necessary, and also makes you examine them from different points of view. This leads to action and excitement in the moment and gives you something to contemplate afterwards.
The Shattering Peace resolves its story in this book, but also leaves open the possibility of further exploration of this storyline and the Old Man's War universe. Here's hoping to more books in this series!
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.
November 6, 2025
John Scalzi returned this year to his Old Man's War series after a ten year hiatus, with a seventh book. He had tied things up neatly in The End of All Things, but trouble flares up again as it always does eventually: An experimental colony of multiple species has disappeared completely. The only species technologically superior to humans and all others known, the Consu, are soon discovered to be involved. Gretchen Trujillo, good friend of Zoe Perry (adopted daughter of the series' original protagonist John Perry), is now an adult and at the forefront of saving Unity Colony, without provoking the Consu's genocidal leanings.
This was good overall, and a welcome return to the OMW universe. While Scalzi writes his books such that one can jump in in the middle of a series and not be lost, I strongly recommend starting at the beginning with Old Man's War. Much as I'd like a follow-up to the Interdependency trilogy, more of this series is more than welcome.
This was good overall, and a welcome return to the OMW universe. While Scalzi writes his books such that one can jump in in the middle of a series and not be lost, I strongly recommend starting at the beginning with Old Man's War. Much as I'd like a follow-up to the Interdependency trilogy, more of this series is more than welcome.
September 24, 2025
This book offered closure to the 7 book series, Old Man's War. It involved characters we met in the last 2 books. As in all Scalzi books, there is scientific detail, there is action, there is humor, there is conflict. He has really become one of my favorite authors.
The story is told through the eyes of our main character, the daughter of the founder of the Roanoke Colony described in the previous book. She has been trained up by the Colonial Defense League and is pretty much a weapon herself. She is also smart and thinks well on her feet, a totally enjoyable character. Following her every move is her assistant/bodyguard, Ran. Ran is an Obin, one of those large aliens humans had had trouble with in the past but who now had a close bond to our species. Ran, as all Obin, has the ability to shut off all his emotions, which really proves quite handy at times.
Ran and Gretchen have to confront the Consu in order to save the 50,000 people on Unity Colony. The Consu are a godlike, all powerful race that most species try to avoid at all costs. The ensuing conflict is exciting and well worth the read.
The story is told through the eyes of our main character, the daughter of the founder of the Roanoke Colony described in the previous book. She has been trained up by the Colonial Defense League and is pretty much a weapon herself. She is also smart and thinks well on her feet, a totally enjoyable character. Following her every move is her assistant/bodyguard, Ran. Ran is an Obin, one of those large aliens humans had had trouble with in the past but who now had a close bond to our species. Ran, as all Obin, has the ability to shut off all his emotions, which really proves quite handy at times.
Ran and Gretchen have to confront the Consu in order to save the 50,000 people on Unity Colony. The Consu are a godlike, all powerful race that most species try to avoid at all costs. The ensuing conflict is exciting and well worth the read.
September 12, 2025
John Scalzi continues to be my favorite sci-fi author and he just writes banger after banger all the time😌
This was such a good and entertaining read. If there was ever a book where I giggled during every chapter, it’d be this book (and let’s be real, his other books too). Scalzi is SO good at writing dry humor and weird ass things that just make sense because they do. Literally he could write the most random ass things that make zero logical sense and I’d still nod my head and be like “omg yes makes perfect sense”.
Anyway… I loved this book and in particular LOVED Ran. Literally it’s so sweet. The sweetest baby ever.🥹 despite the fact that it’s some weird twisted alien that’s a cross between a giraffe and a spider. That’s my baby.
(Also I wanna say that even though this is the 7th book in the series… I was able to read (and mostly follow along and figure out the setting) without reading the first six books, so yay!)
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor books for the arc copy!!
This was such a good and entertaining read. If there was ever a book where I giggled during every chapter, it’d be this book (and let’s be real, his other books too). Scalzi is SO good at writing dry humor and weird ass things that just make sense because they do. Literally he could write the most random ass things that make zero logical sense and I’d still nod my head and be like “omg yes makes perfect sense”.
Anyway… I loved this book and in particular LOVED Ran. Literally it’s so sweet. The sweetest baby ever.🥹 despite the fact that it’s some weird twisted alien that’s a cross between a giraffe and a spider. That’s my baby.
(Also I wanna say that even though this is the 7th book in the series… I was able to read (and mostly follow along and figure out the setting) without reading the first six books, so yay!)
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor books for the arc copy!!
September 28, 2025
Nice to be back in the Old Man's War universe. This is book 7 of what I thought was a finished series. Set decades after the concluding event out in Zoe's Tale , an uneasy peace is attained. with an agreement to halt all efforts to colonize. Except one, the Unity Colony, a joint effort of the signers of the peace to live and work together. And it gone missing. So sets the plot of this tale, which is told by a single POC, Gretchen, a friend of Zoe's and survivor of the Roanoke Colony. A fabulous read.
August 20, 2025
This science fiction story is the seventh book in the Old Man's War series. Ten years have passed since the events of the previous book (and in real life too.) Gretchen Trujillo is a mid-level diplomat working in the Colonial Union bureaucracy. She's the expert on the Obin - one of many alien races humans have met in their journeys to expand into space. Her father is a higher-level diplomat.
When Gretchen's father gives her the assignment of trying to determine what happened to Unity Colony - a hollowed-out asteroid circling a planet the Obin had intended to colonize. The existence of Unity Colony comes as a surprise to Gretchen since one of the conditions of the tripartite agreement which ended the war was that there was a moratorium on founding new colonies.
Unity Colony was intended as a test case to see if citizens of the Colonial Union, the Conclave and Earth could live together peacefully in a single environment. Now the colony has disappeared, and the Colonial Union wants to know why. Gretchen's father was instrumental in the formation of the colony and one of her oldest friends is among the colonists.
An expedition is formed to find out what happened to the colony. When they arrive at the site where it was supposed to be, the colony is gone with no evidence of where it could be. What is there is a prism containing a single Consu. The Consu are a very superior sort of alien immeasurably advanced compared to all the other species. They have a nasty habit of messing with other species to further their goal of "perfecting" all species. They also rarely condescend to speak to other species, but this one that Gretchen names Kitty does speak to her and has a task for her. After which, he will tell her what happened to the colony.
Gretchen soon learns that the Consu are facing a civil war in which one faction wants to destroy the colony and Earth to "perfect" humans. The runaway Consu has developed a new kind of physics of spaceflight which could make the Consu even more powerful and dangerous to humans and aliens. It is up to Gretchen to out-think the aliens, save the colony, and save all the aliens from Consu interference.
This was an engaging space opera with a great main character. Gretchen is smart and mean and tricky enough to win over the dreaded Consu. I think it works well as a story whether or not you have read the previous six books in the Old Man's War series. I enjoyed the story despite my reservations about the efficacy of Gretchen's final solution.
When Gretchen's father gives her the assignment of trying to determine what happened to Unity Colony - a hollowed-out asteroid circling a planet the Obin had intended to colonize. The existence of Unity Colony comes as a surprise to Gretchen since one of the conditions of the tripartite agreement which ended the war was that there was a moratorium on founding new colonies.
Unity Colony was intended as a test case to see if citizens of the Colonial Union, the Conclave and Earth could live together peacefully in a single environment. Now the colony has disappeared, and the Colonial Union wants to know why. Gretchen's father was instrumental in the formation of the colony and one of her oldest friends is among the colonists.
An expedition is formed to find out what happened to the colony. When they arrive at the site where it was supposed to be, the colony is gone with no evidence of where it could be. What is there is a prism containing a single Consu. The Consu are a very superior sort of alien immeasurably advanced compared to all the other species. They have a nasty habit of messing with other species to further their goal of "perfecting" all species. They also rarely condescend to speak to other species, but this one that Gretchen names Kitty does speak to her and has a task for her. After which, he will tell her what happened to the colony.
Gretchen soon learns that the Consu are facing a civil war in which one faction wants to destroy the colony and Earth to "perfect" humans. The runaway Consu has developed a new kind of physics of spaceflight which could make the Consu even more powerful and dangerous to humans and aliens. It is up to Gretchen to out-think the aliens, save the colony, and save all the aliens from Consu interference.
This was an engaging space opera with a great main character. Gretchen is smart and mean and tricky enough to win over the dreaded Consu. I think it works well as a story whether or not you have read the previous six books in the Old Man's War series. I enjoyed the story despite my reservations about the efficacy of Gretchen's final solution.
September 5, 2025
When I heard a new Old Man's War was coming out after TEN YEARS I immediately acquired an advance copy (but it comes out soon!) and devoured it. I was nervous that I would regret not rereading the previous six books (haha jk I don't have time for that) but I should never worry with John Scalzi -- he's got a knack for reminding you of the important things and not making you feel bad for forgetting the less important ones. I would not maybe start with this one, but heck, I started with book 4 and here we are so I take it back. Read it! It's a delight!
October 8, 2025
Sure, I'm glad to have another Scalzi book. But I recognized nothing of these characters or situations. And this was silly. I mean not as silly as When the Moon Hits Your Eye or even The Kaiju Preservation Society, but silly nonetheless. And snarky. Just completely full up on snark. And not as witty as perhaps the author thinks. Still kind of a fun read. 3.5 of 5
August 13, 2025
This is an excellent installment of the Old Man’s War series. It continues the story with an engaging plot that moves along briskly. Scalzi’s writing mind continues to evolve and impress.
I received an ARC copy through a Goodreads giveaway.
I received an ARC copy through a Goodreads giveaway.
September 22, 2025
4 Stars! I’m rounding up btw. It was really good overall. I think I’m just sick of the Scalzi sarcasm. The plot is a little far-fetched too. I don’t feel the series needed to be continued but I will say I enjoyed it more than his more recent novels. Anyways, if you’re a fan of Scalzi’s humor and you’ve read all the OMW books, then you’ll probably enjoy this one too.
- “In my experience you can't tell people things. If they don't experience it, it's not real.”
- “In my experience you can't tell people things. If they don't experience it, it's not real.”
November 24, 2025
Three stars, but that is a bit harsh because it is an entertaining book: Scalzi knows how to move a story along, how to write witty banter, and the novel digs into one of the remaining "mysteries" of the "Old Man's War" series, i.e. how the Consu will handle the development of this part of the galaxy. In other words it's a new entry in a sometimes great space opera, so I won't complain about that 🙂
But there are some rather glaring issues in my opinion. The first and perhaps most annoying is one that's become apparent over time with Scalzi's novels: He has such an easy time writing dialogue where the speakers are trading barbs and being sarcastic that after a while every character sounds exactly the same. There is no difference between the main character Gretchen Trujillo here and Zoë Boutin-Perry in the earlier novels (or for that matter, any of the other main characters, except for Jane and maybe John as he sounds in the first bok). Their backgrounds differ but when they speak, they do so with the same voice. It makes me care less for them since they lack personality, even though I do enjoy them because, as I said, Scalzi truly knows how to write fun exchanges between them. It's similar to where the pattern in some generic sitcoms can have too much of the line → sarcastic reply → even more sarcastic reply; fun at first, too repetitive after a while.
The other main one for me is that even if the Consu and their reaction to how the other races are trying to cooperate was an unknown before, I'm not sure I'm that interested in reading more novels about this (I assume the Consu are going to be the main thing in these new novels). I thought the first trilogy was an excellent one, with an open ending which still tied things together neatly. The following books were fun but I'm not sure they really needed to be set in the same universe, but when they were finished it felt (again) like we had an ending. And now, we have yet another restart/sequel, and it feels unnecessary. I can't avoid feeling as if it's a case of continuing due to the former novels being so successful commercially rather than due to anything else, and that feels a bit sad to me. Like Isaac Asimov's later "Foundation" novels (not that the original trilogy are literary masterpieces, but they have wonderful plots, whereas the later sequels are abominable in all respects), or Orson Scott Card's continuing undermining of the first and excellent "Ender's Game".
Make no mistake, this novel is fun and if you like Scalzi (like I do!) you will enjoy reading it. But it is part of a trend with his novels where I've gone from really looking forward to new ones, hoping for top-notch sf like "Old Man's War" or "The Android's Dream", to nowadays simply expecting a decently entertaining read.
But there are some rather glaring issues in my opinion. The first and perhaps most annoying is one that's become apparent over time with Scalzi's novels: He has such an easy time writing dialogue where the speakers are trading barbs and being sarcastic that after a while every character sounds exactly the same. There is no difference between the main character Gretchen Trujillo here and Zoë Boutin-Perry in the earlier novels (or for that matter, any of the other main characters, except for Jane and maybe John as he sounds in the first bok). Their backgrounds differ but when they speak, they do so with the same voice. It makes me care less for them since they lack personality, even though I do enjoy them because, as I said, Scalzi truly knows how to write fun exchanges between them. It's similar to where the pattern in some generic sitcoms can have too much of the line → sarcastic reply → even more sarcastic reply; fun at first, too repetitive after a while.
The other main one for me is that even if the Consu and their reaction to how the other races are trying to cooperate was an unknown before, I'm not sure I'm that interested in reading more novels about this (I assume the Consu are going to be the main thing in these new novels). I thought the first trilogy was an excellent one, with an open ending which still tied things together neatly. The following books were fun but I'm not sure they really needed to be set in the same universe, but when they were finished it felt (again) like we had an ending. And now, we have yet another restart/sequel, and it feels unnecessary. I can't avoid feeling as if it's a case of continuing due to the former novels being so successful commercially rather than due to anything else, and that feels a bit sad to me. Like Isaac Asimov's later "Foundation" novels (not that the original trilogy are literary masterpieces, but they have wonderful plots, whereas the later sequels are abominable in all respects), or Orson Scott Card's continuing undermining of the first and excellent "Ender's Game".
Make no mistake, this novel is fun and if you like Scalzi (like I do!) you will enjoy reading it. But it is part of a trend with his novels where I've gone from really looking forward to new ones, hoping for top-notch sf like "Old Man's War" or "The Android's Dream", to nowadays simply expecting a decently entertaining read.
September 23, 2025
Published twenty years ago, John Scalzi released his debut novel, Old Man’s war, which sparked a series of six books that spanned the galaxy. In the future, the human race is now in the stars. However, as you can probably guess, not many people like us (ooooh, well isn’t that a surprise?) and we end up going to war with the alien races.
The soldiers, in the large part are culled from the elderly population, who instead of whiling away their time in relaxing retirement communities are sent out to earn their keep in enhanced bodies and weapons (no drawing a pension in this future!).
The first book follows John Perry, a seventy five year old bloke from Ohio, who gets a new body, a gun and is pointed towards the aliens.
The series goes on to describe all sorts of things and different stories.
The Shattering Peace is the latest book in the sprawling series and follows Gretchen Trujillo and her Obin assistant Pan as they are sent out to solve the mystery of why a secret project Called Unity, an experimental colony populated in secret to determine if different alien races can live in harmony together and actually get along, has gone missing.
So! If you are going to start a new series, it’s always a good idea to start on the seventh book of a well-established series – Not!
Yep, that’s right folks, I have actually jumped into this series at the seventh book. Not the brightest idea, I know, but I have to say that due to the fact that John Scalzi is such a good writer, this hasn’t mattered one bit. Yeah, I don’t know some of the details and the easter eggs that are in there, but I happily bumbled along with the book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The book is trademark John Scalzi – zippy dialogue, plenty of action and a good dose of fun.
Now, I have read a few John Scalzi books and have really enjoyed each one I have read, and this one is no exception.
Gretchen is a great character who competently deals with every situation that is thrown at her.
One of the things that buoys the story along really well is the interactions between Gretchen and her assistant Pan. Pan is an Obin. From what I could glean from the story, the Obin were the soldiers of the Consu, an alien race of insectoid type creatures who are far superior in every way. They elevated the Obin from being primitive beings to highly trained soldiers. However, in their tampering with evolution, they forgot to do one thing – give the Obin an individual consciousness. Now the Obin have a prosthetic consciousness which they can turn on and off. This is a delightful premise (although not a particularly new one) due to the fact that Pan has absolutely no boundaries (think Data in TNG) and leads to all sorts of comedic interludes.
If you want a good science fiction romp then The Shattering Peace is a great book. And if like me, you haven’t read the others, it’s a good jumping on point in my humble opinion. Many people will probably disagree, but hey! I did it!
The soldiers, in the large part are culled from the elderly population, who instead of whiling away their time in relaxing retirement communities are sent out to earn their keep in enhanced bodies and weapons (no drawing a pension in this future!).
The first book follows John Perry, a seventy five year old bloke from Ohio, who gets a new body, a gun and is pointed towards the aliens.
The series goes on to describe all sorts of things and different stories.
The Shattering Peace is the latest book in the sprawling series and follows Gretchen Trujillo and her Obin assistant Pan as they are sent out to solve the mystery of why a secret project Called Unity, an experimental colony populated in secret to determine if different alien races can live in harmony together and actually get along, has gone missing.
So! If you are going to start a new series, it’s always a good idea to start on the seventh book of a well-established series – Not!
Yep, that’s right folks, I have actually jumped into this series at the seventh book. Not the brightest idea, I know, but I have to say that due to the fact that John Scalzi is such a good writer, this hasn’t mattered one bit. Yeah, I don’t know some of the details and the easter eggs that are in there, but I happily bumbled along with the book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The book is trademark John Scalzi – zippy dialogue, plenty of action and a good dose of fun.
Now, I have read a few John Scalzi books and have really enjoyed each one I have read, and this one is no exception.
Gretchen is a great character who competently deals with every situation that is thrown at her.
One of the things that buoys the story along really well is the interactions between Gretchen and her assistant Pan. Pan is an Obin. From what I could glean from the story, the Obin were the soldiers of the Consu, an alien race of insectoid type creatures who are far superior in every way. They elevated the Obin from being primitive beings to highly trained soldiers. However, in their tampering with evolution, they forgot to do one thing – give the Obin an individual consciousness. Now the Obin have a prosthetic consciousness which they can turn on and off. This is a delightful premise (although not a particularly new one) due to the fact that Pan has absolutely no boundaries (think Data in TNG) and leads to all sorts of comedic interludes.
If you want a good science fiction romp then The Shattering Peace is a great book. And if like me, you haven’t read the others, it’s a good jumping on point in my humble opinion. Many people will probably disagree, but hey! I did it!
September 30, 2025
The Shattering Peace (Old Man's War #7) by John Scalzi returns to the beloved series after a decade-long wait. For ten years, an uneasy peace has held between the Colonial Union, Earth, and the alien Conclave. But that fragile stability is threatened when the Consu, the most advanced intelligent species humans have ever encountered, stand on the brink of civil war. As Consu factions clash, humans and their alien allies are unwillingly dragged into the conflict in unexpected ways. Gretchen Trujillo, a mid-level diplomat working in an obscure corner of Colonial Union bureaucracy, is suddenly called to join a secret mission involving representatives from every major power in the galaxy. What she discovers could redefine the future of humans and aliens alike, or destroy them all.
This was the long-awaited return to the Old Man's War universe, and it absolutely did not disappoint. Scalzi delivers everything I love about this series: sharp dialogue, clever plotting, big ideas wrapped in accessible storytelling, and characters I genuinely care about. The decade-long wait was worth it. I can't get enough of Scalzi's writing, his ability to balance humour with high stakes, intimate character moments with galaxy-spanning consequences. The Consu civil war premise opens up fascinating new territory whilst staying true to what makes this series so compelling. If you're a fan of the series, this is essential reading. If you're new to Scalzi, honestly, just start at the beginning and thank me later.
This was the long-awaited return to the Old Man's War universe, and it absolutely did not disappoint. Scalzi delivers everything I love about this series: sharp dialogue, clever plotting, big ideas wrapped in accessible storytelling, and characters I genuinely care about. The decade-long wait was worth it. I can't get enough of Scalzi's writing, his ability to balance humour with high stakes, intimate character moments with galaxy-spanning consequences. The Consu civil war premise opens up fascinating new territory whilst staying true to what makes this series so compelling. If you're a fan of the series, this is essential reading. If you're new to Scalzi, honestly, just start at the beginning and thank me later.
Read
November 5, 2025I read The Shattering Peace mostly as a stand-alone, since I was only recently introduced to the *Old Man’s War* series. Once I received the invite to read this ARC, I quickly caught up by listening to the first two and a half books to get a better grasp of Scalzi’s universe.
Thankfully, the plot centers on Gretchen Trujillo—a character who had only a small role in the earlier OMW novels—which made it fairly easy for me to jump in without feeling lost. Scalzi does a great job making this story accessible to both longtime fans and newcomers like me.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and will definitely be reading the series in their proper order at some point. Scalzi’s trademark wit is in full force here, and he doesn’t disappoint. While space opera isn’t usually my go-to genre, as long as there are well-developed characters and strong dialogue, I’m on board.
That said, The Shattering Peace is a steady and, in a way, relaxing story, one you can enjoy without feeling anxious about the stakes. I cared enough about the characters to stay invested, though not deeply moved by every twist and turn. (Except for Ran. I adore Ran, but that’s a different story.)
For now, I’d prefer not to rate this book, as it belongs to a universe I haven’t fully explored yet. I imagine my perspective will shift once I’ve read the earlier installments of the Old Man’s War series.
Thank you, NetGalley and Pan Macmillan, for the ARC!
Thankfully, the plot centers on Gretchen Trujillo—a character who had only a small role in the earlier OMW novels—which made it fairly easy for me to jump in without feeling lost. Scalzi does a great job making this story accessible to both longtime fans and newcomers like me.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and will definitely be reading the series in their proper order at some point. Scalzi’s trademark wit is in full force here, and he doesn’t disappoint. While space opera isn’t usually my go-to genre, as long as there are well-developed characters and strong dialogue, I’m on board.
That said, The Shattering Peace is a steady and, in a way, relaxing story, one you can enjoy without feeling anxious about the stakes. I cared enough about the characters to stay invested, though not deeply moved by every twist and turn. (Except for Ran. I adore Ran, but that’s a different story.)
For now, I’d prefer not to rate this book, as it belongs to a universe I haven’t fully explored yet. I imagine my perspective will shift once I’ve read the earlier installments of the Old Man’s War series.
Thank you, NetGalley and Pan Macmillan, for the ARC!
September 24, 2025
OK, now this is more like it. I did not read the Old Man's War series until after reading RedShirts, Kaiju Preservation Society & Starter Villain. So the flatness or lacking depth of of the series was off-putting to say the least. Now this, The Shattering Peace reads like the Scalzi style I had come to expect. There is a snarky wise and wiseassed main character and their plucky assistant / helper sidekick they are set against a weird thing going on and even those the MC is trying to help don't totally agree and argue with the MC for biased reasons. The Story has a lot of the emotion connection that is missing from most of the OMW books. Having the MC be Gretchen from previous stories is an added bonus.
The book is a quick read & well paced. Many interesting things happen and I really enjoyed the read. Unfortunately, Scalzi did not stick the landing errrr I mean ending of the book. The ending felt rushed & abrupt tacked on even. Unsatisfying considering the rest of the story. 4.5 stars.
Also, Fucking Consu.
The book is a quick read & well paced. Many interesting things happen and I really enjoyed the read. Unfortunately, Scalzi did not stick the landing errrr I mean ending of the book. The ending felt rushed & abrupt tacked on even. Unsatisfying considering the rest of the story. 4.5 stars.
Also, Fucking Consu.
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