The Life of the Mind

Old Man's War #6.1

by John Scalzi

Part One of THE END OF ALL THINGS, available in four thrilling installments. The full novel will be available once all installments are published.

OUR FATE IS IN THEIR HANDS. . .

The Colonial Union's Defence Force was formed to save humanity when aggressive alien species targeted our worlds. Now Lieutenant Harry Wilson has an urgent new mission, as a hostile universe becomes ever more dangerous. He must investigate a sinister group, which lurks in the darkness of space playing different factions against one another. They'll target both humans and aliens, and their motives are unfathomable.

The Defence Force itself is weakening as its soldiers fall - without recruits to replace them. Relations with Earth have broken down and it will send no more troops, even as human colonies become increasingly vulnerable to alien attack.

Lieutenant Wilson and Colonial Union diplomats must race to keep the peace, seek reconciliation with an enraged Earth, and maintain humanity's unity at all costs. If they don't, it will mean oblivion, extinction and the end of all things.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Fantasy, Aliens, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novella

111 pages

First published June 9, 2015

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

[Mike]

I'm Rafe Daquin, and I'm a brain in a box.

Hi.

Let me tell you, it feels great to be back in the Old Man's War universe. Scalzi has such a great vision of a cluttered universe where humans must compete with myriads of other alien races for survival. He last left us desperately clinging to a cliff's edge in The Human Division. Turmoil is spreading across the galaxy. A shadowy organization, which had been moving in the shadows (as such organizations are want to do) had just launched a spectacular attack that has further alienated (no pun intended) Earth from the Colonial Union. The Life of the Mind picks up shortly after those events.

So one thing that was discovered in The Human Division was that space ship pilots were being kidnapped and effectively turned into a brain in a box which controlled starships. Rafe Daquin is just the most recent, unfortunate addition, to that brotherhood. Captured by these shadowy forces and given a stark choice: do what we say or experience the most exquisite death possible. When you are just a brain in a box, you don't have much of what experienced negotiators call "leverage".

They assumed they had the upper hand in dealing with me.

Again, fair enough. I was a brain in a box and they could kill me or torture me any time they wanted. That's a pretty good definition of having the upper hand.

But he doesn't despair. He does everything in his power (small though it may be) to stymie his captors and gain as much knowledge about them and their operation as he can.

This book was interesting to read right after finishing The Martian. Both are told (at least partially) from the view point of a character that found himself along in a hostile environment. Both had very little to work with. Both had some practical knowledge to help them out (engineering for Watney in The Martian and programming for Daquin in this book). They stuck with their survival plans, adjusting them as the situation warranted. And they both had a pretty darn snarky outlook on life.

Don't get too excited, that other part of my brain said. You're a brain in a box now. And they can see everything you do. They're probably looking at you thinking all this right now.

You're depressing, I said to that other part of my brain.

At least I'm not talking to myself, it said back. And anyway you know I'm right.

He and Watney would get along famously.

Even though you find out within the first few minutes of reading that he makes it out OK, I still found this to be a very engaging read. The obstacles Rafe has to overcome, the secrets he ferrets out, just how to pulls off his slight to freedom were all really exciting. Scalzi does a wonderful job giving Rafe his own unique voice and the revelations he uncovers are quite game changing. I am eagerly looking forward to the next installments of this series and all the trademark Scalzi snark that comes with it.

[Ron]

Scalzi does it again. I was concerned after his blooper in Locked In. But Life of the Mind is a satisfying, self-contained story despite being the first quarter of a larger novel: The End of All Things. Scalzi can do it, why can’t all you other series grinders? Well, because he’s Scalzi. Aside from that I mean.

Rafe Daguin is the victim of the dirtiest trick. Ever. He could just freak out forever. (He does freak out for a while.) Or he could fight back. This is a Scalzi novel, you know what he does.

While Rafe tries to decide whether he’s alive, he considers and discards dead because the existence he finds himself in doesn’t correspond to any afterlife he’s ever heard of. Perhaps it didn’t occur to Scalzi, but Rafe’s circumstances sound like some descriptions of Hell.

Scalzi delivers the goods. Thanks, John.

[Scott]

This is the first novella in the serialized sixth book in Scalzi's Old Man War series and holy crap is it good!

I've been kind of down on sci-fi this year as I've been scoring a bunch of misses in my selections but Scalzi knocks it out of the park again. This novella tells the story of the brain in the box (if this sounds unfamiliar then you need to read the earlier books in the series) from joining the CU to getting captured and separated from his body all the way to his first mission for the aliens.

This had it all...the usual great Scalzi storytelling, amazing characters, wonderful plot...pretty much everything you could want in a book.

All hail Scalzi - he's back!

[Lindsay]

This is the story that the whole of The Human Division is the prologue to.

Simple, but excellent story of brains triumphing over force. Quite literally in this case as the unfortunate protagonist is the same sort of brain-in-a-box as the unfortunate in the previous book.

Moving on to the rest ...

[Tomasz]

This is me, a) messing with the Goodreads challenge, b) getting suckered by Macmillan Publishing :) I don't mind the b), though - I'm fine with Mr. Scalzi getting a few cents more in royalties, if this is how his contract works. As for the thing itself, well, it's a quarter of the novel, can't judge it on its own all that well, now can I.

[Guðmann Bragi]

Re-read

[Serena]

idk what's happening in this series anymore. no thoughta

[Kaethe]

)

[Michel Meijer]

Very satisfying and intriguing novella. Certainly worth a read, even if you are not a Scalzi fan. Five stars.

[Joel]

Here we go. Old Man's War, book six, and it starts with a brain in a box. Welcome back.

The Life of the Mind is the first (of four) novellas that comprise The End of All Things, the aforementioned book six in the Old Man's War series. Things pick up almost immediately after the end of the previous book (The Human Division) with a couple of our favorite soldiers and diplomats, and our new protagonist, who like many of the protagonists in the OMW series, begin the story as human and end as something...different.

Fast, funny, action-packed, like a Heinlein novel with the misogyny, this is vintage Scalzi and all the more welcome for that.

[Dawn]

John Scalzi. Old Man's War series. Serialized. This rating was almost a foregone conclusion for me. But as usual, the book deserves it. I feel like I'm back in a world I adore - full of clever, articulate people who entertain the crap out of me. I love it here and I can't wait for the next installment.

[Reader]

A down-on-his-luck Colonial Union starship pilot finds himself pressed into serving a harsh master-in a mission against the CU. But his kidnappers may have underestimated his knowledge of the ship that they have, quite literally, bound him to piloting. Part One of the four parts of The End of All Things, John Scalzi's conclusion to the Old Man's War tale that began with The Human Division.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

[Ilya.Miropolskygmail.Com]

I’m a great fan of these series and this one has a nice perk for those among us who know their way around computers. The world in general is something new at least for me in the SciFi universe and with live and authentic personalities and a pinch of good humor this makes it a wonderful work of fiction!

[Pamela Baird]

Great story

I thought the synopsis made the book sound really dull and boring and I nearly didn't read it. Then I remembered that I have loved everything else John Scalzi has written so I thought I would try it. It is well written but not sure what the point of it is and if it is really going anywhere. Not in the same class as some of the others.

[Bob]

I felt like I already knew this story from what I think is The Human Division (Old Man's War Book 5). I'm not sure it is word for word, but it felt like it, perhaps only a chapter or so in The Human Division, but up to 20% going by page count. Maybe there was something new here, I don't know.

[Darren Douglas]

Brilliant writer, fantastic series!

[Brian M. Carrig]

This one will stay with you - fascinating!

[Nate Thern]

The End of All Things

[Michelle]

3.5/5: very good & a bit sad 😥 but Daquin gets in some good revenge 😉 👍

[Bruce Maxwell]

Clever idea, well-plotted, quick read. Not as engaging as I'd hoped it would be. A bit of a "meh"...

[Jim Mason]

An excellent start to the book.

[shawn murphy]

Really Awesome series , thanks John John good hands

[Daniyal]

Marvelous bit of transhumanism and revealing of a new set of actors in the universe.

[x x x]

Oh yeah, Scalzi

So much to accept then emotional freighting I must adapt within my smallish mind and knowledge tree. I'm enthralled by the conceptual and evocative logic siblings.

[Paul Deehan]

Big fan of Old Man's War, but this just didn't cut it for me. Won't be reading reast of the series.

[Emz]

Mind blowing.

[margaret c. riddle]

End of all things

Wonderful depiction of what is consiousness. A delight of non-stop human species. I highly recommend this book, particularly if you have a sense of humor.

[Katie A.]

solid. 🧠👏🏼

[Thomas A. Parrino]

scalzi his best

Displays the attributes of a Sci Fi writer who may be the best of his era. Please read and enjoy!

[Ed Niehaus]

scalzi is clear and believable!

What a story, what a writer. I'm grateful for this book, which I'm sure to reread many times. Thank you for this book!