The Human Division

A solid four stars on this one! By design, this book was written as 13 different pieces that would work as both stand-alone and as a mash-up novel. Scalzi has talked about the challenge of writing it that way, and I think it works fabulously. Pieces that follow the main line of the story with the main characters are alternated with pieces about seemingly unrelated events, and it all comes together at the end like a Tom Clancy novel, though it's very clear that there are questions yet to be answered. My only gripe, and it's a small one, is that there isn't much room for characterization. It's typical of Scalzi that it's about intrigue & action with snappy dialog rather than character differentiation & relationships.

I highly recommend reading the short story "After the Coup" prior to this book. It introduces the main characters & adds some context as to where the story is going after the events of Zoe's Tale.