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The Shattering Peace

Old Man's War, Book 7

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The Shattering Peace

By: John Scalzi
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
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About this listen

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 tripartite 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.

©2025 John Scalzi (P)2025 Audible, Inc.
Adventure Humorous Military Science Fiction Space Opera
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John Scalzi has the knack of writing clever, easy to listen to / read, novels. This is the peak of his art. It’s a terrific novel with a cracking story, great characters, and superb twist in the tale. If you’re a space opera fan, this is perfect for you.

The narration is superb too, so much so, I intend seeking out the narrator’s other work.

Perfect Scalzi

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scalzi writes in such a funny, moving and relatable way. the scene with ran in the bar was truly wonderful writing. thank you. a lovely addition to this fabulous series

just wonderful as always

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Had this been a different narrator (I was expecting someone else) then this might have been a full five stars across the board. As it is, I feel like I missed something. I like the original premise and creation of the Old Man's War universe, the characters and their interactions, the political landscape even were funny but thought provoking in that Scalzi way that just works. I blame myself for this one not quite being as good as the others. I had expectations (expectations are, almost always, a bad idea. Better to have expectancy, so that what you get can live up to it obeying the author's intent rather than having to obey your unrealistic ideas of their intent) and as with all expectations, the reality didn't meet them. Once I'd gotten rid of the expectations, it was very good indeed.

Old Man's War universe, but not...

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Not a patch on the original Old Man War books, and on a downward trajectory from the follow-ups.

Pacing wasnt great, the story was largely predictable, the characters were tired and the narration was very poor.

The lead character was mildly annoying. Sassy, emotional, kind hearted woman is also a high-level martial arts specialist. She was tedious.

The Raan character was, to me, hugely irritating. Lame efforts at comedy, a total departure from the Oban known prior in terms of behaviour and mannerisms, and APPALLINGLY narrated, akin to nails down a blackboard.

I nearly stopped listening on a couple of occasions, which ive only done once or twice in 200 odd audible titles.

Skip this one, you won't miss anything.

A rare miss for Scalzi

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I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the series so far, so bought this straight away when I saw it was out. However, I did struggle to get through this one. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t particularly great either. I found the story was a bit predictable, the characters were a little flat and in some cases- irritating, and some of the ‘exciting’ bits felt like they were put in for the sake of it, rather than the story calling for it.

Narrator performance wasn’t terrible but didn’t set the world alight either.

All that being said, the book does add and help fill out the old man’s war universe and does have some interesting ideas that progress the overall series. So still well worth a listen for fans of the series.

Mediocre

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