The Shattering Peace

Old Man's War, Book 7

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

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.

a good short story that was 9 hrs long

this was a decent story with a fair amount of Scalzi's trademark humor, but it wasn't that compelling and got bogged down in the middle third.
a little disappointed after a long wait in this series

No more Gretchen stories please

Old Man’s War is one of my favorite sci-fi series, but this didn’t need to be a part of it. Gretchen is insufferable and I barely made it through the whole book. It was too precious, dripping in sarcasm, and not believable dialogue. And don’t ever let that narrator do a clicking voice again…EVER.

eeek

this is definitely not one of my favorites from the author. maybe I'm just used to Wil Wheaton, but I don't know. I can't tell if it's a space Opera or what. this 15 word minimum is painful.

Invested in the Story (spoiler-ish)

I think that the narrator is good, but the direction she was likely given for some of the characters was poor. The various sound effects (clicking, etc) and also the tone of the voices were quite hard to listen to and I almost bailed the audiobook because of it. For the medium, it just didn’t hit the mark. Having said that, I’m quite invested in the overall series and enjoyed the story. I think that it was a bit convoluted at times, almost trying to fit the happy ending in by using technology, etc but not quite hitting the mark.

Good all around!

The Shattering Piece was good. The story was an easy binge listen. Here is a good close to the story of the old man’s war universe(if it is…). The characters are likable and the dialogue is Scalzi’s usual level of charm and bite. The performance was perfect. Tavia Gilbert who narrated Zoe’s Tale and The End Of All Things (and many more) brought this story to life.