Old Man's War
by John Scalzi
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Book Reviews of Old Man's War
Book Review: Team America Universe Police.
Summary: 2 Stars
I must admit that prior to reading this book I was barely aware that 'military SF' existed as a genre. Since this book is considered by some to be a pinnacle work within the field I shall not be investigating it any further.
I have read both "Forever War" and "Starship Troopers", the books most commonly referenced, for comparison, by reviewers of this work. While this book does take some ideas wholesale from the latter, it pains me to see it compared to either of these much more substantial works. Although it is like reading a lesser work from the fifties as it has all clunkiness of mediocre old-style Hard SF. With the benefit of fifty years hindsight I would expect the author to offer something fresher. Anyone who thinks that the author has come up with an original concept, technologically or otherwise should actually read a bit more SF. I don't consider myself to be an expert but I didn't find a truly novel concept in the book.
The author uses two rather irritating devices to make his life easier: firstly it is written in the first person, allowing him to claim that the drab style of the writing is down to the character and the lack of any credible explanations of the book's many inconsistencies is because the character chooses not to give them.
Secondly, for no adequately explained reason all the people in the armed forces are recruited exclusively in America. This is pretty objectionable and leads to the dialogue between the characters being annoyingly like sales executives at a conference("well gee Bob what's up with this Skip Drive thingummy?"..."Well John I'm a physicist and my theory is...").
To be honest the book fails to deliver in all areas. It is slow and dull at the start, then becomes violent and dull. The author seems to feel the need to describe even the most mundane events in detail while glossing over all the 'whys and wherefores' of the larger picture.
The people in the book are supposed to have 75yrs experience behind them(although you would never know it from the way they talk or act)and are drawn from a wide variety of(American)backgrounds and yet nobody questions the moral or philosophical implications of what they are doing.
At one point the main character feels a bit upset about all the mindless killing he is doing but as soon as it is explained to him that this is 'normal' he shrugs his shoulders and carries on as before.
Another time a character puts the point of view that a different approach(involving the use of diplomacy)could be considered, but since he is an ex-politician, you can imagine how sympathetic his position is supposed to be. He receives his comeuppance in a heavy-handedly predictable way that is typical of the books style(of course thousands of alien are killed in retribution for the loss of this one(unpopular)human life) .
The way the troops in this book conduct themselves could be seen as a sly comment on the Iraq situation. In reality I suspect its more a case of "there is no need to moralise as we're killing aliens not people".
All the above would probably be excusable if the book supplied the excitement promised. It doesn't.
Philip F. Hamilton's work has it's flaws but he does the battle stuff("Night's Dawn Trilogy") infinitely better when he needs to, without making it the whole story.
Book Review: Good, but not Great
Summary: 4 Stars
I vacillated between 3 and 4 stars on this one, but ultimately I decided that as a pure pleasure read, it deserves 4. Old Man's War is fast and entertaining; it's quick to grip you and it never lets go. For anyone who loves military SF or is just in the mood for a Heinlein-esque romp, I highly recommend it.
That said, I had some major issues with it as a book. My biggest problem was that given the accolades the book has received, I expected a little more substance. While Scalzi briefly glides pasts issues of identity and the complexities underlying war and peace, his surface-level treatment does more harm than good to a meaningful discussion. Moreover, the reality is that all of the characters are fairly close to identical in their tone and voice (apparently, everyone in the future will be extremely flip), and mostly undeveloped in the few areas that are supposed to make them distinct. The primary exceptions to this are the few characters you're not supposed to like, who are universally groan-inducing charicatures, such as the bloviating, peace-loving senator who waltzes across one chapter to show us that we can feel good about all the mindless killing because peaceniks are dumb and deserve to die.
The other main example, equally charicaturish but not derided, is the drill sergeant, who I think best exemplifies my feelings towards the book as a whole. In the beginning, he goes through a lengthy speech about how he seems like a typical mock drill sergeant but really isn't, including a section about how they will not earn his grudging respect because the real world is not like that, etc. He then proceeds to act and behave in absolutely every way like R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket, up to and including, you guessed it, giving the MC his grudging respect in the manner which he already specifically called out as being stereotypical and unrealistic. All of this is actually okay, because Scalzi does a really good impression of R. Lee Ermey, and it's a lot of fun to read. At the same time, the character is still a two-dimensional stereotype, no matter his, and perhaps Scalzi's, protestations to the contrary.
I was also a bit dissapointed that the central conceit of the novel, the fact that the soldiers were old, played very little role outside of the first few chapters. Sure it provides a few somewhat-forced plot complications towards the end, but in general, the majority of the novel would have been the same if they'd all started out at 20, or maybe 30 to give some leeway. I just wanted to see it tied in more. I also wanted to see a convincing explanation of why old folks would be good recruits for this war, but the paragraph or two of throw-away explanation just didn't make much sense to me in context, particularly in context of the as-yet-unexplained (though there is a sequel on point) Ghost Brigades.
In sum, don't be fooled by the Hugo nomination or any of the other praise-- if you're expecting something with complex and realistic characters addressing complicated issues without flinching from their ramifications, prepare for disappointment. On the other hand, if you accept it for what it is--an author having fun with super-soldiers fighting aliens--you'll find yourself sucked in and having fun right alongside Scalzi. And Scalzi has a lot of fun.
Book Review: Superb first novel
Summary: 4 Stars
This book bears a strong resemblance [though not a copy, by any stretch] to Heinlein's Starship Troopers. If you liked that, you'll like this.
Old Man's War is, in essence, about a bunch of senior citizens signing up for the space marines. Scalzi does a nice job of setting up the protagonist, with his wry-and-unappreciated sense of humor, in the first chapter or two. Unfortunately, two things happen almost immediately upon leaving Earth:
First, everyone John Perry meets talks just like him and has the exact same sense of humor. This is incredibly common nowadays, particularly with new authors, so maybe it won't bother you. Also, if you have the same sense of humor as everyone in the book, you should be fine.
Second, as soon as the seniors get together, they basically all begin speaking like 30-somethings, even before they become young again in fact. Later, they get rejuvenated as part of their service, but even so, this wouldn't change one's speech patterns. I don't know a single 75-year-old who is ironic. That is the hallmark of a younger generation.
Initial dialogue between the characters is somewhat forced, in my opinion. But none of it really matters once the plot thickens. The story is gripping. The protagonist's narrative is engaging, and the action is well-paced. Fight sequences are excellent. Premise aside (old people are the only military recruits) the universe is believable and you settle into it comfortably, almost immediately. You know just about as much as you need to know, and not a lot more. [The sequel, Ghost Brigades, reveals more details.] "Hard" science, when given, is explained at a high-school level. Take that as you will.
Other than the fact that none of the characters seem "old" at all--most speak, act, and feel straight out of mainstream TV targeted at 27-35 year olds--the book is essentially a fun, well-written story that leaves you wanting more.
For a first-time author, this book deserves 5 stars. The book is very good when compared with the work of established authors, but not quite up to the 5 star level, which gets overused on Amazon, at least in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy field. Five stars would be a tie for works by Bradbury, Aasimov, and Heinlein, for example. 4 stars is an amazing achievement.
[VERY MINOR SPOILERS OCCURRING IN THE FIRST 10% OF THE BOOK]
As a pet peeve which I save for the end of the review, there is a memorable scene with a drill sergeant in which it is determined that the protagonist--John Perry--is neither a believer nor an atheist...what exactly is he then? I could care less what Perry's religious views are, it just seems very unlikely that he would have absolutely NO box to check under a "Religion" block on a form. Incidentally, in the modern world, your religion goes on your dog-tags for burials, so it is kind of relevant when the survival rate of the old man soldiers is less than 10%.
This belief/non-belief annoyance is further compounded because earlier, Perry quotes the bible word-for-word to the point of alienating his roommate. This is just incredibly unlikely for someone professing (?) to be a complete agnostic or whatever he's supposed to be/not be.
Book Review: Golden Age Redux
Summary: 4 Stars
Many people have compared OLD MAN'S WAR to the works of Robert Heinlein, and this comparison is apt. Scalzi writes in a Golden Age style, focusing his text almost entirely on dialogue, scientific or sociological explanations, and brief scenes of action; most of the dialogue is also there to explain scientific, technological, or military subjects. There is very little visual description, and almost no emotion, so that even though Scalzi tells you what is going on, you can neither see nor feel it. If this is a shortcoming of the book (and I think it is) it is an artifact of the old fashioned style, and probably intentional.
John Perry, the hero and narrator, enlists in the Colonial Defense Force on his 75th birthday. He's transported off the earth and given a new and improved body. This is Scalzi's Idea #1: old folks bring a lifetime of experience to the army, and they are less likely to question their predicament -- after all, they've already lived one life, and this new one is just a bonus, even if it involves unquestioning loyalty to the military and participation in endless wars. What have they got to lose? A further effect of this is that the soldiers of the CDF are not entirely human: their bodies are augmented with implanted computers, artificial blood, and improved speed and strength. They're fighting to make the galaxy safe for the human race, even as they've given up their own humanity.
More memorable, for me anyway, is Scalzi's Idea #2: that the galaxy is a hostile place, swarming with aliens who want to kill us, eat us, and colonize our planets. Habitable worlds are such hot real estate that diplomacy and peaceful relations are basically unheard of. War is brutal and totally without mercy. This is a pretty pessimistic outlook, and also a fairly unusual one. However, Scalzi is a good enough writer that he brings this up in the text. Characters frequently engage in discussions about the ethical and moral consequences of their actions, and those of the CDF -- with such an advanced army, war is easier than diplomacy -- and Scalzi generally allows them to argue their points intelligently and doesn't take sides. In this way he improves on Heinlein, who would have turned each discussion into a one-sided lecture. Ultimately, however, Scalzi lets himself be seduced by the simplicity of the grunt's-eye-view tale, and never really deals with the moral issues in the text itself: the third act of the book is a fairly conventional military adventure, and the climax is contrived from the outcome of an important mission. A more promising thread involving Perry meeting a "ghost" soldier cloned from his dead wife gets left for the sequel.
OLD MAN'S WAR works, despite its flaws, because it does what few recent science fiction novels have tried to do. It refuses to distract its readers with details of plot, setting, or character, and instead gets right into its premise in a straightforward and unadorned manner. Its greatest strength is that it raises all the issues it sets out to raise, and makes it readers think. I'm looking forward to seeing if Scalzi's future novels improve on this format, and if they manage to reconcile their form and content.
Book Review: Excellent light sci-fi
Summary: 5 Stars
Alright, so I just finished "Old Man's War". The story is told in the first-person. Our protagonist is the 75-year-old John Perry, who is just now leaving Earth for the first time to join the Colonial Defense Forces. Recruits must be 75 years of age to join, but beyond that, very little is known about the CDF or the space and worlds outside of our own. The human colonies are governed by the Colonial Union (independent of all Earth nations), and Earth itself is kept very insular and in the dark, with little to no contact with or news from the extrasolar colonies, so it's all very mysterious. John has zero military background and has no idea what he's getting himself into (though enlistment is strictly voluntary), but figures that at his age he has little left to lose and (having grown bored with his life on Earth) is eager for some adventure and a chance to see the stars. He's also curious how the CDF goes about making senior citizens combat-ready. The downside to all of this is that he will never be permitted to return home and see his remaining family and friends, and as he will learn, the outside universe is a dangerous place.
I won't spoil anything else, but if it sounds interesting so far then I think you'll really like it. It's not deep literature by any means, but for what it is, it's very well executed and will leave you wanting more. I also appreciate that the author does not bore us with technical details and pages worth of scientific jargon, instead he briefly touches on the tech, just enough so that we aren't totally in the dark, and then resumes the story (which always keeps at a steady pace). This is science-FICTION, it's enough for me to assume that things work without having to fully understand the math and details. It's an easy read that does not drag, but it isn't dumb or shallow either. The dialogue is good and heartfelt, no phony lines or poor writing to be found here (aside from "_______ said" being used at the end of spoken dialogue lines far too often for my liking; a little variety in the conversational descriptors would have been nice, but it's no big deal), and it's easy to form an attachment to the characters. The action is pretty intense and there's also quite a bit of humor as well (you're sure to enjoy the boot-camp sequence).
Anyway, it's a great military sci-fi and I am quite surprised that this is Scalzi's first novel. Don't let his being new fool you, he knows what he's doing, and I'm eager to see what he'll accomplish in the years to come; he's certainly made an impressive debut. I did flip-flop between four and five stars for this review, because again, it's not deep literature and there's no big philosophical message or anything of that sort, but I really enjoyed it regardless and so I couldn't help myself. It's not on the same level of "5-starness" as say, "The Lord of the Rings" (then again, what is?), but judging it on its own merits as a soldierly sci-fi, it does its job very well and I got what I'd hoped for out of it, which is enough for me. I'll soon be purchasing the follow-up, "The Ghost Brigades". I'd definitely recommend this one if you enjoy sci-fi.