Old Man's War
by John Scalzi
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Book Reviews of Old Man's War
Book Review: Old Man's War, Good Indeed
Summary: 5 Stars
The question you need to ask yourself about this book isn't whether you should read it, it's why haven't you read it yet? Old Man's War is very nearly a perfect Sci-Fi book. Everything is in place, and artfully done.
The book starts out be clubbing you over the head with its incredibly compelling main character, in the best possible sense. John Perry is so relatable, so human, that you might wonder partway into the first chapter whether you've accidentally picked some sort of biography instead of a work of Science Fiction. John doesn't go out of his way to explain gadgetry or how his world is different from yours, he just lives his life, and lets the explanation come naturally.
The universe that John Perry eventually involves himself in is very well thought out, and always intriguing. There are twists and turns, and conventions are constantly thrown out the airlock. I would rather spoil as little as possible, so the short of it is that this is fairly hard Sci-Fi on a galactic scale, with plenty of starships and war. Throughout that, however, there's always a healthy sense of character and the overall universe. The technology is in place to further the story, and not the other way around.
There have been numerous comparisons to the Robert Heinlein, and in my opinion those comparisons are both completely on and completely off. They're on in that Scalzi is incredibly capable at adapting modern-day politics and drama into a more futuristic setting. This makes for not only compelling reading, but something that seems eerily possible. The comparisons are off in that Scalzi doesn't go off into pages and pages of thinly veiled political rants- much more of the book is direct experience, with a lot less space spent on treatises and exposition.
Old Man's War is my favorite Sci-Fi book of the year, and I say that after having just finished works written by both Heinlein and Larry Niven. Scalzi easily equals either of these genre heavyweights. I immediately picked up the two sequels, The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony after reading this book, and I can assure you that you might as well do that yourself, because you're going to want to finish the whole story arc. There are two spinoff works, The Sagan Diary and Zoe's Tale, that are not critical to the main arc, and that I can't recommend as strongly.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who's at all interested in Sci-Fi.
Book Review: Great Start To A Series, Compulsively Readable
Summary: 4 Stars
Author John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" is one of the most impressive debut novels I've read in a long, long time. At least from my experience, it is probably the best first novel in the science fiction genre that I can think of. His prose is smooth and never overly descriptive, and his imagination is seemingly endless. I appreciated Scalzi's lack of ego, never trying to overwhelm the reader with scientific jargon by clogging the narrative or bombarding you with his world-building too quickly. He has great restraint and it worked very nicely. In fact, he made it look easy.
Late in the novel, however, I wanted more to the story. As good as they were, I wanted something to tie up the vignettes of John Perry's battles, and not just one cool scenario after another. To have events in the periphery is fine, but an ultimate goal with early seeds would have focused the overall story more, keeping it grounded and not so scattered, many times feeling like a montage of loosely connected sequences.
Scalzi did manage to bring many elements together that were quite satisfying towards the end with the Ghost Brigade, but I did discover some mistakes regarding his theory of these soldiers. It didn't make sense they would use more than one dead soldier to replicate since once they found one with superior DNA, they would not need to seek out any more victims that could possibly be slower, weaker, etc. They would simply replicate the best gene they could find and use that as a template, over and over. Especially since no one on Earth has ever seen a Colonial Defense Force personnel. Scalzi made it very clear that humans on Earth are kept in the dark regarding any details of the CDF.
I also didn't like that the Consu race happened to be receptive to embassies from the colonies when they included a CDF soldier that has killed a large number of their people in battle. It just seemed way too convenient, not to mention John Perry happened to be the fighter in question. Small potatoes, maybe, but still. The little things add up.
Putting these minor issues aside, this looks to be an incredibly strong start to what is one of the better science fiction series in years. I'm already hooked and have already picked up "Ghost Brigades", the second in the series. This book, however, nicely stands alone by itself. Highly recommended.
Book Review: Highly recommended!!
Summary: 5 Stars
John Perry joins the army on his 75th birthday after a quiet life as an advertising copy writer in middle America. He and his wife had both signed the Intent to Join ten years previously and had a few standard medical tests but it wasn't binding. Now, with Kathy long dead and an adult son who no longer needs him, Perry feels like joining the army is a pretty good idea. They'll make him younger, able to fight - and when your body's failing you that sounds pretty damn tempting - and after five years, maybe ten, he'll be cut loose, still young, and with a whole new life to lead.
All he has to do is accept he'll never see Earth again.
The army in question is the Colonial Defense Force, mankind's only front in an ongoing interstellar game of tug with hundreds of other alien races. It seems that there are only limited number of planets available for colonization out there, and there aren't many races inclined to share.
Old Man's War follows Perry as he receives a fantastic new body grown from the DNA taken from him ten years before, goes through basic training, and is thrown into combat. Anchored by Perry's dry wit, the book is by turns funny, sad and horrific as he discovers that going to war against aliens isn't all it's cracked up to be when you and your friends have a survival rate of less than 25%. And as Perry progresses through the ranks, he comes to question the wisdom of the CDF's strategy - especially when he encounters a Special Forces soldier who bears a striking resemblance to his late wife; just who are the Ghost Brigade anyway?
John Scalzi's first entry into his popular series of books is, to put it bluntly, great. I don't want to say it's rip-roaring because that sounds a little hyperbolic, but it IS rip-roaring. It's fast paced, well-written with sharp characterization, an engaging narrative and plenty of twists. It's got enough SCIENCE! to keep harder sci-fi readers interested without overwhelming more casual sci-fi readers like me.
Plus, it has a scene with a battle between humans and tiny Lilliputian-type aliens which involves lots of stomping - and while that sounds inherently funny, it's actually a scene where the futility of it all really hits Perry.
For people who enjoy science-fiction, even casually, I really can't recommend this enough.
Book Review: Old Man's War
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a really intriguing novel. Very original and it kept you wanting more.
John Perry has just turned seventy-five. After visiting his wife's grave, he goes to enlist in the army. Unlike most programs, the Colonial Defense Forces take only those who have experience and knowledge in life, which is why they must be old. There are some rules however, despite the promise of being able to fight in an old body (they must do some kind of regeneration the enlistees believe) there are some heavy prices to pay for joining.
You are considered dead to the World and not allowed to come back to Earth. Nor can you communicate with anyone from your past. You belong to the Colonial Forces for ten years, if you make it out alive.
Not sure what to expect, he takes the special elevator to space where the main headquarters are located. There, they undergo a physical and mental exam and are introduced to how they will fight the war.
Once he is battle fit, he heads out to training. Quickly promoted a leader of his area, he gains the respect of his fellow soldiers. Once they complete training they are engaged in several battles. After a particular bad one, he believes he sees his wife, but that would be impossible as she had died eight years before.
The colonial forces must gain places in the galaxy for colonies. How will John Perry help complete that.
Scalzi writes very intriguing characters. They are real and complicated and best of all, not perfect. They all have flaws and make mistakes.
My only complaint about this novel would be the language used in it. For being hundreds of years in the future, the language is written as someone would talk now. The cuss words are all modern cuss words. When you look at history in just a mere hundred years going from "cad" to "d**k" it stands to reason that those same names would not be used that far in the future. They'd be replaced by something else. But in this novel they are not. Other patterns of speech don't seem like they follow this progression as well.
For a science fiction book it does bring in a lot of innovation. They are unique ideas and he presents them very well. I look forward to the next one in the series.
Old Man's War
Copyright 2005
311 pages
Book Review: A Clean Story Well Told
Summary: 5 Stars
Old Man's War is my favorite type of sci-fi novel. Scalzi takes an intriguing idea, thinks through the ramifications, develops it into a multifaceted future world, and sets believable characters into a story arc that brings the world to life. Throw in spaceships and aliens and cool weapons, wrap it in crisp, effortless prose, and the result is a knock-out.
Though Old Man's War qualifies as military sci-fi, it still has a heart. The story is told by John Perry, a 75-year-old widower who leaves Earth to join the Colonial Defense Force. Though details are sketchy, CDF recruits know they must somehow be rejuvenated to fight. The price: they can never return to Earth or communicate with anyone there. What's more, they have to survive 10 years of brutal warfare, defending human colonists against a host of violent alien races scrabbling for viable planets. We follow John and his fellow cadets as they adjust from being aging, earth-bound civilians to superhuman space-faring killing machines. John, through a combination of luck and quick wits, finds himself at the crux of a major conflict, which eventually leads to a satisfying conclusion.
[** Warning: thar be mild spoilers in the next paragraph. **]
Looking back, you can almost see Scalzi's chain of thought as he wrote the book. He started with a simple idea: What would happen if the military could transfer a soldier's consciousness into a new body custom-built for fighting? Then he asked the appropriate follow-up questions. Who would be willing to undergo such a transformation? Obviously, people who wanted a new body at all costs: old people. How would they adjust psychologically? What incentive would they have to sign up for a deadly war? What happens if recruits die before they are loaded into their new bodies? The answers practically write the book, and give Scalzi's world a self-consistency that is easy to buy into.
Story aside, you have to admire Scalzi's ability as a writer. His prose perks along at just the right pace. He has an admirable grasp of human nature, and crafts characters that are sympathetic and believable. The dialogue is smooth and liberally sprinkled with humor.
Overall, Old Man's War was a delight to read, and an awesome debut. I highly recommend it.