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Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Book Summary InformationAuthor: John Scalzi Edition: Mass Market Paperback Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published) Published: 2007-01-15 ISBN: 0765348276 Number of pages: 320 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Book Reviews of Old Man's WarBook Review: Unintentional comedy... Summary: 3 StarsThis book started out interestingly enough, with a good premise, but quickly degenerated into an unintentional comedy. They say, "Write what you know," but this author obviously doesn't know much about the military, warfare, or anything to do with combat arms.
The main character's drill instructor is a MasterSergeant, with this space age military apparently using current rank structure, this makes him an E-8, with the highest enlisted rank being E-9. Sorry, the military doesn't use E-8's to train individual platoons. Those are Sergeants and Staff Sergeants, (E-5's and E-6).
In his very first battle, he figures out the very obvious solution to killing the aliens when none of the hardened veterans of multiple battles with aliens can't, thus saving the day? Gimme a break...
In his first couple of months of service, he's promoted from private to Captain because of his innate battlefield genious, all borne of his background as some advertising writer? Gimme a break...
In one of the most amusing battles, our hero is pitted against alien humanoids that are all an an inch tall, and the best military solution to eradicating his dreadful foe, (in an age of instaneous space travel, nanotech armor and weapons that can meet nearly every need except actually protecting the soldier from being blown away by common projectiles, including rocks,) is to have the soldiers run around and stomp on their tiny human like foes, (which leads the hero into a great depression over the morality of war.) Gimme a break...
The author's concept of normal conversation sounds like people who are constantly trying, (too hard by half,) to be clever and filled with high wit rather than people who actually possess these traits.
I got the kindle version, and it wasn't worth the money spent. The only mildly redeeming aspect after an intriguing beginning was the unintentional humor
The characters are all comic book stereotypes, with about as much depth as your average comic book's thickness, from alien enemies to mankind's heroic defenders.
Some interesting concepts that fell flat due to a lack of imagination and even basic knowledge about the basic subject, (warfare,) the author is trying to write about.
Summary of Old Man's WarJohn Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army. ? The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding. ? Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets. ? John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine-and what he will become is far stranger.
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