Old Man's War by John Scalzi
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Book Reviews of Old Man's War
Book Review: Excellent book, but I'm not a fan of Bruce Willis
Summary: 5 Stars
The book is excellent. It is extremely well written. John Scalzi is definitely a very talented writer. I gave it 5-stars so I definitely think it's a great story. I wll not go into the details of the book; that's already been done in other reviews.
But I will talk about a few things that I did not like about it:
1. Too much unnecessary sex. When the recruits get their new bodies, they go at it with reckless abandon all over the place. It's a rated R book. I don't like it; I'm a bit of a prude.
2. The main character, John Perry, remindes me of Bruce Willis from the "Diehard" movies. He is has a great since of humor, is is an outstanding soldier with no weaknesses on the battlefield. He is also the luckiest soldier in the universe. I mean extremely lucky. Everything he does is legendary and medal worthy. He is also the most well balanced soldier, mentally, socially, and emotionally, in the book. He is extremely sarcastic and humorous and even self deprecating. He does not know everything but his friends give him all the information that he needs. Imagine Bruce Willis in the Diehard series. Bruce is a regular NY cop who takes on international terrorists, says "Yippee-Kaya" all the time, and finds himself getting out of one tight spot after another through luck and un trained skills. Bruce's character is also the guy who is grounded and in love with his wife and family. And Bruce's sarcasm makes you laugh throughout the movie. That is John Perry throughout this book.
The thing is, I don't like superheroes very much, and I could only handle the first Diehard movie. After that, the act gets old and I refused to watch any other Diehard movies. The same for this character, John Perry. I could not read another book about this character.
Book Review: What do you do when turn 75? Join up!
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow! I was blow away by this one. Mr. Scalzi obviously learned a few things from Heinlein's books, actually more in my opinion. Old Man's War opens in very fresh and direct way. Similar to Mr. Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Mr. Scalzi main character (John Perry) tells us his story of joining the military and being trained and fighting, however this time our recruit is lived for 75 years. Instead of being shocked by his trainers and asking questions about why he joined and if it's right to fight, Mr. Scalzi twists things a bit and has 75 year old people joining the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF) to protect Earth's frontiers in exchange for a chance to have a 2nd life. Mr. Scalzi's concept of people with previous experience being of value to a military is interesting, equally interesting is his concept for Ghost Brigades (you need to read it to find out about them). All I'll say is that it's a great counterpoint to using 75 year olds as your infantry.
Rating wise this is an easy one, 5 stars. The characters are quick, crisp, and the descriptions are some of the best ones I've read. The front half of the book reminded me of Heinlein, while the back half had me thinking about The Forever War. My one dislike in the book is that when he's talking about Earth, things are very 1990/2000'ish. I'd preferred it if Mr. Scalzi had shown Earth more advanced than that, but it does make for a great counterpoint to the colonialization of space. Bottom line, read and enjoy!
Book Review: Has few peers in the realm of Alternative-Future adventures
Summary: 5 Stars
"I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife's grave. Then I joined the army."
With these intriguing lines, John Scalzi's spectacular journal of life in the Colonial Defense Force sweeps the reader helter-skelter into a reality-twisting journey that has few peers in the realm of alternative-future adventure stories.
It's never mentioned just how far in the future this story is set, but space is heavily colonized by then, and competition for suitable worlds between humans and the multitude of other intelligent species has created a need for large numbers of expendable soldiers. Things on earth are pretty much the same as now, however, and John Perry could be any of us, making the transformation he experiences feel almost like it could happen to you.
John becomes a soldier, young, strong, and a natural leader. He is recognized and promoted. During a pitched battle, he's rescued by a woman. A woman who looks exactly like his dead wife. Exactly. Her name is Jane Sagan and she's a member of the Special Forces, also known as the Ghost Brigade, a mysterious group of amazingly superior fighters said to have been cloned from dead persons.
Any more of a reveal would ruin the setup, so I'll curtail the story thread here. Let me just say, "Old Man's War" has many, many plot threads. It's as rich and original as anything I've read, and definitely not to be missed.
Art Tirrell is the author of "The Secret Ever Keeps
"simply put, the best underwater scenes I've ever read." reviewer Meg W.
Book Review: Excellent Book!
Summary: 5 Stars
Old Man's War by John Scalzi is an excellent book. I read it in two days, and could barely put it down. Scalzi did a masterful job keeping up the tension and my interest. The novel is written in first person and chronicles the distant future when old men and women are given the opportunity to join the Colonial army and go into space--when they reach the age of the seventy-five. There is a promise of being young again and starting over. No spoilers here. However, I will reveal that there are a lot of aliens out there, and defending the colonies is a huge priority as well as a necessity. Did I mention that it's incredibly dangerous and horrible?
The main character, John Perry, gets a lot more than he bargained for after he joins up. I loved seeing his character evolve. It all felt so real and true. The book is written in the tradition of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, but is a little more modern. I loved the book, Starship Troopers, and if you liked that, you'll probably enjoy Old Man's War. The spin that Scalzi puts on things is quite fascinating. If you're into military science fiction with strong characters, this is a book for you. Also, if you like Ender's Game, this is also a book you'd probably enjoy.
Please note the book is for older teens and adults, related to some off-screen sexual content, and would probably garner a PG-13 rating if it were a movie. I cannot emphasize enough that style of the writing is top-notch, and Scalzi seems quite deserving of all the praise he's gotten for this series, which continues with Ghost Brigades.
Happy Reading,
Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
[...]
Book Review: Fast paced action among the stars.
Summary: 5 Stars
Such a fascinating concept, to send not our young, but our old off to war. (I shouldn't be surprised if there are people out there wondering if we couldn't adopt that policy now, starting with those very folks who voted for our current entanglement.) There's a long tradition of military fiction within SF. Probably almost as far back as we imagined taking to the stars, have we wondered what warfare might be like when we got there. Perhaps because looking back at history, we see all the warfare and strife of our past, that we can only assume such will continue well into the future. It could be that reading about humans defeating aliens gives us an ability to cheer for the victors without feeling as if we should also sympathize with the losers. Scalzi portrays a remarkable breadth within that simple niche of the genre. Providing not merely warfare among the stars, but intriguing and innovative technologies that arise with it. (I wonder what he thinks, now that some mathematicians have shown it mathematically possible that there are parallel universes much as the way described in this novel.) Definitely an engaging novel, that sucks you right in and through the gimmick of following a recruit into the space military, you get to learn about the way of the universe outside Earth as he does. Action in plenty, as you might expect from a war novel, but beyond that, you see a lot diversity in the types and nature of aliens, the tactics of space warfare, and I dare say even some questioning about the whole nature of war, and these wars in particular. No surprise that this book was nominated for a Hugo. I look forward to the followup novel: The Ghost Brigades.