Old Man's War

Oh dear, I am trying to fathom out three things:

1. Why did I bother finishing this book, in fact why did I ever carry on beyond the first 15 pages?

2. How did John Scalzi get through school without learning that conversations can be described in more ways than “he said, she said”?

3. What on earth are the many readers who love this book getting from it that completely passed me by?

Okay, the goal for 2013 is to start writing more book reviews, so here goes:

John Perry is a character that I instantly liked and related to. I mean for an old man, he's not that bad. Plus, he's funny. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about his journey into space. The ending was great, it was so touching. I loved the "postcard" Jane sends him at the end. And I felt content with leaving the story there, few books leave me with that totally satisfied feeling. I teared up with Maggie's death. It was so sudden and it just hit me that not everyone is going to make it through. I was angry when Alan died. And that's why this book deserves the 4.5 out of 5 from me. It got me emotionally attached. Oddly enough, I never actually cried while reading this like I do with some novels. Things just happened way too fast to spend too much time grieving over a character. Nonetheless, this was a fun, quick read. Must read for science fiction fans out there. And what's even cooler, is that I found out that this was a serial online novel before John Scalzi got an offer to publish it with Tor. Pretty awesome.

Also, this would make a great movie.

John Scalzi has been on my “To Read” list for ages, and now I'm only upset it took me this long to get to him. This book is exactly the kind of sci-fi I love, and I was gripped by the concept, characters, pacing, and humor. I've never been able to get in to hard sci-fi, and much prefer something that focuses more on the psychological/social implications of the tech rather than the how do they do that. Scalzi may very well have woogldy boogldied the “hows” in the book, but he is very thorough on the “so whats.” That's what makes the science fiction genre interesting to me, and that's why I'm giving this book 5 stars.

The characters impress me more than anything. Scalzi is not an old man by any definition, but (as far as my analysis goes), he is very much able to make the reader feel old and by contrast appreciate being young. The contrast with the Ghost Brigades serves has a nice foil to that same string of social commentary. I also love how gender lines never really figure into this vision of the military. It's nice to see a future where humans have just figured out that gender is just not such a big deal.

This book definitely wants to make me read more Scalzi. Highly recommended.

In this first book of the series, John Scalzi introduces us to an imperfect universe. Mankind hasn't completely destroyed the Earth, but some wars have made some countries unlivable. The science behind the sci-fi elements of the story is glossed over because the human narrator doesn't understand it. Most of the technology is alien (and probably not possible). The protagonist tries to lighten the mood with humor, which I enjoyed even if the other characters didn't. I'm looking forward to seeing how the universe changes in this series. The way that humans interact with the various alien species needs to improve.

This book had me in it's grips from page 1. It was hilarious (I actually laughed out loud a couple times), action packed and thought provoking. Not everyone will agree with me, but I felt it was simple and well paced in just the right way. Sometimes books work because they go in to a lot of detail building a world and their characters, but this book benefits from the opposite. It gives you just enough to move forward, and I never felt like it was dragging on too much. It was VERY difficult to put down. It also had one of the best endings I could have asked for. A must read.

Executive Summary: Mr. Scalzi combines war, politics, humor and of course a good heaping of sci-fi to give you a quick and fun read. This isn't a book of deep meanings, groundbreaking ideas or elaborate plot. But, if you want yourself an entertaining sci-fi read, look no further.Full ReviewAs book reader, I consider myself primarily a fantasy reader these days. I love science-fiction, and have for as long as I can remember, but I tend to consume my sci-fi mostly through TV and the movies rather than books.For this reason I had never heard of John Scalzi before hearing about [b:Redshirts 13055592 Redshirts John Scalzi http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348617890s/13055592.jpg 18130445] last year sometime. Even then his name didn't really stick with me. It should have, but he didn't. I'm pretty horrible with names.When discussing this book as a possible pick for our book club, one member commented something to the effect that it was a bad pick, because anyone who truly wanted to read this book would have by now. So here I am, very late to the party. And what a party!More than anything I found myself laughing aloud while reading this book. It's my first by Mr. Scalzi. Despite hearing about [b:Redshirts 13055592 Redshirts John Scalzi http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348617890s/13055592.jpg 18130445] first, I still haven't gotten around to reading it. It defiantly won't be my last.There is a fair bit of swearing in this book, and what I'd call low-brow humor, so if that's not for you, you may not find it as funny as I did.The characters outside of the main one don't have a whole lot of depth to them, but that's OK. This isn't a book you read for it's in deep plot and complex characters. It's popcorn, plain and simple.With my usual “no spoilers” policies for review, I won't talk about the technologies used at all, other than to say there is nothing ground breaking there. Mr. Scalzi makes use of some well used ideas, but combines them in some fun ways. He doesn't go into a lot of depth on how it works, making this about as far from hard sci-fi as you can get. He gives you just enough of an explanation to set things up, then moves on.The aliens in this book are diverse and interesting, though again their isn't a lot of depth there. You don't always get a good feel for who the majority of the alien species are or why they are fighting. Really the variety of species is mostly to offer a variety of combat scenarios the main character has to deal with.I was satisfied by the ending, but their are enough lingering questions that I plan to check out other books in the series when I get some more time.

I have to admit, I came to this with a degree of trepidation. I've really enjoyed Scalzi's “lighter” works and wasn't sure I was going to be able to get into his more serious SF. Boy, was I wrong. This was a blast–sure, not as funny as [b:Agent to the Stars 88072 Agent to the Stars John Scalzi http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1303914309s/88072.jpg 15558757] or [b:The Android's Dream 7081 The Android's Dream John Scalzi http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165606383s/7081.jpg 15558739], but it wasn't supposed to be, it was still a rollicking good time–action, hard SF, and heart (even a couple of laughs)–everything you could ask for.It starts out as sort of an inverse [b:Ender's Game 375802 Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1) Orson Scott Card http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1214413570s/375802.jpg 2422333], instead of kids being recruited to fight far-off aliens, we get senior citizens enlisting. Humanity's colonies are spreading through the galaxy and running into all sorts of other species who are trying to do the same, and conflicts ensue. I can't think of much more to say here without major spoilers. Great cast of characters, believable future tech, creepy aliens, intense battles...fun, solid read, really looking forward to the sequel.

In a future where Earth is at war with neighboring aliens on the widening frontier of mankind, recruits are no longer the young. Now the elderly enlist, with the promise of youth and longer life. The first book in the series was solid on its own, although the ending was more rushed than I expected. I probably won't listen to the next 5 in the series.

I didn't think I would like this book that much, but I was honestly surprised by how hard the emotional notes hit, when they did. Investment in great characters, solid speculative science.

First third of the book was a bit hard to understand the premise of this book. But this book opened up very well.

Enjoyable read. I really hope that John met Kathy again :)

Scalzi does an excellent job of writing science fiction with the character in mind before world building.

I have a hard time getting into books that spend the first few chapters telling me a bunch of names which I can't pronounce with no inkling of story. This is not one of those books.

John Perry's character is a quirky 75 year old writer that signs up to be a solder because there's nothing left for him on Earth. The journey with Perry is very enjoyable and well thought out. His interactions with other characters is, at times, emotional and, others, hilarious.

I will definitely be checking out more fiction from John Scalzi.

Kurzweilige Space Opera mit starken Anleihen an Titeln wie Starship Troopers, ein bisschen “The Expanse” und irgendwie auch Full Metal Jacket.

Hoffentlich können die anderen beiden Teile der Trilogie mithalten.

Warum der Titel im deutschen unter dem generischen Namen “Krieg der Klone” erscheinen musste erschließt sich mir allerdings nicht.

OLD MAN'S WAR is a book that was recommended to me by a friend ages ago. I downloaded a copy on my Kindle and promptly forgot about it for a year or two because my to-be-read pile is an ever-growing beast that threatens to avalanche nightly and kill me in my sleep. When I finally got around to reading it, I was immediately kicking myself for not starting it when I originally bought it. OLD MAN'S WAR is the type of sci-fi war novel that I love to read.

The premise is simple enough: Far in the future, the elderly are given a chance to be declared “dead” on Earth on their 75th birthday, and then shuttled off into the vast reaches of colonized space to fight as soldiers for the Colonial Defense Force. In exchange for their service as soldiers, they are basically gifted a “second life.” Their consciousness is transferred into a genetically modified and enhanced clone version of themselves and they go off to fight the many races of intelligent species on the edge of civilized space to gain new colonies for humankind and defend the settlers that are already tilling exo-soil. We follow John Perry, a widower still very much grieving his ex-wife, as he signs up for the CDF and goes to war.

OLD MAN'S WAR has had plenty of praise heaped upon it already. It won a pile of book awards and was extended into a series (the second of which, THE GHOST BRIGADES, I have already downloaded). I won't be able to add anything new to the already existing, glowing reviews except to say that I found the book intelligent, interesting, and well-written.

Scalzi's prose is simple and direct. He doesn't over-flower things. When I wrote AFTER EVERYONE DIED, I attempted to capture a similar voice. Both books are written in the first-person in a journal-like style. Scalzi is a better writer than I am, though. Though the books are simple in style and writing, they are complex in thought and idea. The first book touches on a lot of concepts about age, mortality, and the rationalization for war, as well as the futility and senselessness of it. The book isn't preachy. It isn't too serious. And while there are jokes and humor in it, none of them are stretches. All in all, this was a highly enjoyable book. All awards for it were well earned.

When I read books, I want them to be like OLD MAN'S WAR. The protagonist is likable and intelligent, without being a pain-in-the-ass, he might border on being a Mary Sue, but not overly so. The situations on the book are intriguing and make the pages turn quickly. There is a matter-of-fact reasoning to the deaths in the books (sure, the new/old soldiers die...but if they'd stayed on Earth, they'd still die...), and a simplicity and elegance to his musing on mortality.

Maybe this book hit me at a time when I'm doing a lot of questioning of mortality while battling my own existential dread, but I found it to the exact medicine I've been seeking. I highly recommend giving this one a glance, if you haven't already.

Wow. So. This book had so many layers. I won't spoil anything, but the last half of the book really was a rollercoaster of emotions that had an incredibly satisfying ending. In a beautiful way, John Scalzi has illustrated the love between a husband and a wife, the bonds of camaraderie and friendship and the futility of war. I loved this book. It was so much more than I expected.

A quick, fun sci-fi read with a unique concept (people over 75 choosing to become soldiers). The dialogue felt a bit wooden which made it harder to feel any attachment to the characters, and there's the cliche of the seemingly ordinary main character being really good at everything he does which comes across as forced and unrealistic.

I started reading Scalzi with Starter Villain, which I loved it's hilarious, light-hearted, supervillain story. To see if I liked Scalzi's writing further, I decided to go with the Old Man's War series. I'm not sure that was a good decision. That statement is not a reflection upon this book.

It's a pretty good book. I at least superficially liked the characters with in it. I'm not one to overly like war/military stories, but I did choose to read it). I didn't like the Full Metal Jacket cliché of "boot camp". But I did like the story of taking "elderly" people and giving them new life and putting them in new situations. I would like to have seen more, intentionally diverse characters in main roles and more interactions between them rather than battle scenes. Perhaps it's what they've been through that makes the characters, but we'll never know because it wasn't written that way.

Because this series name is the same as this book, if it continues with nothing but war and battle, I may lose interest. I'd prefer conflict of a different nature.

Short review: Old Man's War by John Scalzi - this book has many similar elements to Heinlein's Starship Troopers, but about half way through the similarities end the Scalzi is on his own. A well developed science fiction book that is not just about lasers and war, but also ethics, maturity, what it means to be alive.

Click through for a longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/old-mans-war/

John Scalzi thanks and acknowledges Robert A. Heinlein at the end of this book and I can understand why. Although I've never read Heinlein's Starship Troopers (I must correct that at some point), the movie based on his story is one of my favorites. I couldn't help but think of the film Starship Troopers while reading this book. But what a clever twist on the interstellar warfare theme where old people get a chance for a new life by joining the Colonial Defense Force fighters for not less than 2 and very likely a 10 year hitch, and where the vast majority of them will never survive to the end of their term of service. And, if they do manage to survive they may never return to Earth again. The description of advanced technologies both biological and technological (kept secret from the general Earth population by the CDF) along with fantastical descriptions of various intelligent alien enemy races is fascinating, but the story told from the viewpoint of 75 year old widower John Perry and his experiences from raw recruit to blooded veteran contains a lot of heart also. For instance, what would ensue from a chance encounter with your dead wife who really isn't your wife? There is never a dull moment in this page-turner.