Cover of Old Man's War

Old Man's War

by John Scalzi
four stars
genreSci-Fi
seriesOld Man's War
reviewedjun 25 2012

When I first read this series, I didn't think much of it, but after coming back to re-read it, I found I truly enjoyed this book and the Old Man's War universe. I think part of my initial dislike was the brevity of the book. At under 10 hours is hardly compares to the massive tomes of Reynolds or Hamilton. I wanted more. John Scalzi write fun, sometimes funny, sci-fi with well-developed characters inside a massive galaxy of aliens.

publisher’s summary
John 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 of 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.

filed under ... sci-fi... old man's war...

more in the series

old man's war The Ghost Brigades As short as these books are—at least for the sci-fi genre—they pack a punch. The thing that Scalzi does well is create interesting aliens that are truly... alien. At least to us. He also spreads out… old man's war The Last Colony To John Scalzi's credit, he neither delves into pseudo-religious rants nor repeat the same tired plotlines in his third book. However, he also doesn't even cross the ten-hour mark in the audiobook.… old man's war The Human Division One day I logged into Audible and they were offering a new short story by John Scalzi in the Old Man's War universe for free. It was the first of 13 such short stories. My library is a bit cluttered… old man's war Series: Old Man's War The first review I wrote for this series was after finishing The Last Colony, and thinking the series was done. I didn't think much of it, partly due to the short book length, and party due to not… old man's war The End of All Things Solid finish to a solid series. John Scalzi does two things very well: 1) truly alien aliens 2) humor in the midst of otherwise serious books. I like the finish here because the story is told from…