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Old Man's War
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Product Description
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.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #879 in Books
- Published on: 2007-01-15
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 320 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Though a lot of SF writers are more or less efficiently continuing the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein, Scalzi's astonishingly proficient first novel reads like an original work by the late grand master. Seventy-five-year-old John Perry joins the Colonial Defense Force because he has nothing to keep him on Earth. Suddenly installed in a better-than-new young body, he begins developing loyalty toward his comrades in arms as they battle aliens for habitable planets in a crowded galaxy. As bloody combat experiences pile up, Perry begins wondering whether the slaughter is justified; in short, is being a warrior really a good thing, let alone being human? The definition of "human" keeps expanding as Perry is pushed through a series of mind-stretching revelations. The story obviously resembles such novels as Starship Trooper and Time Enough for Love, but Scalzi is not just recycling classic Heinlein. He's working out new twists, variations that startle even as they satisfy. The novel's tone is right on target, too—sentimentality balanced by hardheaded calculation, know-it-all smugness moderated by innocent wonder. This virtuoso debut pays tribute to SF's past while showing that well-worn tropes still can have real zip when they're approached with ingenuity.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
With his wife dead and buried, and life nearly over at 75, John Perry takes the only logical course of action left him: he joins the army. Now better known as the Colonial Defense Force (CDF), Perry's service-of-choice has extended its reach into interstellar space to pave the way for human colonization of other planets while fending off marauding aliens. The CDF has a trick up its sleeve that makes enlistment especially enticing for seniors: the promise of restoring youth. After bonding with a group of fellow recruits who dub their clique the Old Farts, Perry finds himself in a new body crafted from his original DNA and upgraded for battle, including fast-clotting "smartblood" and a brain-implanted personal computer. All too quickly the Old Farts are separated, and Perry fights for his life on various alien-infested battlegrounds. Scalzi's blending of wry humor and futuristic warfare recalls Joe Haldeman's classic, The Forever War (1974), and strikes the right fan--pleasing chords to probably garner major sf award nominations. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
“Though a lot of SF writers are more or less efficiently continuing the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein, Scalzi’s astonishingly proficient first novel reads like an original work by the late grand master...This virtuoso debut pays tribute to SF’s past while showing that well-worn tropes still can have real zip when they’re approached with ingenuity.”
--Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Old Man’s War
“Solid…[Scalzi] sidesteps most of the cliches of military science fiction, delivers fast-paced scenes of combat and pays attention to the science underpinning his premise.”
--San Francisco Chronicle on Old Man’s War
“Thought-provoking!”
--Entertainment Weekly on Old Man’s War
“Smartly conceived and thoroughly entertaining, Old Man’s War is a splendid novel.”
–Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Solid…[Scalzi] sidesteps most of the cliches of military science fiction, delivers fast-paced scenes of combat and pays attention to the science underpinning his premise.”
–San Francisco Chronicle on Old Man’s War
"Gripping and surpassingly original. It's Starship Troopers without the lectures. It's The Forever War with better sex. It's funny, it's sad, and it's true."
--Cory Doctorow on Old Man’s War
"John Scalzi is a fresh and appealing new voice, and Old Man's War is classic SF seen from a modern perspective--a fast-paced tour of a daunting, hostile universe."
--Robert Charles Wilson
“I enjoyed Old Man's War immensely. A space war story with fast action, vivid characters, moral complexity and cool speculative physics, set in a future you almost want to live into, and a universe you sincerely hope you don't live in already.”
--Ken MacLeod
Customer Reviews
A Very Good Sci-Fi Read
I was very pleased to find this well written and well thought out book! It was, as several other reviewers pointed out, very reminiscent of Heinlein's writing style and plot lines but is good enough to put Scalzi firmly in my list of favorite authors.
No spoilers or plot reviews from me on this book (others have already covered these in-depth), but I will say that the story flowed very smoothly and kept me engaged the whole way through.
One word of caution, this book does contain "Adult" themes (sex, death, war, etc) handled in a casual manner. Not for the very young (R).
If you like the "classic" feel Sci-Fi, this one is recommended for you!
A decent read, but lacking in a couple of areas
I ordered this book used, which helped lessen my overall disappointment with it, on the basis of a recommendation on a review of a Alistair Reynolds book. The poster on that review pointed to this book as a superior example of the theme of that book (Revelation Space).
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't awful, it was OK hence the three stars. The characters while somewhat engaging, were kind of formulaic and one dimensional. Plot line could have been lifted from a WW II movie and proceeded pretty much as expected.
If you want a light weight sci-fi beach book, you'll be fine, just don't expect much else
Best Sci-Fi novel I've read in awhile
This is a wonderful book. Both the prose and characterizations are far above what you can normally expect from science fiction these days. Scalzi has imagined an interesting universe and there are a lot of intense action sequences balanced by thoughful, nuanced passages. The book also has a lot of clever, salty dialogue between the soldiers that is often quite funny.
This is the best science fiction book to come out since The Risen Empire/Killing of Worlds by Scott Westerfeld, in my opinion.
