Review – Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, Book 1) by John Scalzi (4.5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction/Space Opera
Length: 321 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: April 1, 2007
ASIN: B000SEIK2S
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Old Man’s War series
Source: Borrowed ebook from library
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
“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 aliens willing to fight for them are common. The universe, it turns out, is a hostile place.
So: we fight. To defend Earth (a target for our new enemies, should we let them get close enough) and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has gone 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, which shields the home planet from too much knowledge of the situation. What’s known to everybody is 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 your time 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.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Old Man’s War series; there are six books in this series. I borrowed this on ebook from my library.
Thoughts: I really loved the concept of this book and, right from the beginning, it was different from what I was expecting. I thought this was going to be more of a straight military sci-fi, but it’s so much more than that. I love the idea of giving old people new bodies and sending them out to protect humanity from the rest of extraterrestrial existence. Previous to reading this I have read a number of Scalzi books (I am not going to list them all here because I have read a lot). I should have known his sharp sense of humor and irony would be just as present in this book as it is in his other books.
This book follows a man named John Perry who signs up to join the Colonial Defense Force (CDF) after the death of his wife. He’s declared dead on Earth and is committed to carrying out his new duty of protecting humanity from everything else that is out there.
I enjoyed the first part of this book the most, watching John make the transition from Earth to CDF was incredibly entertaining. Some of the middle parts of the book were a bit slower; lots of John traveling from battle to battle. I enjoyed the action but not the repetition. Then things get incredibly interesting again towards the end of the book when John gets involved with the Ghost Brigade.
There’s a lot of humor and action in here but I was surprised by the amount of food for thought as well. This was effortless to read and highly entertaining. The characters feel very real and are engaging. I spent a lot of time laughing out loud. I definitely plan on continuing the series. I can understand why this is one of Scalzi’s most popular series.
My Summary (4.5/5): Overall this was a ton of fun to read and I really enjoyed it. If you are looking for a humorous, thoughtful, action-packed sci-fi read I would recommend this. It’s not strictly military sci-fi, although there is a lot of that in there as well. I loved some of the concepts presented and am eager to see where the story goes in the second book, “Ghost Brigades”.
