Old Man’s War

416 pages

English language

Published Oct. 17, 2017 by Tor Books.

ISBN:
978-0-7653-9485-9
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4 stars (22 reviews)

Old Man's War is a military science fiction novel by American writer John Scalzi, published in 2005. His debut novel was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2006.Old Man's War is the first novel in Scalzi's Old Man's War series. A sequel, The Ghost Brigades, was published in 2006, followed by two other books, The Last Colony (2007) and Zoe's Tale (2008). Another book in the series, The Human Division, was published as a serial and then collected in a novel (2013). The next book in the series, The End of All Things, was published in June 2015 as four novellas.It was optioned by Paramount Pictures in 2011.

13 editions

What a different type of sci-fi

4 stars

The first book in the old man's war trilogy was different than I expected. It was campy, humours, and much more straightforward in its delivery of a sci-fi action story than I am used to.

Most sci-fi I have picked because of its stewing political subplots, the meta commentary podcasts everywhere and the social commentary masked as alien species and totalitarian power relations.

This book was fun, and if critical of the colonial and war-mongering society that features at its heart, it has an over-the-top presentation which reminded me of the starship troopers movie.

Definitely a brain off, retro futures good read and I am looking forward to seeing if there is more interesting subplots developed in the following novels.

reviewed Old Man's War by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War #1)

Review of "Old Man's War" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

As an opener to Scalzi's writing I must confess to being pleasantly surprised. Not that I'd heard bad things, but this book has been contrasted with [a:Robert A. Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg]'s [b:Starship Troopers|17214|Starship Troopers|Robert A. Heinlein|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1234902570s/17214.jpg|2534973], the political exposition of which I feel whenever I read it lacks relevance today. This book had similarities, indeed, but was quite refreshingly written.

"It’s easier to miss her at a cemetery, where she’s never been anything but dead, than to miss her in all the places where she was alive."

The concept is an interesting one and done well, although it's not a read for the faint of heart (or the sex shy). Also, the chances of reading two books almost back-to-back with a Lieutenant Colonel Newman seem staggeringly high: too much improbability, perhaps?