Old Man's War by John Scalzi Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Old Man's War
Book Review: A Clean Story Well Told
Summary: 5 Stars
Old Man's War is my favorite type of sci-fi novel. Scalzi takes an intriguing idea, thinks through the ramifications, develops it into a multifaceted future world, and sets believable characters into a story arc that brings the world to life. Throw in spaceships and aliens and cool weapons, wrap it in crisp, effortless prose, and the result is a knock-out.
Though Old Man's War qualifies as military sci-fi, it still has a heart. The story is told by John Perry, a 75-year-old widower who leaves Earth to join the Colonial Defense Force. Though details are sketchy, CDF recruits know they must somehow be rejuvenated to fight. The price: they can never return to Earth or communicate with anyone there. What's more, they have to survive 10 years of brutal warfare, defending human colonists against a host of violent alien races scrabbling for viable planets. We follow John and his fellow cadets as they adjust from being aging, earth-bound civilians to superhuman space-faring killing machines. John, through a combination of luck and quick wits, finds himself at the crux of a major conflict, which eventually leads to a satisfying conclusion.
[** Warning: thar be mild spoilers in the next paragraph. **]
Looking back, you can almost see Scalzi's chain of thought as he wrote the book. He started with a simple idea: What would happen if the military could transfer a soldier's consciousness into a new body custom-built for fighting? Then he asked the appropriate follow-up questions. Who would be willing to undergo such a transformation? Obviously, people who wanted a new body at all costs: old people. How would they adjust psychologically? What incentive would they have to sign up for a deadly war? What happens if recruits die before they are loaded into their new bodies? The answers practically write the book, and give Scalzi's world a self-consistency that is easy to buy into.
Story aside, you have to admire Scalzi's ability as a writer. His prose perks along at just the right pace. He has an admirable grasp of human nature, and crafts characters that are sympathetic and believable. The dialogue is smooth and liberally sprinkled with humor.
Overall, Old Man's War was a delight to read, and an awesome debut. I highly recommend it.
Book Review: A Fast Paced and Colorful Read
Summary: 5 Stars
Old Man's War is modern science fiction at its best. In a time where the greatest writers are focusing on pumping out massive space operas with intricate plot lines and thousands of pages of content, John Scalzi gets back to the basics. The protagonist John Perry has nothing more to live for and gets whisked away into an adventure he never thought possible. He goes from an insignificant citizen of Earth to a key figure in the fight for humanity's very existence in a universe full of dangerous aliens and perilous worlds. Scalzi paints an incredible universe that keeps the reader intrigued with a plot that is briskly developed and quick witted dialog. I found myself rooting for Perry the entire story actually feeling for him during certain situations.
If you are a fan of science fiction or a fan of adventure at all, give this book a read.
Book Review: A Good Beginning - Keep It Going
Summary: 4 Stars
Old Man's War pleasantly surprised me. Being a fervent follower of sci-fi since I read Starship Trooper at a very early age, I cut my teeth on Heinlein, Clarke, and Asimov. Joe Haldeman soon followed as another favored author of hard sci-fi. John Scalzi's writing (especially in this book) reminds me of those stalwarts of the genre that I so enjoy. You quickly find yourself wrapped up in the story as it moves along at a comfortable pace. The story is well thought out and as believable as any of these tales can be. The main character is likeable as is the supporting "cast". Overall, a very good start to a series. I hope The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony do it justice.Book Review: A Good Read
Summary: 4 Stars
Short Review:
A good fun read throughout, but while the ending is definitely adequate, if you're reading it in digital format and don't realize you're near the end, you might be shocked as it wraps in just a few pages.
Book Review: A Great Concept with Nothing New
Summary: 2 Stars
From the first page, I was hooked. I was with the man through the beginning of his journey, but things went down hill in the middle. I didn't think I was reading the same book. The build up of the relationships, along with John Perry entering his new body in the first half were the best part of the book, so much so that I felt it whenever he recounted the deaths of the Old Farts, as they called their little group.
Here's what threw me in the middle.
1.) As a veteran, I didn't buy the boot camp scenes at all. Drill Instructors hate all recruits, whether or not they made an ad that saved their life, and not to mention Master Sergeant Ruiz wasn't believable, just a figure filling every Drill Instructor cliche in the world.
2.) The gun. Give me a break. A solid block of nanites can become any kind of ammunition? I can buy a weapon that uses a single mass of ammunition to form different kinds of solid projectiles, but grenades? Guided missiles? A flame thrower? The last one I found wholly unbelievable. Science-fiction needs some kind of rational base, otherwise it's just fantasy with a technical veneer. And I'm a little wary of this whole magical nanite trend I see going around.
3.) Where's the artillery? Where's their supporting fire? Armored vehicles? Power Armor? Battle suits? I would imagine that these new bodies they are given are expensive, not to mention the cost of getting the old people to the station, the medical tests, the large amount of staff to screen and prep them we're introduced too. You'd think they would invest in protecting these assets, like providing, oh, I don't know, a helmet! There were two very obvious instances where soldiers would have lived if they had had this ancient invention. The body armor they wore, high tech as it was, seemed the bare minimum. Maybe the author should play Crysis or something. Overall, the author seemed to rely more on military cliche and common image than to think of something new (foxholes are useless, even counter-productive against an enemy that burrows underground). Another reviewer said that they used WWII-era tactics; I think that's an insult to our WWII vets, honestly.
4.) The aliens. Why do so many species have to find humans as good eatin'? This seems more of a weak attempt to shock or scare the reader into believing the need to fight, rather than tackling any complex issues of war, peace, and diplomacy. And don't get me started on the Covandu. One inch tall? Give me a break. That part read more like a gorefest version of Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It would have been pure comedy if the rest of the book didn't take itself so heavily. I nearly put it down then. And, there were just too many races. Give me two or three, really well-developed species rather than dozens and dozens of two sentence, weirdness-filled descriptions, all with the same motivation.
5.) The premise for the book was putting old people into new, young and heavily modified bodies to fight a war where their experience and maturity would benefit their forces. Yet, their experience never comes to bear. In fact, we're beaten over the head with the fact that their experience means nothing as they've never experienced anything like what they're about to see; see Master Sergeant Ruiz.
It picked up in the end, and the left hook he threw in there actually turned out to be pretty thrilling and got me going to the end. The prose is easy to read, a nice change nowadays. The Consu stand out among the aliens, and they turned out to be pretty cool with a differing motivation than conquer, kill, eat, repeat. But still, the glaring problems which I have illustrated here prevent me from calling it a favorite.