Old Man's War by John Scalzi Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Old Man's War
Book Review: A good read
Summary: 5 Stars
John Scalzi's book has a great hook. The hero is a 75 year old widower who is joining the Army. The book's focus is on telling the story from the point of view of the hero. He doesn't give away much about the universe the hero lives in. A lot of it he doesn't know about. With any luck John will fill out the details about this world in later books. The book gets better and better as the story progresses but may be a little slow to start for the impatient. I do recommend the book without reservation.Book Review: A good, engaging read and a nostalgia trip
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a good read- definitely worth buying if you're an old Heinlein fan. As other reviewers have no doubt mentioned, this book is very much a modern version of Starship Troopers. Lots of fancy, interesting tech and some interesting futuristic infantry/military stuff.
It does have some shortcomings. The hero seems even more wide-eyed and innocent Jonny from the original book (mainly as he's supposedly 75 years old but really doesn't act it). Space warfare is very primitive (low-speed kinetic weapons seem to be cutting edge) and the society painted is a bit two-dimensional. But if you're looking for an easy, engaging read rather than cerebral social or sci-fi exploration (that'd be Banks and Reynolds), this is a great choice.
Book Review: A little lightweight, but quite fun
Summary: 4 Stars
Conventional but entertaining military sci-fi in Heinlein's tradition. Scalzi doesn't add anything particularly fresh or deep to the genre, but he does know how to give readers a good, old-fashioned page turner. His concept of turning senior citizens into genetically-rebuilt soldiers, now that their lives are "over" and they can face near-certain death without regret, and sending them to fight on the front lines against many ruthless and competitive alien species is interesting, though these distinctions from other space adventures get blurred as the story moves forward.
All in all, an escapist Starship Troopers for the 2000s, with genetic modifications and nanotechnology instead of mechanized suits, and soldiers who have doubts about who they are and what they do, even as circumstances force them to do it. Some clunky dialogue and a patent lack of realism at times, but otherwise a fun lazy afternoon read.
(On a side note, if you're interested in writing and/or sci-fi books, Scalzi has an excellent blog.)
Book Review: A new Heinlein is born. Don't miss this book.
Summary: 5 Stars
The author creates great characters that evoke Heinlein's classic heros, but he does the old master one better. The action is even faster paced and the twists and turns in the plot are fantastic.
Imagine an army of grandfathers and grandmothers? Crazy? Not in Scalzi's hands. They manage to save the human race from not one race of space aliens but many. A great read. I could not put it down!
Buy and read it today!
Book Review: A solid, simple read that brings up ethical issues we should be thinking about even today
Summary: 4 Stars
I was pleased to finally read this prequel to "The Ghost Brigades" which I read last year.
Like "The Ghost Brigades" I found "Old Man's War" to be a fairly simple story that explores a world where it is really possible to get a second (and a third and a forth..) chance to live your life.
Set in a future where the human race is competing with myriad other alien races for substantially the same resources, the humans recruit their soldiers from Earth's seventy year olds and give them new and improved bodies to get the best kind of soldier: One that is physically superb and has the grounding and experience to understand what's at stake and a stake in the future that they are helping to protect (they pretty much all have children and grandchildren that they want to see survive into the future).
Told exclusively from the point of view of the protagonist, you will not get lost or confused as to what is going on. Nor is there any need to try to interpret different story threads to try to divine future confluences as you do with the more complex stories told by Peter F. Hamilton or Frank Herbert.
This is an enjoyable, easy read that IMHO speaks to issues that it is absolutely possible that the human race may face one day.