Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony

by John Scalzi

Published Aug. 26, 2014 by Tor Science Fiction.

ISBN:: 978-0-7653-7938-2

View on OpenLibrary

(75 reviews)

1 edition

mikerickson reviewed Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Review of "Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I don't read many series because I have completionist tendencies (hell, I can barely convince myself to DNF a book I'm actively hating), but I'm slowly coming around to trying a few out. I also wanted to try dipping back into military sci-fi which I read a lot of in my early twenties, so this book was killing two birds with one stone with respect to my reading goals.

The premise alone was enough to get my interest; a space military organization only accepts new recruits that are at least 75-years-old, whisking them away to undergo some mystery medical treatment and then off to the front-lines fighting literal aliens, never to return back to earth. As you progress through the story it kinda feels like the idea of an army made up of old people came first and the (to me, weak) justification came afterwards, but whatever. This book definitely has big "first in a series" vibes though, because damn near the first two thirds of the book is just worldbuilding and training montages; we're well past the halfway point before anything resembling a central conflict shows up.

This book also came across as explicitly pro-military and anti-diplomacy with about the subtlety of an elephant. But, it was fun. Sure, I more or less correctly guessed the big reveal of how senior citizens were turned into supersoldiers, and the lifelong civilians transitioned into hardened infantrymen way faster than I found believable. But we got cool descriptions of aliens and multiple over-the-top battle scenes à la Starship Troopers or Halo that scratched an itch I didn't know I've been sitting on. Interesting ethical scenarios occasionally flashed across the pages, but they were whisked away by the next action scene as soon as they came up.

To me, this was a, "turn your brain off and have fun" kind of book, which sometimes is just what you need.

Bryan Fordham reviewed Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Review of "Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Second time through, this time via audiobook

Jameson reviewed Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Review of "Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I enjoy Scalzi’s approach to world-building, and he’s set up a very interesting speculative future with some fertile threads to explore. The pacing is excellent and the characters are enjoyable, even though they all have pretty much the same voice. (Except for the racist guy, thankfully; nobody likes him.)

ManyRoads reviewed Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Review of "Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A very entertaining read. Don't expect deep meaningful thought. This is a space opera; a good adventure. Quite simply this novel is worthwhile 'eye candy' to help while away a few of your quality Covid hours. In a bit, I'll tackle the next 'act' in this series.

ospalh reviewed Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Review of "Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I’m usually on the pacifist side, but this, while a rather straight military story, was great fun.

I laughed more than i should have at what was maybe an “A Fish Called Wanda” reference, the Rraey joking “And the green ones aren’t good eating. They’re not ripe yet.”

One thing i found odd, though, was that the CDF computers apparently never noticed the connection between John Perry and Jane Sagan. There should have been some warning popping on some computer about this.

Ikwezi reviewed Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Review of "Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

He closes out the OMW trilogy with a clever inversion of the classic sf trope of peace-loving pan-humans vs implacable alien hordes, but his snappy dialogue, which seems better suited to early 21st-century American media depictions of the future than any actual future, did begin to grate in this one.

Ikwezi reviewed Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Review of "Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Exemplifies high modern sf...

...in that it would make a great screenplay or video game, which is praise in my view. The old-man premise was quickly lost in the possibilities of the terrific galaxy Scalzi unspools, but maybe it's meant for a later book.

Victor Hugo Kebbe reviewed Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony by John Scalzi

Review of "Old Man's War Boxed Set I: Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It was a very enjoyable reading experience, and a great piece of entertainment .But only that. I was hooked since the beginning, most because Scalzi has a fairly straightforward writing style, fluid and his sense of humor is very funny.