Mass Market Paperback, 355 pages
English language
Published Jan. 26, 2007 by Tor Science Fiction.
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, out there, planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So, we fight. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of our resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Forces, and everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join up. The CDF doesn't want young people: they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth, never to return. You'll serve two years in combat. And if you survive, you'll be given a homestead of your own, …
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, out there, planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So, we fight. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of our resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Forces, and everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join up. The CDF doesn't want young people: they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth, never to return. You'll serve two years in combat. And if you survive, you'll be given a homestead of your own, on one of our hard-won planets.
John Perry is taking that deal. He thinks he knows what to expect. But the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine—and what he will become is far stranger.
While the book sometimes lacks the depth I kind of like in sci-fi, it makes up for it with the characters and story. The writing is among the funniest I've ever read.
I'm not generally one for the colonialist war type Sci-Fi, but I really enjoyed this. Easy to read and to drop into, with enough, ah that's novel, type futurism. Will be buying the next one to read what happens next.
Dle predpokladu to ma spad. Nejedna se o uplne prvoplanovitou military akci, coz ocenuju. Nektery aspekty, jako napr rasa Consu vyvolava spoustu otazek. Slusnej otvirak do serie 75%.
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.
Found as EN "boxed set" and read the trilogy (with The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony) in less than a week (nights mainly). Many interesting ideas.
Scalzi takes his time building up a credible world before he starts piling on outrageous details. Once the stage is set (with the explanation of how this old people's army works), he can therefore dive directly into the action and assume that the reader will know and understand enough to accept whatever Scalzi will serve.
And serve he does! The story develops from a face-value beginning that might make pacifists squirm a little in its glorification of war (without even getting especially patriotic; it's just the plain old war-as-an-adventure trope) into a growing discomfort with the way this specific war develops.
Along the way, new characters are encountered and new details about the universe learned. He will develop all of this in later books, but for now the story is just barely coherent enough to wrap up satisfyingly with a strong feeling that this is not the end of the …
Scalzi takes his time building up a credible world before he starts piling on outrageous details. Once the stage is set (with the explanation of how this old people's army works), he can therefore dive directly into the action and assume that the reader will know and understand enough to accept whatever Scalzi will serve.
And serve he does! The story develops from a face-value beginning that might make pacifists squirm a little in its glorification of war (without even getting especially patriotic; it's just the plain old war-as-an-adventure trope) into a growing discomfort with the way this specific war develops.
Along the way, new characters are encountered and new details about the universe learned. He will develop all of this in later books, but for now the story is just barely coherent enough to wrap up satisfyingly with a strong feeling that this is not the end of the tale.
What makes it such a great read is the mixture of ridiculously fun ideas about the technology of the future and the scientific background that makes it somehow believable. It is clear that Scalzi has done his research and still has some more inventions to follow it up. It's almost impossible to end this book without immediately planning to read the next one.
Tras leer un par de novelas del autor me animé con esta saga y no defrauda. Muy al estilo de Starship Troopers, tocando temas interesantes como la colonización o qué nos hace humanos cuando podemos transferir nuestra consciencia o mejorar nuestro cuerpo y mente a través de genética y tecnología. Como en otras obras, el estilo de Scalzi es muy divertido y fácil de leer incluso en inglés.
Content warning Spoilers ahead
Really liked the setting, and that the characters start out as 75 year olds. Cool alien worlds/species. The characters might not be excellent, but interesting enough to carry the story.
An entertaining homage to Heinlein (better, imo) with a nice, sometimes witty, protagonist who is lucky in love, friends, and war. It's just fine. Nothing wow - just does what's on the tin. I'm sure the series would be good, and while I doubt I'll get to them, it's something to keep in my pocket for when there's "nothing to read" and I just want something smooth.
Kindle app said I'd not read it, so I started late on an evening when I was too tired for anything too hard. Enjoyable adventure
I was expecting "Scalzi does Heinlein." But this is more like "Scalzi does Spider Robinson doing Heinlein." It is like the gang from Callahan's Place went off to space to kill all the aliens. Right down to the overuse of the word "grin."
Enjoyable story, though.
Enjoyed and a quick read. I read this in Scotland after the death of Elizabeth II and there was a lot of talk about the Empire and the Colonies. A big part of the plot is humanity's drive to conquer and exploit natural resources no matter the cost. I'm not a big believer in manifest destiny so this kinda colored my enjoyment on the interesting ideas in the plot.
A decent romp reminiscent of classic science fiction military adventure, but with more modern sensibilities. The protagonist is male, but the rest of the characters are split about 50/50 between male and female biologically.
It's not perfect, but as a first novel, it's pretty amazing.
Well, this is part of the field of Science Fiction literature devoted to futuristic warfare, which is exemplified by Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Haldeman's Forever War. But Scalzi puts his own twist on this genre in an initial novel that sets him up for more sequels in a very interesting universe.
I was hooked right from the opening sentence, and for the first part of the book it was almost like finding some Heinlein I had somehow missed. Scalzi is just that good. But it is not the bildungsroman that Heinlein wrote, just the opposite in fact, since the main character is in his 70s (there is a reason it is called the Old Man's War). For me that makes the viewpoint even more interesting since I closer in age to the main character here than I am to Heinlein's protagonist. But here we have someone at the end of …
Well, this is part of the field of Science Fiction literature devoted to futuristic warfare, which is exemplified by Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Haldeman's Forever War. But Scalzi puts his own twist on this genre in an initial novel that sets him up for more sequels in a very interesting universe.
I was hooked right from the opening sentence, and for the first part of the book it was almost like finding some Heinlein I had somehow missed. Scalzi is just that good. But it is not the bildungsroman that Heinlein wrote, just the opposite in fact, since the main character is in his 70s (there is a reason it is called the Old Man's War). For me that makes the viewpoint even more interesting since I closer in age to the main character here than I am to Heinlein's protagonist. But here we have someone at the end of life who gets a "new lease" as it were, and it is a fascinating idea that is somewhat plausible in light of developments ("We have the technology.")
The book gallops right along, and is a great trip. I recommend it
Why did I wait so long to read this? Damn, that was good.
