paperback, 320 pages
English language
Published Dec. 27, 2005 by Tor Books.
John Scalzi channels Robert Heinlein (including a wry sense of humor) in a novel about a future Earth engaged in an interstellar war against more advanced species. Citizens volunteer for the Colonial Defense Forces after retirement, in exchange for which they have their consciousness transferred into a young body, cloned from their DNA but enhanced. If, against the odds, they survive two years of combat (or 10 years if things aren't going well, which they're not), they get another body and enjoy a fresh start on a colony. This is Scalzi's first novel, and it creates a future he will revisit in subsequent stories.
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 planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races …
John Scalzi channels Robert Heinlein (including a wry sense of humor) in a novel about a future Earth engaged in an interstellar war against more advanced species. Citizens volunteer for the Colonial Defense Forces after retirement, in exchange for which they have their consciousness transferred into a young body, cloned from their DNA but enhanced. If, against the odds, they survive two years of combat (or 10 years if things aren't going well, which they're not), they get another body and enjoy a fresh start on a colony. This is Scalzi's first novel, and it creates a future he will revisit in subsequent stories.
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 planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding. Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity’s resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don’t want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You’ll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You’ll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you’ll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets. John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine—and what he will become is far stranger.
Why did I wait so long to read this? Damn, that was good.
This was an exciting military SF adventure in the tradition of [b:Starship Troopers|17214|Starship Troopers|Robert A. Heinlein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1406457252s/17214.jpg|2534973]. A retiree joins the Colonial Defense Force, rumored to be able to make the elderly young again, and soon finds himself drawn into a much larger universe — one full of conflict — than he expected.
While it's touched upon briefly, I expected a bit more meditation on the psychological toll constant warfare would have on the human mind, but the general mood is kept brisk and light throughout the book. Readers looking for more emotional heft are advised to check out [b:The Forever War|21611|The Forever War (The Forever War, #1)|Joe Haldeman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386852511s/21611.jpg|423] or [b:Armor|102327|Armor|John Steakley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465894856s/102327.jpg|604650]. Despite its different emphasis, Old Man's War is not necessarily a shallow book, however, and fans of those other military SF classics are likely to enjoy this book as well.
Old Man's War works just fine as a stand-alone …
This was an exciting military SF adventure in the tradition of [b:Starship Troopers|17214|Starship Troopers|Robert A. Heinlein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1406457252s/17214.jpg|2534973]. A retiree joins the Colonial Defense Force, rumored to be able to make the elderly young again, and soon finds himself drawn into a much larger universe — one full of conflict — than he expected.
While it's touched upon briefly, I expected a bit more meditation on the psychological toll constant warfare would have on the human mind, but the general mood is kept brisk and light throughout the book. Readers looking for more emotional heft are advised to check out [b:The Forever War|21611|The Forever War (The Forever War, #1)|Joe Haldeman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386852511s/21611.jpg|423] or [b:Armor|102327|Armor|John Steakley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465894856s/102327.jpg|604650]. Despite its different emphasis, Old Man's War is not necessarily a shallow book, however, and fans of those other military SF classics are likely to enjoy this book as well.
Old Man's War works just fine as a stand-alone work of science fiction, but the world presented is interesting enough that the sequel volumes look appealing as well. Recommended for fans of military SF, or old fashioned space opera in general.
15-20 years ago this would have been a four, or possibly five, star book for me. As it is today I'm probably not going to continue the series.
Scalzi might have done a great job of world-building here. I'm not sure though. There's a very rich tapestry of alien races and technologies, but only a couple raise above caricatures, there are touches of hard-sf, but it is much more a pulp-sf novel, and despite way too much straight forward exposition, the overarching rules of the university is a mystery since the protagonist is a low level soldier in a universe where the PTB are not open about their plans and purposes.
And unfortunately for me I don't want caricature aliens, pulp-sf and extensive exposition combined with having the reveal of a potentially interesting universe stretched out over a whole series of books.
Old people go to war with aliens, no one under 75 allowed! And it is as fun as it sounds.
Humans can travel in space and have found other lifeforms but they don't like us. So we have to fight them all over the universe in epic wars with super advanced technology. What is there not to love?
True, characters come through a bit one sided, and the main character is you standard generic male hero who just excels at everything he does, but this is a fun action packed and surprising story.
It may lack on deep philosophical issues, but it has some good and interesting ideas about the meaning of tech and the comparative ease of going to war instead of going through the effort of actually understanding Others and communicating with them.
It is the beginning of a trilogy. And I am looking forward to the sequel, …
Old people go to war with aliens, no one under 75 allowed! And it is as fun as it sounds.
Humans can travel in space and have found other lifeforms but they don't like us. So we have to fight them all over the universe in epic wars with super advanced technology. What is there not to love?
True, characters come through a bit one sided, and the main character is you standard generic male hero who just excels at everything he does, but this is a fun action packed and surprising story.
It may lack on deep philosophical issues, but it has some good and interesting ideas about the meaning of tech and the comparative ease of going to war instead of going through the effort of actually understanding Others and communicating with them.
It is the beginning of a trilogy. And I am looking forward to the sequel, the Ghost Brigades.
I will not spoil it, but I definitely think this book is entertaining and curious. Worth a read, especially if you are into aliens, space wars and old people flying around all over space. ;)
That was an amazing read! The world building, the characters, the pace of the story: all perfect. It has a great beginning and ends beautifully. It has humor, war, politics, action and even romance. It was a very delightful book to read. The type of book it's hard to put down.
Oooh! It's smart, its fast paced, a lot of reality in potential outcomes. I dig it and now I must consume more!
If you want a wild ride of the old is young again, a war amongst the stars for expansion with creatures and methodologies which all strike a remarkable cord of plausible you'll want to check in to this series. I caught myself in a few good laugh out loud moments where I had to try to explain to my wife, who didn't care, what I was laughing at, then I had to try and downplay moments of humor to my 4 year old who kept asking, "Dad what's funny?" -- oh nothing, this guy just named the computer in his head Asshole, that's all. hahah!
Goodness, fun read all around. Core character and thoughts for the future will seed onwards and I look forward to seeing where Scalzi …
Oooh! It's smart, its fast paced, a lot of reality in potential outcomes. I dig it and now I must consume more!
If you want a wild ride of the old is young again, a war amongst the stars for expansion with creatures and methodologies which all strike a remarkable cord of plausible you'll want to check in to this series. I caught myself in a few good laugh out loud moments where I had to try to explain to my wife, who didn't care, what I was laughing at, then I had to try and downplay moments of humor to my 4 year old who kept asking, "Dad what's funny?" -- oh nothing, this guy just named the computer in his head Asshole, that's all. hahah!
Goodness, fun read all around. Core character and thoughts for the future will seed onwards and I look forward to seeing where Scalzi is driving.
A fun read! It isn't especially deep but isn't trying to be. If it was a movie you'd want popcorn. It has a distinct Harry Harrison vibe. Could've been longer IMO (the ending especially felt a little rushed).
There was a point when I was going to give up. It was certainly clever enough in that way sci-fi books need to be clever, but the xenophobia and the banding together of humans because of their humanness is not a theme that resonates with me. Full disclosure: I am about to start The Dark Forest which includes the ETO, an organization that wants to see humans wiped out (or at least colonized) -- that's more my speed. Also, you need to appreciate the military in a way that I find difficult--even though the author takes pains to make the hero a former war protester.
What saved it for me is that it turns out to contain a love story. Make love, not war; yes--the slogan of an earlier generation (earlier for YOU, not me, for I am an old man and this was really a young man's war disguised …
There was a point when I was going to give up. It was certainly clever enough in that way sci-fi books need to be clever, but the xenophobia and the banding together of humans because of their humanness is not a theme that resonates with me. Full disclosure: I am about to start The Dark Forest which includes the ETO, an organization that wants to see humans wiped out (or at least colonized) -- that's more my speed. Also, you need to appreciate the military in a way that I find difficult--even though the author takes pains to make the hero a former war protester.
What saved it for me is that it turns out to contain a love story. Make love, not war; yes--the slogan of an earlier generation (earlier for YOU, not me, for I am an old man and this was really a young man's war disguised as its opposite. The young shouldn't really be allowed to write about old people in the way whites shouldn't write about blacks (except, if they do it well, and the problem is they mostly don't) There's a sense in which age is marginalized in our current culture and that marginalization is transported into the future in this book despite superficial attempts to value the life experience of 75-year-olds.
One curious theme is how the book starts with 2 characters bonding over bible quotes but the religion of aliens is made to appear comical.
So I checked out the goodreads author's page for John Scalzi and he makes a point of how writing is a job for him. That gibes with the concept of duty & the military and so explained something to me of where this book came from: a world view in which necessity/survival ultimately drives everything else--a kind of economic Darwinism in which art is happy coincidence, or maybe the beautiful plumage that give that extra push to the propagation of one's genes.
I really like some of the ideas in this one.
Solid military sci-fi fluff. The most interesting part of the world -- the separation between the Earth and the Colonial Union was left woefully unexplored.
Enjoyable, light, and sweet.
Old Man's War is an old man's dream. He gets to be young again and super-strong and kick the asses of aliens of all forms. He gets to dispense wisdom wherever he goes and gets to be smarter than anyone. He gets to be loved and respected a lot. Nothing should come for free of course, so he gets to earn all this fair and square. He gets into extreme danger, has to face identity issues (from being stronger, healthier, and more attractive than normal humans), has to face moral issues (from kicking to much alien ass). He even gets to find his dead wife. She has been made young again and hotter than the original. But also her mind has been lost, so he has to seduce her again, and has to tell her all about the world.
This wish-fulfillment is so strong, that everything else is forced to …
Old Man's War is an old man's dream. He gets to be young again and super-strong and kick the asses of aliens of all forms. He gets to dispense wisdom wherever he goes and gets to be smarter than anyone. He gets to be loved and respected a lot. Nothing should come for free of course, so he gets to earn all this fair and square. He gets into extreme danger, has to face identity issues (from being stronger, healthier, and more attractive than normal humans), has to face moral issues (from kicking to much alien ass). He even gets to find his dead wife. She has been made young again and hotter than the original. But also her mind has been lost, so he has to seduce her again, and has to tell her all about the world.
This wish-fulfillment is so strong, that everything else is forced to support it. The world is built entirely to be his amusement park. The technology makes no sense, the society makes no sense, the aliens make no sense. This book is clearly not a thought experiment on "what would the world look like if...".
What is it then? Is it supposed to be just a dream? Or does it offer something more, that I have missed? Wikipedia does not tell me. I found the sci-fi elements and the storyline fairly generic. These aliens and adventures would fit fine in any generic sci-fi series. But the book is well-written, the dialogs are great, and it's fun read. The dream-like quality provokes some thought, but I'm not sure what that thought is supposed to be.
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.
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.
Got this book as part of a Humble Bundle if not mistaken and didn't take the time to read it... but since I did I haven't stopped. It made those daily commutes a whole lot more enjoyable. Every time I was hoping for something to happen... and what happened was better than expected.
... and now even more happy it is a whole universe/series of books!
