Old Man's War (Book 1)

by John Scalzi (Goodreads author)

book data

2,002 ratings, 4.14 average rating, 420 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		36%
4		45%
3		15%
2		2%
1		0%

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published

January 15th 2007 (first published 2005) by Tor Science Fiction

binding

Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages

isbn

0765348276 (isbn13: 9780765348272)

description

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 mad...more

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04/15/08

Brownbetty rated it:

Not quite what I expected from the cover. In my experience of oil-paintings-of-planets-and-spacecraft covers, you tend to get pretty hard SF to go with them. This was more extra-firm tofu hard. The cover blurbs compared him to Heinlein, which was fair.

The book has a couple of reveals, the first of which I genuinely did not see coming, and the second of which I saw coming for a while, so I'll separate my review into the bits I can talk about without spoiling and the spoilery bits. ...more

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

7 comments

09/01/08

Jon rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, hugo-nominee, read-in-my-40s, science-fiction

Read in December, 2008

recommended to Jon by: Kristin

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

A good story, regardless of genre, and an especially great military science fiction tale.

Our point of view is through the eyes of John Perry. We meet him on Earth, as a seventy-five year old widower living in Ohio. It's his birthday and it's time for him to report for duty. He (and his wife) both signed up for the Colonial Defense Force ten years ago, recruited with visions of renewed youth and minimum of two years of service. Kathy died eight years ago of a stroke while making ...more A good story, regardless of genre, and an especially great military science fiction tale.

Our point of view is through the eyes of John Perry. We meet him on Earth, as a seventy-five year old widower living in Ohio. It's his birthday and it's time for him to report for duty. He (and his wife) both signed up for the Colonial Defense Force ten years ago, recruited with visions of renewed youth and minimum of two years of service. Kathy died eight years ago of a stroke while making cookies in their kitchen. John makes his farewells to friends and family and visits his wife's grave one last time.

John and several thousand other 75-year olds are transported to a Colonial transport ship and enjoy the usual military "hurry up and wait" routine. Eventually, after seemingly endless and pointless tests, the day of truth arrives and the recruits report for their final physical improvements regimen.

Rather than a retrofit of his existing body, John receives a new improved not quite human body with many enhancements, including green photosynthetic skin, cat-like eyes, SmartBlood (nanotechnology), BrainPal (PDA and HUD with extreme Internet access all embedded in the brain - both voice and thought activated) and superhuman reflexes, strength and endurance. After training, designed mostly to convince the recruits that their old inhibitions do not apply to their new bodies, the soldiers are dropped into battle with a variety of incomprehensible, tenacious and prolific alien species. Their goal - to defend the scarce "real estate" of the human colonies and potential colony planets.

For me, the best parts of this story was the relationship. They were sparse but gripping. Perry's memories of his wife and marriage. The familial bonding among the Old Farts and the grief of their passing. I was especially touched with the death of Maggie, who composed a heart-wrenching jisei poem as she plummeted through a planet's atmosphere:

Do not mourn me, friends
I fall as a shooting star
Into the next life

And lastly the burgeoning relationship between Jane Sagan, occupying the body of Kathy, John's wife, and John Perry. Her anonymous postcard sent to John inviting him to find her when he retires and start a new life with her brought tears to my eyes.

I recommend this to anyone who loves military science fiction, with a good does of wit and sarcasm, flavored with a gentle touch of what it means to be human in an insane non-human galaxy. (less)

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7 comments

08/04/07

Ascexis rated it:

(review of isbn 0765315246)

bookshelves: alienworlds, reviewed, sci-fi

Read in June, 2007

This is an odd sort of book. Scalzi has a really neat central premise -- but the story gets lost up against it. The story is told in an oddly clinical fashion that leaves a sort of feeling that you're being given a report on story instead of the story itself. The story moves along briskly enough, but I'm left oddly unmoved by the protagonist's experience.

It doesn't help that while the premise requires that the protagonist excel at warfare etc., he surpasses all expectations -- ...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

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01/21/09

Jamie rated it:

(review of isbn 0765315246)

bookshelves: hugo, science-fiction

Read in January, 2009

It's hard to believe this book is so highly rated. I thought it was dreadful, and certainly the worst Hugo nominee I've ever read. I'm a fan of this genre; I like Starship Troopers and The Forever War, to which this book has been compared; but while the topic may be similar, it's an understatement to say that the author is not in the same league as Heinlein and Haldeman.

It begins with an interesting concept: old people are recruited at the end of their fruitful lives on Earth and g...more

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11/20/08

Ron rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy, science-fiction

Read in November, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Oh, yeah! This is what it's all about.

This is great fiction, and great science fiction.

Read this book.

Perhaps I should explain why I call this fantasy as well as science fiction. Unlike many other readers, I deem the presence of aliens in a story as as much a sign of fantasy as magic. I understand that the probability there might be life, intelligence and superior science and technology in this galaxy--let alone the rest of the universe--approaches unity, bu...more Oh, yeah! This is what it's all about.

This is great fiction, and great science fiction.

Read this book.

Perhaps I should explain why I call this fantasy as well as science fiction. Unlike many other readers, I deem the presence of aliens in a story as as much a sign of fantasy as magic. I understand that the probability there might be life, intelligence and superior science and technology in this galaxy--let alone the rest of the universe--approaches unity, but . . . for us to populate our science fiction with them is as much a work of imagination as to create stories with dwarfs, elves, hobbits, etc. I'm certain many of you will object. Sorry, that's how I see it.

Scvalzi's political correctness intrudes on his otherwise excellent story. Beyond the mandatory fawning demanded by our age, he fails to even give passing mention to physiological differences between the sexes--critical considerations for infantry. In fact, when the "Old Farts" get their new bodies, his (and their) attention is fixated on their physical beauty and condition without mentioning that the females' enhancements might have been turned up a notch to compensate for their natural smaller size. It doesn't hurt the story especially, but it is noticeable. And will surely mark this story in time just as the misogynic attitudes of nineteenth century novels date them.

His portrayal of military life is spot on except for two omissions. First, all battles are "at a distance." Everything is surgical and arm's length. The most intense kind of combat is hand-to-hand: confused, frightening and messy. He reports on melees, but none ever happen on stage. Even John's crash landing seems too analytical and not emotional. Second, his "only need two hours of sleep" rule does not do away with the second feature of long engagements: being tired. Even if their green skin and super blood keeps them ready to go, sleep deprivation has psychological implications, which are not mentioned.

(There was a third aspect which knocked me out of the story, but I kept reading rather than making a note. Sorry.)

Don't let these quibbles dissuade you from reading Old Man's War.(less)

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

5 comments

06/04/07

Trin rated it:

(review of isbn 0765315246)

bookshelves: american-lit, sci-fi

Read in February, 2007

The first 100 pages or so of this book are absolutely fantastic. The Colonial Defense Forces recruit citizens of Earth on their 75th birthdays to fight with them against the various alien species threatening the series of colonies Earth needs because of population overflow, war, all the usual ways we’ve fucked up the planet. Senior citizens sign up because the CDF promises to make them young again—if they sign a contract to serve for ten years. And most of them will probably get gruesomely k...more The first 100 pages or so of this book are absolutely fantastic. The Colonial Defense Forces recruit citizens of Earth on their 75th birthdays to fight with them against the various alien species threatening the series of colonies Earth needs because of population overflow, war, all the usual ways we’ve fucked up the planet. Senior citizens sign up because the CDF promises to make them young again—if they sign a contract to serve for ten years. And most of them will probably get gruesomely killed in that time. But at least they won’t die old, right?

All of this stuff is fascinating. I loved the set up, the procedure and world-building involved in John Perry, 75-year-old widower and retired ad writer, joining the army and making friends with his fellow recruits and going through pre-procedure tests and through the actual procedure (which I won’t spoil) and the boot camp stuff that comes after. Scalzi describes the actual battles which follow with no less intensity, but once John starts fighting, the sense of who he is really gets lost. (I was actually waiting for that to be revealed to be part of the point, but it wasn’t.) John just becomes A Soldier, almost instantly. Besides his sense of loyalty and his lingering feelings about his dead wife, there’s very little left to connect him to who he used to be. It’s mentioned several times that John and his wife protested the big war on Earth, but John seems almost entirely unconcerned with the unquestioning massacre of various alien species. I must admit, it started to make me a liiiiiitle uncomfortable. Scalzi has said that his inspiration for this book was Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, and this book, I think, faces a lot of the same problems I’ve heard are inherent in that one. (I haven’t actually read it, so if I’m way off base, please tell me.) Both, I believe, walk the line between criticizing war and glorifying it, and so whatever message results is kind of muddled. I got the most enjoyment out of Old Man’s War when I, well, just tried not to think about it too much. Not an attitude I usually endorse, but there you go. Still, the underlying sci-fi concepts in this book—the stuff about identity—are really interesting; I am anxious to get my hands on the sequel, even if it means I’ll have to turn off my brain for a while. Or at least the hard-working liberal guilt section.(less)

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05/09/07

Denise rated it:

(review of isbn 0765315246)

bookshelves: sf

Read in May, 2007

recommends it for: Any SF reader

I picked this one up intending to read a few chapters before bed tonight, and now it's two in the morning and I've finished it, which should tell you something about it. I'm valiantly resisting starting the sequel, which I also bought tonight.

The cover quote on this one compares Scalzi to Heinlein, which is both accurate and inaccurate: this is the book Starship Troopers would have been if it had been written fifty years later, with the intervening fifty years' worth of political and...more

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04/18/09

James rated it:

bookshelves: best-of-sci-fi-fantasy, could-not-put-down, sci-fi

Read in March, 2009

I have a love-hate relationship with the science fiction genre. The masters of the art elevate the genre to a level on par with any literary masterwork while the typical sci-fi book leaves a sour taste in my mouth and makes me wonder why I ever bother with the genre. This is how I felt after reading Stephen Baxter's Time's Eye series which was such a disappointing read I didn't bother to add it to my GoodReads account.

All that preamble to say that Scalzi has revived my faith in sci-f...more

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08/22/08

Bill Purdy rated it:

Read in August, 2008

recommended to Bill by: Brian Tenpenny, Tor.com
recommends it for: Sci-fi fans, particularly fans of Starship Troopers, Enders Game, and similarly-themed novels

...and so I have finished my first eBook, Old Man's War, on my new Kindle. And I liked it. I liked it a lot.

This particular copy of the book was distributed as part of the promotion for Tor's new website. That promotion, which must have seemed pretty risky to some of the folks in the Tor marketing department has paid off, at least locally -- I've visited the site several times since and have downloaded (and paid for) two of their books to my Kindle, with (I am sure) many more to come...more

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07/31/08

Mark rated it:

bookshelves: sciencefiction

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: Fans of military SF and fans of pulp SF.

"Old Man's War" by John Scalzi is one of the quickest reads I've had in a while. It's the epitome of a "page-turner" and for fans of military science fiction, you can't go wrong with this one. If the premise sounds interesting, you should read it. If you like military science fiction such as "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman or "Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein, what are you doing reading this when you could be reading "Old Man's War"? G...more

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06/05/08

Jake rated it:

bookshelves: science-fiction, series

This one was a loaner from PoeGhostal, who, much like me, recently has made the transition from being an avid fantasy reader to being on a sci-fi kick. I’m not sure what caused me to make the transition; for some reason lately, I’ve just been more in a space and starships mood, rather than a sword-and-sorcery mood. Of course, I still have piles of fantasy that I want to get through, most notably a bunch of REH’s works. But I digress.

Old Man’s War is military science fiction in ...more This one was a loaner from PoeGhostal, who, much like me, recently has made the transition from being an avid fantasy reader to being on a sci-fi kick. I’m not sure what caused me to make the transition; for some reason lately, I’ve just been more in a space and starships mood, rather than a sword-and-sorcery mood. Of course, I still have piles of fantasy that I want to get through, most notably a bunch of REH’s works. But I digress.

Old Man’s War is military science fiction in the tradition of Starship Troopers, and those familiar with Heinlein’s work will find a lot of basic similarities in the plot; a man from Earth decides to join up with the Space Armed Forces, and goes off to fight aliens and discover what war is really about. There’s cool technology, clever tactics, and a fair amount of musing about life by the narrator in question.

By that description, I’m making Old Man’s War seem like a cheap knock-off of Starship Troopers, and it’s really not. It is its own story, quite distinct, and with some seriously notable differences. Perhaps the most notable being the main character, John Perry, who is not the callow youth that Juan Rico is, but instead, is a seventy-five year old man who decides to sign up for the Colonial Defense Forces because he’s got nothing left to lose. He does this without having the faintest idea of WHAT is going to happen to him…the contact between the colonies and Earth is virtually non-existent. It’s an interesting set up, and one of several interesting ideas that Scalzi has throughout the book. Actually, that’s unfair. Scalzi has a lot of interesting ideas, particularly in the realm of technology, and in terms of alien cultures.

The writing itself is solid, if not mind-blowing. The book moves along at a pretty good clip, and while Scalzi does occasionally dive into obligatory technobabble to explain some piece of technology, it is the sort of technobabble that even a non-scientist like myself can follow (one of the things that keeps me away from many sci-fi books is the detailed technological explanations). Most of the characters are pretty interesting, though a few them feel a little flat/forced (the drill sergeant bugs me, for a variety of reasons I wont’ get into here). I’m really not a fan of the presence of Jane Sagan, but it’s hard to get into WHY without getting to heavily into the plot. I’ll just say that I thought her presence and arc were largely unnecessary, and feel that something more interesting could have been done with the plot there.

I think I’m making this book sound worse than I think it is, so let me back up a step. This is a good book. Really. It’s fast-paced military science fiction, somewhat reminiscent of Heinlein, and honestly, a little reminiscent of Zahn. The main character is fun, the humor is good, and the action works very well. The aliens are neat, and alien, which is a welcome change from the “humans with stuff on their foreheads” syndrome, or from the “we’ll tell you nothing at all about them” method of dealing with aliens. The good stuff, however, is in some the characters and the ideas. The plot itself is not horrible, but it’s nothing to write home about either. The strength of the writing is definitely more in Perry and his interactions with a strange and hostile cosmos that it is in the intrigue and plot twists. The work is also somewhat less introspective than Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, which is either a good or bad thing, depending on what you’re looking for. Perry does do a bit of soul-searching, mind you, but the book does not seem to set out to make a point in the same way that Heinlein does.

At the end of the day, this is good, fun, solid, military science fiction. If you want to read about a bunch of people who explore the universe, meet strange new people, and blow them up, this is a pretty good place to start.(less)

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10/16/07

Celia rated it:

(review of isbn 0765315246)

bookshelves: sci-fi

Read in December, 2007

I'm a fan of John Scalzi's blog, and when the library eventually bought some copies of his book Old Man's War, I snaffled up a copy.

I quite enjoyed this tale of the elderly being shipped off Earth to be made young again, and used as soldiers in a seemingly never-ending galactic war. It's an interesting premise, certainly. I wasn't completely caught up in it though - and it's hard to be attached to characters who keep dying (they are in a war, after all). And a seemingly never-endi...more

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07/06/07

Clinton rated it:

bookshelves: sci-fi

Read in December, 2006

I read this book during our December 2005 Caribbean cruise. I was blown away by the awesomeness of Scalzi's universe, and loved how he so quickly developed a world that I was pulled into.

This book reads like The Forever War-lite. It deals with many of the same themes, but in a far more light-hearted and fun-to-read manner. The gadgets are cool (I totally want a BrainPal), the settings are fun, and the writing is good. For dealing with the subject of recruits sent to die in an int...more

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08/07/08

nicebutnubbly rated it:

Read in January, 2008

This owes too much to Heinlein for me to love it. And it's a bit facile - the protagonist is loved by beautiful women and respected by his peers and superior officers for no particularly apparent reason. Race is handwaved as being nothing but skin color. Unlike others, I wasn't bothered by the plausibility of the central premise - I liked it, and it's in line with a lot of research on wisdom, smarts, and aging. Regardless, the testosterone came through in the tone of the book too much for me to ...more

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03/17/09

Doug rated it:

Read in March, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I like this book enough to go out and buy the next two, The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony. Usually I'm a sucker for a good conflict in space with aliens saga, especially if it has an entertaining premise and back story. I found the synopsis intriguing, older, post retirement age adults on Earth being recruited by an elite and off world force to defend the human colonized planets.
The story didn't disappoint, it was fast paced with good narrative and action. I found the central charact...more I like this book enough to go out and buy the next two, The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony. Usually I'm a sucker for a good conflict in space with aliens saga, especially if it has an entertaining premise and back story. I found the synopsis intriguing, older, post retirement age adults on Earth being recruited by an elite and off world force to defend the human colonized planets.
The story didn't disappoint, it was fast paced with good narrative and action. I found the central character compelling and interesting, if anything I would have liked more detail on the training aspects before the battles and how the soldiers coped with their "new" bodies. That all seemed kind of rushed to me, as did some of the military missions. That aside, I enjoyed it a lot and it kept me interested to the very end. Here's my only gripe, unless the moral climate on Earth had changed dramatically it didn't seem like many of these recruits had very many moral issues with their new lives. There was some commentary about feeling uneasy about fighting and killing but the whole premise of fighting every other race in the universe would have set of some kind of alarm bells in my head. Granted that they had signed contracts and were pretty much stuck with their lot with the CDF, but I wanted more moral dilemma in many of the characters. I mean these were doctors, lawyers, housewives, whatever, not seasoned soldiers. The bodies were new but the brains with all their experiences were old. Think about trying to convince your mom or dad to try something radically different and new, not a very easy task with a life long string of experiences and beliefs. Regardless of that very small quibble, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, Scalzi has a direct writing style without a lot of "fluff" and I appreciated that. the battles were interesting and well done, the tech, especially the military tech, was very intriguing. The introduction of the Ghost Brigade was very cool, super soldiers even more super than the regular CDF soldiers and without a past. That concept has been explored before of course but is well done here. I don't know how many times I've tried to slog through a Stephen King novel and was bogged down for three pages of descriptions of an old rusted truck on a frozen Main dirt road, that never happened here, I never found myself skipping paragraphs. I was disappointed when the story ended and that's always a sign I really liked what I just read.(less)

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02/19/09

Paul rated it:

(review of isbn 0765309408)

bookshelves: sciencefictionfantasy

Mankind has started to spread out in the galaxy, and so have a lot of other races. The available real estate is scarce, which leads to near-constant war for land.

The only way for Americans to get into space is to join the Colonial Defense Force (CDF). They guard human colonies, and go to war over disputed planets. The CDF only takes people who have reached their 75th birthday. A vague promise of being made young again is a pretty strong incentive to sign up. The catch is that joining...more Mankind has started to spread out in the galaxy, and so have a lot of other races. The available real estate is scarce, which leads to near-constant war for land.

The only way for Americans to get into space is to join the Colonial Defense Force (CDF). They guard human colonies, and go to war over disputed planets. The CDF only takes people who have reached their 75th birthday. A vague promise of being made young again is a pretty strong incentive to sign up. The catch is that joining the CDF is a one-way trip. If you survive your tour of duty, hardly a sure thing, you will spend the rest of your life on some colony planet; returning to Earth is not an option.

John Perry signs up. He just turned 75, his wife, Kathy, died several years previously, and his one adult son lives on his own. On the spaceship taking him, and several hundred others, to basic training on another planet, he learns just what the becoming young part is all about. His consciousness is transferred into a cloned body, in its mid-twenties, made from his own DNA, which was extracted from him several years previously. It's very much of a new and improved body with a green skin color. He also has a computer implanted in his brain, which can talk to him and communicate with anyone else.

After basic training, Perry and his squad travel from planet to planet. Friends die, and new friends are made. During one disastrous operation, Perry crash lands on a planet, and is rescued by. . . his wife. She too is green, but the resemblance is way too close to be a coincidence. She (her name is Jane) is part of the Ghost Brigades, actually clones of dead people. Having no conception of what life is like as a realborn, they are kept far away from the rest of the CDF. Perry is made part of a Ghost Brigades squad, and begins to tell his squadmates what it's like to be married, and to love another person.

Here is an excellent novel. It has space travel, it has weirdness, it has heart and it has a lot of great writing. This is highly recommended.

(less)

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01/10/09

Bookczuk rated it:

Wow! What a book! I first became aware of John Scalzi via his blog (where he recounts such things as why he can't make his publisher's deadline, one of the reasons being he has to tape bacon to his cat. Don't ask... just read the blog.). He's a fabulous writer and a great favorite of other writers. When I asked boyczuk if we had any Scalzi books here at home, this is the one he gave me to read.

All I can say is that it's a good tale, well written and the bits of science and even...more Wow! What a book! I first became aware of John Scalzi via his blog (where he recounts such things as why he can't make his publisher's deadline, one of the reasons being he has to tape bacon to his cat. Don't ask... just read the blog.). He's a fabulous writer and a great favorite of other writers. When I asked boyczuk if we had any Scalzi books here at home, this is the one he gave me to read.

All I can say is that it's a good tale, well written and the bits of science and events in the future that come into the story are entirely plausable. And readable. And thought provoking. And entertaining. And humorous, serious and interesting.

Other than that, it's okay!

From the Publisher
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 aliens willing to fight for them are common. The universe, it turns out, is a hostile place.

So: we fight. To defend Earth (a target for our new enemies, should we let them get close enough) and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has gone 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, which shields the home planet from too much knowledge of the situation. What's known to everybody is 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 your time 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.(less)

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12/16/08

Emily rated it:

Read in December, 2008

recommended to Emily by: boulder book store, cory doctorow
recommends it for: sci-fi skeptics and lovers alike, bsg fans

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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11/21/08

Michael rated it:

bookshelves: 2007, sci-fi

Read in April, 2007

recommends it for: Military Sci-Fi buffs

John Perry joins the Colonial Defense Force, at the age of 75. The CDF takes the elderly Perry and turns him into a killing machine that any Starship Trooper would be proud to see. While amazed with his new body, he struggles with being less than human. Perry goes off to war fighting the enemies of humanity and deals with the horrors of war.

Fans of Heinlein should find Scalzi's style and story highly entertaining. He manages give Old Man's War the air of a hard sci-fi story without ...more

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06/24/09

Paul Genesse rated it:

Read in June, 2009

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi is an excellent book. I read it in two days, and could barely put it down. Scalzi did a masterful job keeping up the tension and my interest. The novel is written in first person and chronicles the distant future when old men and women are given the opportunity to join the Colonial army and go into space—when they reach the age of the seventy-five. There is a promise of being young again and starting over. No spoilers here. However, I will reveal that there are a...more