From the Bookshelf of The Sword and Laser…

Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)

John Scalzi

Start date: January 1, 2013

Finish date: January 31, 2013

Discussion: 2013 Reads

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2013 Reads

ANHoD: Looking to buy Within the Sanctuary of Wings in Paperback
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OMW: BrainPals
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Jan 04, 2013 John Wiswell rated it liked it

Few Americans ever leave earth, except at age 75 when they join an interstellar military, furthering humanism by colonizing and conquering space. Exactly how the elderly are refitted for space exploration and combat is part of Old Man’s War’s allure, and I won’t spoil it, but its conceit allows resigned senior citizen John Perry to see the galaxy at gunpoint. We’re introduced to a fascinating space drama of hopping between parallel universes to go faster than light, talking computers in our skul Few Americans ever leave earth, except at age 75 when they join an interstellar military, furthering humanism by colonizing and conquering space. Exactly how the elderly are refitted for space exploration and combat is part of Old Man’s War’s allure, and I won’t spoil it, but its conceit allows resigned senior citizen John Perry to see the galaxy at gunpoint. We’re introduced to a fascinating space drama of hopping between parallel universes to go faster than light, talking computers in our skulls, and a squad of senior citizens who sound suspiciously like snarky teenagers.

There isn’t much tour of duty in the novel, yet what exists is one of the most breezily readable novels I’ve come across in years, probably since I read Christopher Priest’s The Prestige. Its reliance on bantering dialogue, drawn-out world-building and chapters that focus on establishing one or two elements allow it to be skimmed or read attentively with equal entertainment. At least twice I blasted through additional chapters without realizing I’d gone to a new one – it simply processed so quickly. That is a rare gift in any prose.

It’s halfway through the novel before the cast sees any combat, and after that point the battles still make up less than half of what’s described. The first half of the novel is about John’s induction into the space military, and yet there’s equally little training – the stereotypical drill sergeant’s monologues take up more page space than any exercises. Instead, both halves of the novel are dominated by characters sitting around talking – today about how weird the physical exam was, tomorrow about multiverse theory, and next week it’ll be the plausibility of mediation with aliens. These conversations don’t build; we get a sense of personalities, but little development, and almost none of it pays off in plot progression or revelation. Instead Old Man’s War becomes almost a picaresque of highly consumable SciFi dialogues. This enables a domination of world-building, and the book spends at least ten words explaining a thing for every one showing the thing in action. It’s almost jarring when we first come into combat against an alien army, who we’ve barely heard anything about and who is trying to overrun us, with little success, in all of five pages.

The fetish for world-building is something I don’t quite share with other Fantasy and Science Fiction readers. There is a school of thought that these fictions ought to lay out sprawling worlds for us more than let us (or the characters) explore them, through explanations of culture and mechanics. This book is maybe the cheekiest student of that school. How much of the page-count you wanted devoted to that is simply up to taste.

But one result of all that world-exposition was that very little space was left to plot and character advancement. I was drawn in by the mouthy, rapidfire characters and caricatures, and so found them very entertaining until the final stretch. In one chapter two unique characters – one a disgraced alien, the other a clone with no past – monologue indignantly on what it’s like to be them and that John doesn’t understand them. For nearly 300 pages at that point, the novel made no attempt to incorporate them better, and John had only a few encounters with them, going to very little physical pains about their circumstances until the dire monologues. Old Man’s War simply hadn’t built nearly enough to earn how dramatic it seemed to want to be taken. The only relationship that really develops a new stage starts ¾’s of the way through the book, which is a statement on how it handles character.

The other notable thing about Old Man’s War is its foray into Science Fiction humor. Even Scalzi has written about how hard it can be to get any humorous SF published; Douglas Adams did it brilliantly, inspired many poorer copycats, and sort of salted the earth for nerds who already tended to take this stuff too seriously. To have written brawny SciFi with so many mouthy characters as his debut book deserves high admiration.

For me, the humor was hit-and-miss – Scalzi has definitely honed his humor writing since, his recent "The Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City" has a masterful sense of conviction to flippancy. Most of the misses here come from the majority of the senior citizens not sounding or acting authentic, more Buffy the Vampire Slayer than Golden Girls in Space. That humor will still land for many people (and the book’s sold enough that it clearly already has landed for many), but I feel like an example is warranted. Here is a passage early on when John gives his helper robot a name:

Please speak the name you would like to give your BrainPal™.

"'Asshole,'" I said.

You have selected "Asshole," the BrainPal wrote, and to its credit it spelled the word correctly. Be aware that many recruits have selected this name for their BrainPal™. Would you like to choose a different name?

"No," I said, and was proud that so many of my fellow recruits also felt this way about their BrainPal.

Your BrainPal™ is now Asshole, the BrainPal wrote. You may change this name in the future if you like. Now you must choose an access phrase to activate Asshole. While Asshole is active at all times it will only respond to commands after it has been activated. Please choose a short phrase. Asshole suggests "Activate Asshole" but you may choose another phrase. Please say your activation phrase now.

"'Hey, Asshole,'" I said.

You have chosen "Hey, Asshole." Please say it again to confirm. I did. Then it asked me to choose a deactivation phrase. I chose (of course) "Go away, Asshole."

It keeps going. If that’s funny to you and you want more of it, then definitely give this book a shot. Even if you don't, it's unusual enough to be worth trying. ...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Joanna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, favorites

I really loved this. The first half made me laugh out loud and get funny looks and the second half is all adventure. Very creative, great universe/world-building, loved the use of technology and the way it was explained. The whole thing really reminded me of the best parts of Starship Troopers (the movie, haven't read the book yet). ...more

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Aug 16, 2015 Megan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-dystopian

3.5. This book had a lot of "first novel" problems. Massive amounts of info dumping, a Gary Sue protagonist, awkward sex scenes, a few too many try-hard jokes, among other things. That said, it was also FUN and the kind of read that you just breeze through. I did enjoy the universe he set up and I definitely see myself continuing with the series. ...more

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