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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

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What Members Thought

Jan 06, 2013 Stephanie Griffin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Would you give up everything you were familiar with to become a supersoldier, killing aliens on other planets? Old Man’s War is a soldier’s story, a love story, and a story of friendship.
On a future Earth people are given the opportunity at age 75 to leave the planet and become a soldier in the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF). Their job is to protect human colonies on other planets. But they can never come back. Enlistees aren’t told how they will become supersoldiers, so there are only rumors Would you give up everything you were familiar with to become a supersoldier, killing aliens on other planets? Old Man’s War is a soldier’s story, a love story, and a story of friendship.
On a future Earth people are given the opportunity at age 75 to leave the planet and become a soldier in the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF). Their job is to protect human colonies on other planets. But they can never come back. Enlistees aren’t told how they will become supersoldiers, so there are only rumors. Will they get a new body? Some kind of body enhancement? The enlistment agreement is vague:

“Paragraph four: I understand that by volunteering for the Colonial Defense Forces, I consent to whatsoever medical, surgical or therapeutic regimens or procedures are deemed necessary by the Colonial Defense Forces to enhance combat readiness.”

Not many people stick around long, as they either die or get shipped off to other places. That’s the life of a member of the CDF. There isn’t a lot of time to get to know each other unless you’re lucky.
John Perry turns out to be a really good soldier and moves quickly up the ranks. He is still very much in love with his wife, who passed away eight years before he joined the CDF. He thinks of her often and still wears his wedding ring. The new friends he makes have good camaraderie between them.

“Well, I miss my wife, you know,” I said, “But I also miss the feeling of, I don’t know, comfort. The sense you’re where you’re supposed to be, with someone you’re supposed to be with…That’s what I miss about marriage.”

There are interesting scientific ideas regarding interstellar travel and great alien creatures – I won’t spoil it here. Its always nice to read reasonable descriptions of science theories and have believable aliens in science fiction stories. That’s something I really appreciate and that increases my reading enjoyment.
This was a quick, fun read but I felt the ending was a little rushed. It’s a good thing that there is a sequel because this book is too short! Old Man’s War is the first John Scalzi book that I’ve read and it reminded me a little of Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet series, except this has more realistic emotional value.
I’m guessing this is as good a place as any for jumping into Scalzi’s work, so go for it!
...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Adrienne rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, owned, first-person, military

All right - I liked this book. Mostly. But unfortunately, it falls into some sci-fi traps that I just don't like.

First things first: this novel has a great hook. You want to keep reading after the first three sentences. But somewhere along the way, it lost me - but that's all right, because it picked back up again.

It's certainly got an interesting premise. In this future, you're eligible to join the army (well, the Colonial Defense Force) once you turn 75. It's that whole promise of (somehow) ma All right - I liked this book. Mostly. But unfortunately, it falls into some sci-fi traps that I just don't like.

First things first: this novel has a great hook. You want to keep reading after the first three sentences. But somewhere along the way, it lost me - but that's all right, because it picked back up again.

It's certainly got an interesting premise. In this future, you're eligible to join the army (well, the Colonial Defense Force) once you turn 75. It's that whole promise of (somehow) making you younger that appeals to everyone, so it seems to be pretty popular.

Anyway, we follow the adventures of John Perry as he joins the CDF, deals with all sorts of new technology (the bits where he first encounters Asshole made me laugh, out loud, while reading), and faces a few years of fighting. I was with him up through the second bit of that sentence. Then we enter a slow-moving phase of fighting this alien race, then that alien race, and so on.

I got interested again once we meet Jane Sagan, both for how it affects our narrator but also for the questions it poses about the CDF - and about what it means to be human. So for that, I'm interested in reading the pseudo-sequel. However, question about humanity isn't explored too much in this novel; hopefully, it will factor in more in the sequels, because I certainly think the situation that's been set up is an interesting way of approaching that question.

However, there are some logic problems in this world. The main reason that 75-year-olds are recruited is that they have years of emotional maturity and intellectual reasoning behind them, and therefore most likely make better soldiers - at that point, it's just their bodies that are giving out (and that can be fixed). However, then we learn about some special forces that fly in the face of that argument. I'm not so sure how to make those two ideas work together.

I also didn't feel too connected to John Perry, even though he was telling the story. That emotional closeness really helps me enjoy a book a lot more. I didn't feel detached, but this novel was lacking that.

And finally, my eternal gripe with sci-fi - don't explain too much about the physics! And especially don't introduce characters who happen to teach physics (or choose theoretical physics over astronomy because it pays more - what? seriously? maybe in this future, I guess) and then allow them to spend pages explaining how something works. Ugh. ...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Joby Walker rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

A great military sci-fi story.

The Good
-------------------------------------
John Perry: Has a great voice and personality. It is hard to imagine someone better to ride around with.

Characters: This is mostly John's story but his friends and fellow soldiers are fun -- though they aren't very distinctive.

Sci-Fi Hooks: Skipping, new bodies -- all well done and cohesive.

The Bad
-------------------------------------
Nothing really, there isn't much unique about this book -- it has strong ties to Starship ...more

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May 07, 2009 Jamie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, military, space

I read this after reading Spin, because the 2 titles kept appearing together in various Amazon.com lists. What a world of difference between the 2 books! Where Spin is somewhat dry and very focused on the science of what is going on, Scalzi's books do not get bogged down in the "future science", and instead focus on the premise (what if old people could become young space-soldiers with enhancements?) while tracing a larger story arc (the nature of war; why we fight; what it means to be human or ...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Bruce rated it really liked it

This is a novel approach to the space colinization story. I am continually comparing to Ender's Game. In one we have the old fighting, hand to hand, and in the other we have the very young guiding ship to ship. This tandum would make a fine book club discussion. It makes me wish I had two friends to rub together so I could do this, but life is what it is. ...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Rod Dunsmore rated it it was amazing

Very funny and interesting story. First book I've read from this author. Very interesting world building and quickly got me interested in the characters. Really liked this book a lot. Weaves in humor, had some interesting plot twists that echoed past events symbolically. Definitely one of my favoriate SF writers. ...more

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