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

by John Scalzi

Harry piped in. “Not to be too crass about this—” “You just know this is going to be bad,” Susan said. “—but when I went to college,” Harry continued, throwing a piece of bread at Susan, “if your roommate died, you were usually allowed to skip your finals for that semester. You know, because of the trauma.” “And oddly enough, your roommate got to skip them, too,” Susan said. “For much the same reason.”

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