Old Man's War by John Scalzi 4 stars

[Sue]

I'm surprised at just how much I enjoyed this book.

Humans at the age of 75 are allowed to volunteer for the colonial forces, an off-planet military keeping the universe safe for human colonies on other planets. John Perry is one of these volunteers.

The story follows his journey from initial volunteer to full transformation into a soldier, where his unit fights against an increasingly ridiculous parade of aliens. It's all "the good guys vs the bad guys" here, with very little nuance. In fact, no nuance at all. The action is pretty gory which isn't usually my thing. But as the book went on I was loving the creativity and dark human that Scalzi always brings.

And I'll never again hear the phrase "Hey Asshole" without laughing a little.

[Robin P]

I loved most of Scalzi’s work, but this just seemed like the fantasy of a middle- aged man - super strength and great sex.

[Karin]

This was the first Scalzi book I read, but decided to not continue the series. However, I did go on to read at least five other books by him.