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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Though a lot of SF writers are more or less efficiently continuing the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein, Scalzi's astonishingly proficient first novel reads like an original work by the late grand master. Seventy-five-year-old John Perry joins the Colonial Defense Force because he has nothing to keep him on Earth. Suddenly installed in a better-than-new young body, he begins developing loyalty toward his comrades in arms as they battle aliens for habitable planets in a crowded galaxy. As bloody combat experiences pile up, Perry begins wondering whether the slaughter is justified; in short, is being a warrior really a good thing, let alone being human? The definition of "human" keeps expanding as Perry is pushed through a series of mind-stretching revelations. The story obviously resembles such novels as Starship Trooper and Time Enough for Love, but Scalzi is not just recycling classic Heinlein. He's working out new twists, variations that startle even as they satisfy. The novel's tone is right on target, too—sentimentality balanced by hardheaded calculation, know-it-all smugness moderated by innocent wonder. This virtuoso debut pays tribute to SF's past while showing that well-worn tropes still can have real zip when they're approached with ingenuity.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
With his wife dead and buried, and life nearly over at 75, John Perry takes the only logical course of action left him: he joins the army. Now better known as the Colonial Defense Force (CDF), Perry's service-of-choice has extended its reach into interstellar space to pave the way for human colonization of other planets while fending off marauding aliens. The CDF has a trick up its sleeve that makes enlistment especially enticing for seniors: the promise of restoring youth. After bonding with a group of fellow recruits who dub their clique the Old Farts, Perry finds himself in a new body crafted from his original DNA and upgraded for battle, including fast-clotting "smartblood" and a brain-implanted personal computer. All too quickly the Old Farts are separated, and Perry fights for his life on various alien-infested battlegrounds. Scalzi's blending of wry humor and futuristic warfare recalls Joe Haldeman's classic, The Forever War (1974), and strikes the right fan--pleasing chords to probably garner major sf award nominations. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Breathtakingly Fresh Take on Military Space Opera Science Fiction,
By
This review is from: Old Man's War (Mass Market Paperback)
John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" is indeed a "Starship Troopers" for our time, but one replete with echoes from the 1960s New Wave and 1980s cyberpunk literary movements in Anglo-American science fiction. While it isn't great science fiction literature comparable with the best from Ursula Le Guin, Samuel Delany, J. G. Ballard, William Gibson, Michael Swanwick, Iain M. Banks, and China Mieville, among others, it is nonetheless a surprisingly original example of the genre pioneered by Murray Leinster, E. E."Doc" Smith, and Robert Heinlein. Though Scalzi's vivid prose doesn't match Heinlein's - I would say that it surpasses it - there is indeed a very strong emotional and artistic resonance to such classic works by Heinlein as "Starship Troopers" and "Methuselah's Children". Scalzi's debut novel is an exhilarating, captivating tale about a plausible future for humanity, set in a universe far more fascinating and dangerous than Heinlein's grim alien "bug" war depicted in "Starship Troopers". It is also a compelling exploration on the nature of humanity as seen through the eyes of Scalzi's protagonist John Perry who will question his decision to enlist in humanity's Colonial Defense Forces, serving in one bloody conflict after another against relentless alien foes challenging humanity's right to colonize the relatively few habitable worlds orbiting nearby stars. Without question, Scalzi demonstrates that he is among the better literary stylists and a most distinctive new voice working within the old-fashioned, yet still honorable, traditions of military space opera science fiction.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good read,
By ET (T.O.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Old Man's War (Paperback)
Good pace, simple, but believable portrayal of characters.Brisk description of technologies. Not for the 1st time mind transfer makes an appealing appearance. Fun battle drops and overall good feel to the story, despite some horrors of death and destruction.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Classic Science Fiction Adventure,
By
This review is from: Old Man's War (Mass Market Paperback)
I really enjoyed some of the original ideas in this story, found the characters and writting compelling and have already bought the sequals. I plan to read more from this author. This is what classic science fiction adventures are about.
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