REVIEW: Old Man's War by John Scalzi

Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Publishing Information: Paperback; 320 pages
Publisher: Tor Publishing 15 January 2007
ISBN 10: 0765348276
ISBN 13: 978-0765348272
Series: Book one of the Old Man's War Universe
Copy: Out of pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife’s grave. Then he joined the army.

The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity’s resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don’t want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You’ll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You’ll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you’ll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine—and what he will become is far stranger."


I really enjoyed Old Man's War. It was very fast paced and humorous. While there are a lot of unbelievable things that happen and are discussed in the novel, there were also a lot of things that seemed very plausible. Either way I had a very enjoyable experience with Scalzi's Old Man's War.


The character of John Perry was very likable. He did not come off as a know it all or a Rambo but more of your everyman who is thrust into situations and uses his past to solve his current problems. While Perry is not sure what he has signed up for in the beginning he quickly learns to adapt and excel. While he is turned into a lean, mean, alien killing machine he has his doubts and concerns about his humanity. This is something that is largely forgotten in other military science fiction I have read and was a nice change of pace. 


The plot is a fairly simple idea but very imaginative in scope. Humanity has breeched the stars and encountered alien life. Some aliens co-exist peacefully with humankind. Others find humanity a blight and with inhabitable planets in short supply they fight with the various space faring races for those planets. In order to stake a claim on the planets and keep Earth safe, when you reach retirement age you are able to join the military for the colonies. through medical and scientific breakthroughs, age is no longer a factor. I would share with you how this is possible but I feel that it would ruin the enjoyment of the novel. 


The main reason that the elderly are able to take the fight to the various aliens is a bit far fetched but it is a science fiction novel after all. With that aside there are a few scientific breakthroughs that are intriguing. The first one is the slip stream or the way I envisioned it, worm hole/paradox technology. It is explained in simple terms and will make your head spin if you think about it too long. The other technology that I really liked was the BrainPal, think cellphone and computer all in your head. One of the best parts of the novel was when Perry and his friends talk about what they have named their personal BrainPal. A lot of the technical advancements in Old Man's War are interesting and to a certain degree possible. While the technology is not shared with Earth it has helped keep Earth safe and allowed mankind to exist in the universe.


John Scalzi does an excellent job of keeping you on your toes with a lot of great action and dialogue. The characters are very funny and Perry, our protagonist, has some great lines in the book. For a short novel it packs a lot of punch. Old Man's War is the first in the trilogy and I plan on checking out the rest of the series very soon. If you want a lighter version of Heinlein's Starship Troopers with a lot more action this is the book for you. Old Man's War has certainly made me a fan of Scalzi's work.


Plot  9
Characters  9
Style  10


Overall  9.5