Review: Old Man's War

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Old Man's War is a fun read that was a nice fit for a lot of the themes I enjoy. It isn't breaking any new ground as far as profound thought or mental stretching. I could easily see this becoming a summer blockbuster film (and I believe the process of producing a film version of the story is already underway). I really enjoyed the first Starship Troopers film, and this book has a lot of that flavor to it.

The story centers on John Perry, a former advertising copy writer who is coming up on his 75th birthday. The year is sometime in the future, and for our elderly citizens there is an alternative option to simply passing away of old age; you can sign up for the Colonial Defense Force. The CDF is a military organization that takes on elderly recruits and ships them out into the universe for a minimum two year deployment of fighting. John has already lost his wife to a stroke and has heard the rumors of how the CDF has some flashy tech to make him young again. It has to be better than dying old and lonely, so he enlists. What he discovers is that the CDF is much more alien than he could have ever imagined. What follows is the story of John's second life as a CDF recruit.

I enjoyed Scalzi's style and humor from [b:Fuzzy Nation|9647532|Fuzzy Nation|John Scalzi|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1316132345s/9647532.jpg|18280046], and there is plenty of that on display here as well. Ultimately this book is an amalgamation of many other science fiction story elements, but that is just fine with me. I'll probably be picking up the rest of the books of the series.



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