Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
At 75, John Perry is finally ready to join the CDF (Colonial Defense Force). No, he was not merely putting it off, the CDF only takes recruits aged 75; although everyone assumes that CDF must have the power to make older people young again, nobody knows for sure as nobody has ever seen a CDF soldier after they left Earth.
“Old Man’s War” was John Scalzi’s first novel. Although I’m not generally a fan of science fiction, Scalzi entranced me with his newest book, “Zoe’s Tale” (my review), which is the latest in the Old Man’s War series. I can tell that Scalzi has been honing his craft because I definitely think “Zoe’s Tale” was a smoother novel than “Old Man’s War,” but I still found Old Man’s War very intriguing and well-written. John Perry is an immensely likeable character, even when he’s being a smartass (which is often), and the world Scalzi creates definitely took me away.
Reading “Old Man’s War” definitely convinced me to continue in the Old Man’s War series to catch myself back up to where “Zoe’s Tale” took off. I don’t think, however, that I have been persuaded to try any other science fiction.
I found the series thanks to Zoe’s Tale as well – it’s a good one. His website is a lot of fun, also!
I read this earlier this week…definitely want to continue with the series too. It was my first Scalzi. I’m especially looking forward to Zoe’s Tale.
Not pursuaded to try other science fiction… what, ever?
If you liked Scalzi, you should try the Miles Vorkasegan series by Lois McMaster Bujold — Shards of Honor and Barrayar are the first two in the series.
Do you read Scalzi’s blog, Whatever? I try not to miss it, although I have yet to read any of his books.
This is a genre I really need to explore more…thanks for the tip on this one!
My husband has all these books. I may have to give them a read.
I felt the same way about Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies. I’ve never been crazy about sci-fi before though!
I love the Old Man’s War series and wasn’t as excited about Zoe’s Tale–but I think that’s because I read all the Old Man’s War books first and already knew the story. I also love Scott Westerfield’s Uglies, Pretties, Specials. They’re SF lite. Got to suck those young folks in!
Scalzi is a great writer – I really enjoyed this book and its sequels. But no other sci-fi? No Ender’s Game? No Stranger in a Strange Land? I know you have lots of other books to read, but there’s so much good stuff out there And yeah the Uglies series is great too.
I’m not much for sci-fi either, but your review is great. I think I might just look for these books!
Came across this article via a tweet on Twitter and saw your blog mentioned. Wasn’t sure if you knew about it so thought I’d share. =)