Book Review: Old Man's War by John Scalzi

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. 

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                              MY REVIEW:

Old Man's War by John Scalzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Wow, I was hooked right from the beginning. I have had this book for a few years now and I kept putting it off. I don't know why I didn't read this when I got it. Very action packed and makes you do a lot of thinking. Would you actually sign up to be a part of a military program when you are in your 70's? You can never see your friends and family again. You will never be able to go to Earth again. You will be fighting aliens on other planets.
This is so unique and different than anything I have ever read before. I could not put it down and the whole time I am scratching my head and trying to figure out is it worth leaving everything behind but then you never know how long you will have to live anyways. This is the first book of the series and I am hoping sometime to finish the series.

John Scalzi

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://whatever.scalzi.com

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science, Humor

Influences

Robert Heinlein, Dorothy Parker, HL Mencken, Coke Zero

Member Since

December 2007

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John Scalzi, having declared his absolute boredom with biographies, disappeared in a puff of glitter and lilac scent.

(If you want to contact John, using the mail function here is a really bad way to do it. Go to his site and use the contact information you find there.)

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