Read All About It: Old Man's War

Quality, quality book. I know it was published in 2005, but I still wanted to put this review out there--you should always review the books you read! Even if it's just two sentences on Amazon, every little bit could help the book reach more people!

Old Man's War is an adventure from start to finish, with a few feel-good moments, some rough humor, and just the right amount of terror and hard-decisions to make it a captivating read.

Source: Amazon.com

John Scalzi's Old Man's War was a great read for me! I finished it in one sitting, because I just couldn't help myself, and I have no regrets, except maybe not getting enough sleep for today.

This is a great, great science fiction novel (don't just take my word for it. Scalzi is a Hugo Award winner. Of course it's gonna be good.). I enjoyed every little bit of it, even the sad parts. Science-fiction is an expanding part of my repertoire, and I'm excited to dig deeper into these amazing universes.

The basic premise of this series is that people enlist in the army at the age of 75, with the promise of an improved quality of life, a two to ten year term of service, and a good retirement in a new human colony somewhere in space. Our protagonist, John Perry, signs up as soon as he can, nothing left for him on earth, and proceeds to surprise the hell out of himself and others as he journeys away from Earth, finds a new family, and discovers that space-travel is seriously complicated and aliens are seriously strange.

Along the way, I found myself endeared to Perry. He's a good man, a talented soldier, and he has a certain amount of emotional stability that I admire in someone who has been torn away from everything he had known. He's a strong character for this series, and is a great foundation for this universe to be built up. Scalzi's characterization overall is great and makes it easy to empathize with Perry and his fellow soldiers and commanders, and even with some of the aliens.

Scalzi has a great handle on how science works in his universe, and it's easy to understand once you get invested in the novel. His space travel physics are intriguing and made me really think about how little we know about our own universe, and made me want to get into an argument with one of my physics-major friends. His aliens are unique, varied, and created very intentionally to scare the shit out of some humans.

I loved this novel, especially the ending, which sets up the rest of his series. Those books are now sitting in my cart, waiting for my next paycheck to come through so they can be on my shelves.

If you're looking for some great entertainment and hard-hitting truths, check out Scalzi's twitter and blog!