Old Man's War - Book Review
Old Man's War - by John Scalzi - is a SF military novel in the tradition of Starship Troopers or Forever War.
The cute twist in the generic formula is that everyone on the CDF (Colony Defense Forces) is recruited from people about to be 75 years old. You see, no one on Earth has the technology to rejuvenate people, but they do, so many people reason that it is better to go fight for the CDF and be young again - even if there are high odds that you will die in combat.
The rejuvenation process is kept secret, both on Earth and on the novel till it is actually done to the main character. Still, I imagine many SF readers will guess what they do when the preparation starts. And given the alternatives and their stated tech level, it is what makes most sense, except for the fact the memories are presumed to have a chemical nature. But you can't have everything.
Travel between planets is done with the Skip drive. I won't explain how it works to avoid spoilers, but it behaves much as some hyperspace drives - instantaneous between points, and must be activated somewhat far from gravity wells. There is a very, very big difference compared to the normal fictional hyperspace, but I'd rather let the novel reveal it.
Soldiers are very much enhanced and have what sound like very powerful guns. Nanotechnology is used all around their tech base. It is always a good fictional solution. Soldiers also have nice brain implants that do all you'd expect.
I'm a bit surprised in retrospect that Scalzi didn't use the "battle computer" (the embedded system in your head either takes control or presents alternative actions to the situation) tech - it is not very unusual in military SF.
The dialog is surprisingly good. I only very rarely stop and notice general dialog in books, but I kept doing so in this one, and highlighting great quotes from characters.
The battles are very good, and the aliens appropriately alien. And the ending is fairly satisfying.
Overall, very much recommended and I already bought the sequel.
The cute twist in the generic formula is that everyone on the CDF (Colony Defense Forces) is recruited from people about to be 75 years old. You see, no one on Earth has the technology to rejuvenate people, but they do, so many people reason that it is better to go fight for the CDF and be young again - even if there are high odds that you will die in combat.
The rejuvenation process is kept secret, both on Earth and on the novel till it is actually done to the main character. Still, I imagine many SF readers will guess what they do when the preparation starts. And given the alternatives and their stated tech level, it is what makes most sense, except for the fact the memories are presumed to have a chemical nature. But you can't have everything.
Travel between planets is done with the Skip drive. I won't explain how it works to avoid spoilers, but it behaves much as some hyperspace drives - instantaneous between points, and must be activated somewhat far from gravity wells. There is a very, very big difference compared to the normal fictional hyperspace, but I'd rather let the novel reveal it.
Soldiers are very much enhanced and have what sound like very powerful guns. Nanotechnology is used all around their tech base. It is always a good fictional solution. Soldiers also have nice brain implants that do all you'd expect.
I'm a bit surprised in retrospect that Scalzi didn't use the "battle computer" (the embedded system in your head either takes control or presents alternative actions to the situation) tech - it is not very unusual in military SF.
The dialog is surprisingly good. I only very rarely stop and notice general dialog in books, but I kept doing so in this one, and highlighting great quotes from characters.
The battles are very good, and the aliens appropriately alien. And the ending is fairly satisfying.
Overall, very much recommended and I already bought the sequel.
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