Old Man's War

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More About This Book

Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Review
Bifocals, denture fixative cream, and an AARP membership card are definitely not required to read John Scalzi's brilliant debut novel, Old Man's War -- a story about a group of septuagenarians (a.k.a. the Old Farts) who, with the promise of a new life, join the Colonial Union army and leave Earth forever to do battle against the many enemies of humankind.

When John Perry turns 75, he does two things: He visits his wife's grave and he joins the Colonial Defense Force. The CDF's enlistment contract is incredibly tempting. When a person reaches retirement age, all they have to do is give up all their worldly possessions and promise never to return to Earth. In return, elderly recruits get to take advantage of the Colonial Union's secretive therapy, which somehow reverses aging. In essence, the soldiers exchange a few years of military service for a new life on one of the Union's many colony planets. Without the faintest clue of what he's really getting himself into, Perry realizes quickly that he has just signed up for "an all-expenses-paid tour of hell." With a brand new, tank-grown, super-modified body -- green skin, cat's eyes, built-in cranial computers, etc. -- Perry and his ultra-human cohorts travel from planet to planet leaving dead aliens in their wake. All's well until Perry sees a very real and very familiar ghost…

The overly obvious comparisons to Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers aside, Scalzi's first novel is reminiscent of another genre master: Ben Bova. Effectively blending hard science concepts with powerfully moving interpersonal intrigue, Old Man's War is both a compelling pedal-to-the-metal science fiction thriller and an endearing love story. Paul Goat Allen
Paul Di Filippo
Scalzi's imagined interstellar arena is coherently and compellingly delineated (although after two centuries of intervening history, I question Perry's familiarity with such 20th-century icons as Denny's restaurants and the Super Bowl). His speculative elements are top-notch. His combat scenes are blood-roiling. His dialogue is suitably snappy and profane. And the moral and philosophical issues he raises, while not as deeply plumbed as in Joe Haldeman's classic The Forever War (1975), still insert useful ethical burrs under the military saddle of the story.
— The Washington Post
More Reviews (6) Fewer Reviews
Library Journal
When humanity reaches the stars, it discovers that it must defend its claim to new planets against alien races with similar expansionist tendencies. To ensure the expertise of its soldiers, Earth creates the Colonial Defense Force, an army of men and women otherwise classified as senior citizens, who give up their lives on Earth for an uncertain and perilous future among the stars. Scalzi's first novel presents a new approach to military sf, boasting an unusual cast of senior citizens as heroes. A good choice for most libraries. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Smartly conceived and thoroughly entertaining, Old Man’s War is a splendid novel.”

Cory Doctorow

"It''s Starship Troopers without the lectures. It''s The Forever War with better sex. It''s funny, it''s sad, and it''s true."

Entertainment Weekly

“Thought-provoking!”

Robert Charles Wilson
"John Scalzi is a fresh and appealing new voice, and Old Man''s War is classic SF seen from a modern perspective--a fast-paced tour of a daunting, hostile universe."
San Francisco Chronicle
“Solid…[Scalzi] delivers fast-paced scenes of combat and pays attention to the science underpinning his premise.”

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780765348272
  • Publisher: Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC
  • Publication date: 1/2/2007
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 320
  • Sales rank: 74,228
  • Product dimensions: 6.70 (w) x 7.90 (h) x 0.86 (d)

Meet the Author

John Scalzi
John Scalzi

John Scalzi won the 2006 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and Old Man’s War, his debut novel, was a finalist for science fiction’s Hugo Award. His other books include The Ghost Brigades, The Android’s Dream and The Last Colony. He has won the Hugo Award, the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for science-fiction, the Seiun, The Kurd Lasswitz and the Geffen awards. His weblog, Whatever, is one of the most widely-read web sites in modern SF. Born and raised in California, Scalzi studied at the University of Chicago. He lives in southern Ohio with his wife and daughter.

Read an Excerpt

"In this room right now are 1,022 recruits," Lt. Colonel Higgee said. "Two years from today, 400 of you will be dead."

Higgee stood in the front of the theater, again. This time, he had a backdrop: Beta Pyxis III floated behind him, a massive marble streaked with blue, white, green and brown

"In the third year," he continued, "another 100 of you will die. Another 150 in years four and five. After ten years — and yes, recruits, you will most likely be required to serve a full ten years — 750 of you have been killed in the line of duty. Three quarters of you, gone. These have been the survival statistics — not just for the last ten or twenty years, but for the over two hundred years the Colonial Defense Forces have been active."

There was dead silence.

"I know what you're thinking right now, because I was thinking it when I was in your place," Lt. Colonel Higgee said. "You're thinking — what the hell am I doing here? This guy is telling me I'm going to be dead in ten years! But remember that back home, you most likely would have been dead in ten years, too — frail and old, dying a useless death. You may die in the Colonial Defense Forces. You probably will die in the Colonial Defense Forces. But your death will not be a useless one. You'll have died to keep humanity alive in our universe."

Table of Contents

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 209 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(132)

4 Star

(55)

3 Star

(16)

2 Star

(3)

1 Star

(3)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 209 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 10, 2007

    A reviewer

    Old mans war has to be the best book that i have ever read. I stumbled apon it in the airport on one of my journeys across the country the last summer. The book was marveing and i found it to be so interesting that i couldn't put it down. The story of John Perry giving up his 'old' body for a new military green one to fight for the CDF. As the book moves on you will became attached to the characters as they went on missions against alien species bent on destruction of mankind and the aquisition of planets that bare natural resources. I won't tell about the book because it would give away the book, but i will tell you that if your a sci-fi/action&adventure lover that this book is definently for you! Be warned that this book and the sequels to this book(The Ghost Bridgades, The last Colony) are extreme in detail to violence/gore and love/sex. But all in all one of my favorites along with the sequels. !!!Enjoy Them!!!

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 15, 2007

    Better than Starship Troopers

    Way back when I read the classic 'Starship Troopers' as a sci-fi fan and always rated it one of the best. Old Man's War takes it's place as my favorite in this style. All of it is very believable which makes for great sci-fi. Especially the problems of traveling great distance in the universe. And how old men and women can live another life starting at age 25 with the wisdom of age 75.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted December 9, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    Exciting

    When he turned seventy-five, earthling John Perry visits the grave site of his wife of forty-two years Kathy interred in an Arizona cemetery. He reflects how much he misses her, how he hates coming here, and that her last words dealt with finding vanilla as she was making pancakes when she stroked to death. With nothing to keep him here, John abruptly decides to join the Colonial Defense Force struggling to defend or annex other worlds in deadly competition with alien races for control of the few hospitable planets....................... As a recruit, John receives standard gear to include a much younger healthier body that is beyond the ability of most non government citizens to buy except the affluent. Like his brothers and sisters in arms, he bonds with them as they are his family and his hope to survive one skirmish after another in many cases against superior aliens. As his comrades die and collateral damage devastate civilian population, John begins questioning the worth war that enables a few to economically gain a lot at the cost of others even as he begins to ponder whether he is still human.................... Paying homage to Heinlein (Starship Trooper the book not the movie), John Scalzi provides a tense anti-war military science fiction thriller that will leave fans pondering what is war good for. Readers will also wonder about who benefits from scientific advances and military operations and what actually a human is as science changes Homo sapiens. The story line is action-packed once John enlists as the audience get inside his head while he goes from ¿youthful¿ awe to experienced cynic. OLD MAN¿S WAR is a terrific tale of a belligerent future in space.......................... Harriet Klausner

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 31, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Great series

    Interesting scifi twist

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 16, 2011

    Excellent book.

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Posted May 1, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    9780312983215

    I give it a C

    The book started a little slow but picked up quickly, and I was totally engrossed for the first few chapters. Then suddenly, it became a chore to read. The descriptions of the aliens was a total turn off. Some were described as a cross between a bear/giant flying squirrel and deer like. Not what I would imagine alien species would resemble. I lost confidence in the book at that point, and almost stopped reading. Turns out I should have, because it got really boring toward the end.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 12, 2009

    Surprise, I liked it.

    A fellow employee showed it to me and the first two sentences sucked me in. A very original story and the writing style made me really like the main character. I like scifi and this was pretty good. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 11, 2012

    A most excellent series.

    A most excellent series.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 10, 2012

    Great Read

    Happened on this book and I am sure glad I did. It has great character lines, moves quickly, grabs your attention and holds it. Highly recommended.

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  • Posted April 27, 2012

    Excellent book. Currently reading the sequel

    Unique story with interesting concepts. If you like stories where the morality of the "Good Guys" comes into question, you'll like this series.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 10, 2012

    What age group??????

    ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????=-|?????????????????????

    0 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 21, 2012

    Great read

    Engaging story telling

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  • Posted January 4, 2012

    On the stupidity of war and total idiocy of the military

    Thousand of years from now and "in a galaxy far, far away" the infantry will still claim its direct descent from the Roman legions that conquered the Gauls. Of course, this is what the USMC claims today without any base at all, or are they? Oh, they're military alright, sent overseas to fight wrong wars that were imagined and triggered by corrupt and inept politicians, killed in scores by an enemy they know nothing about, and the list can go forever. You may also want to acknowledge a few idiosyncrasies, like "you have to brake them before you make them", "there is a hidden, more powerful enemy behind the one we're fighting right now", "no matter how horribly criminal we act, we're still human down there". Well, I guess nothing's new. The Roman Empire fell, no matter how mighty their legions were, and we lost the war in Korea (don't be fooled by the the so-called "armistice"), Vietnam, Lebanon, Iraq, and soon to be, Afghanistan.
    Other than that, a fast paced military novel with very good, hard core, Science Fiction elements. However, I doubt the current generation will understand much - sorry, no vampires in it.
    I will also recommend reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, which is a bit deeper on the philosophical side and significantly more critical on the military.

    0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 24, 2011

    Fantastic!

    Just like all Scalzi's work, fantastic!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 13, 2011

    Good original story

    I stumbled across this book about a month ago. This was an enjoyable read for me. I especially liked the way Scalzi explained how technology worked in his universe, without getting too technical.

    I have since read the Ghost Brigade and Lost Colony and I'm currently reading Zoe's Story.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 4, 2011

    Excellent

    Characters are great with a beautifully told world. On to book 2!

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  • Posted October 29, 2011

    Highly recommended!

    I really enjoyed this book!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 13, 2011

    Excellent, A MUST READ!

    A must read for every Sci-Fi fan, along with the next 2 books in the series.

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  • Posted June 9, 2011

    Amazing

    Awe-inspiring.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 4, 2011

    Wity and funny

    I have just taken a brake from this book after laughing my ass off. If you read this get the book. Its worth the bank just for the brainpal? part. I cryed laughing and im not even halfway in. Amazing!

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