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Old Man War John Scalzi Books

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Old Man War John Scalzi Books

SCALZI, John. Old Man’s War series: Old Man’s War (2005). The Ghost Brigades (2006). The Last Colony (2007). Zoe’s Tale (2008). The Human Division (2013). The End of All Things (2015). Stand-alone novels: Fuzzy Nation (2011). Redshirts (2012). The Collapsing Empire (2017).

John Scalzi is a highly respected writer of ‘hard’ science fiction novels, by which I basically mean space operas with science. I’d never read him before but I got ahold of the first novel in his Old Man’s War series (aptly titled Old Man’s War, 2005) and liked it so I decided to read the whole series. The premise of the series is that interstellar wars are fought by repurposed old people from Earth: reach the age of seventy-five and you can enlist as a soldier in the CDF (Colonial Defense Forces); you receive a new, drastically upgrade body with nanobot-filled artificial blood, genetically enhanced skeleton, musculature, organs and (green) skin, and you’re telepathically connected to your fellow soldiers through a BrainPal inserted in your brain. Serve ten years and you’re placed in a new, normal-human cloned body and allowed to become a colonist in one of Earth’s numerous new colonies. The series follows the footsteps of two respected novels about war in the interstellar future, Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Warriors (1959) and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War (1974).

The first novel (Old Man’s War) is good: it’s filled with action and gives you a lot to think about. The second (The Ghost Brigades, 2006) is ridiculously convoluted with weak science as the hero thwarts a revenge plot to wipe out mankind. The third, The Last Colony (2007) brings back the heroes of the first: the plot creaks. Zoe’s Tale (2008) retells parts of the story from the previous two books but from the viewpoint of a fifteen-year-old girl. Aside from a fair amount of recycled content, the novel suffers from tone: Zoe’s voice is much too cutesy at times and doesn’t sound at all like a smart fifteen-year-old girl sounds. BY the time I got to the last two novels in the series, The Human Division and The End of All Things (2013 and 2015), my interest in following the series had waned significantly.

Along the way, I had also picked up three stand-alone novels by Scalzi. The first, Fuzzy Nation (2011), is a reconceiving of H. Beam Piper’s 1962 Little Fuzzy: what do you do when you discover the cute little animals on the planet your employer is looting aren’t just animals, they’re sentient beings with wills of their own? Too cute. 2012’s Redshirts was the best of the lot, a funny reworking of the clichés of televised space opera, along the lines of a bad Star Trek (or good Captain Video) show. It was clever, tricky, fun, and in this context, the late teen-aged mindset of the antagonists and the sophomoric joshing back and forth that characterizes all Scalzi’s books was appropriate. The Collapsing Empire (2017) is a followup much later in history of the world, politics and devices of the earlier Old Man’s War novels. It reads like Scalzi is growing tired of that world.

Over all, if I were to rate these books, I’d give 4 stars (out of five) to Old Man’s War and Redshirts, 3 to Zoe’s War, and 2 to the rest.


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Old Man War John Scalzi Books Reviews

I don't want to spoil this for you so i'm NOT going to give many details here. This is a somewhat different take on the future of war in space. Very reminiscent of Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" and Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War". The premise is the same, there aren't very many habitable worlds available and there are other races who want the same worlds that humanity does. Which means that there will be war.

The unique concepts that John Scalzi has come up with in a well written, fast paced space opera leave me sitting back and saying "Gee, why didn't i think of that?" Highly recommended, if you like Robert Heinlein you'll love this.
The book opened with a delightfully interesting premise, that these 75-year-olds are being drafted into the space army. The novelty wears off as the story progresses, however, as his age and experience don't really play a role in the ensuing training and battles -- as former civilians, they still had to learn everything from scratch. Perhaps because it's told from the first person's perspective, the main character's military success and talent and good fortune did not seem so convincing, and instead leave him looking a bit Mary Sue. Nevertheless the author managed to hold my attention with his imaginative descriptions of the alien species and battles encountered.

Spoiler By the end of the story, I had to question the premise of the story. If new soldiers can be grown from artificially engineered DNAs, why do they still need these old soldiers? Why not just grow more soldiers of the "Ghost Brigade" style? Maybe this is a question the author answers in the sequels, but for now, it detracted from the enjoyment of this book.
I have been reading scifi since I was 14 reading JG Ballard. I am now 67. And in all that time I never ran across this series or John Scalzi. I was hooked from page two. The writing style is smooth as a great bourbon and as satisfying. The dialog is witty and snappy, more preferable than yuck-yuck tales. I am gratified that there are 5 more books in thus series and many other to while-away the winter. Thanks, John.
Unlike most space opera, the emphasis is on character development, as in most really compelling books. If I don't feel I am able to either identify with or associate characters with people I've met, I find that plot or dazzling high tech isn't enough to make me want to do more than either finish quickly or read something more interesting. I was sorry when I finished. I wanted more, much more. Why? I cared what happened to the major characters and because of them how the plot would progress.
The book is a classic.
Although space opera "Old Man's War" is not ground-breaking science fiction, I never-the-less thoroughly enjoyed the story. Author John Scalzi moves the story along at a nice clip, the main characters are interesting, and there's enough action to keep things from bogging down. Its a fairly quick read, and I will probably read the sequels at some point. The negatives are small its a somewhat familiar theme (with some unique Scalzi twists); and the dialog is a little hokey at times.
Without providing spoilers, the story takes place far in the future. Humans have advanced into interstellar space with far-flung colonies, but must compete for territory with numerous alien species, necessitating almost constant warfare. Soldiers are constantly recruited from among earthbound senior citizens, who then undergo some transformations to turn them into fighting specimens. The story follows one such recruit, 75-year-old widower John Perry. Perry's in for a number of surprises, but proves more than worthy as the story evolves. This is fairly straightforward space opera from a very good writer who keeps his story moving and does not over-do it. I recommend John Scalzi's (first in a series) "Old Man's War".
SCALZI, John. Old Man’s War series Old Man’s War (2005). The Ghost Brigades (2006). The Last Colony (2007). Zoe’s Tale (2008). The Human Division (2013). The End of All Things (2015). Stand-alone novels Fuzzy Nation (2011). Redshirts (2012). The Collapsing Empire (2017).

John Scalzi is a highly respected writer of ‘hard’ science fiction novels, by which I basically mean space operas with science. I’d never read him before but I got ahold of the first novel in his Old Man’s War series (aptly titled Old Man’s War, 2005) and liked it so I decided to read the whole series. The premise of the series is that interstellar wars are fought by repurposed old people from Earth reach the age of seventy-five and you can enlist as a soldier in the CDF (Colonial Defense Forces); you receive a new, drastically upgrade body with nanobot-filled artificial blood, genetically enhanced skeleton, musculature, organs and (green) skin, and you’re telepathically connected to your fellow soldiers through a BrainPal inserted in your brain. Serve ten years and you’re placed in a new, normal-human cloned body and allowed to become a colonist in one of Earth’s numerous new colonies. The series follows the footsteps of two respected novels about war in the interstellar future, Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Warriors (1959) and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War (1974).

The first novel (Old Man’s War) is good it’s filled with action and gives you a lot to think about. The second (The Ghost Brigades, 2006) is ridiculously convoluted with weak science as the hero thwarts a revenge plot to wipe out mankind. The third, The Last Colony (2007) brings back the heroes of the first the plot creaks. Zoe’s Tale (2008) retells parts of the story from the previous two books but from the viewpoint of a fifteen-year-old girl. Aside from a fair amount of recycled content, the novel suffers from tone Zoe’s voice is much too cutesy at times and doesn’t sound at all like a smart fifteen-year-old girl sounds. BY the time I got to the last two novels in the series, The Human Division and The End of All Things (2013 and 2015), my interest in following the series had waned significantly.

Along the way, I had also picked up three stand-alone novels by Scalzi. The first, Fuzzy Nation (2011), is a reconceiving of H. Beam Piper’s 1962 Little Fuzzy what do you do when you discover the cute little animals on the planet your employer is looting aren’t just animals, they’re sentient beings with wills of their own? Too cute. 2012’s Redshirts was the best of the lot, a funny reworking of the clichés of televised space opera, along the lines of a bad Star Trek (or good Captain Video) show. It was clever, tricky, fun, and in this context, the late teen-aged mindset of the antagonists and the sophomoric joshing back and forth that characterizes all Scalzi’s books was appropriate. The Collapsing Empire (2017) is a followup much later in history of the world, politics and devices of the earlier Old Man’s War novels. It reads like Scalzi is growing tired of that world.

Over all, if I were to rate these books, I’d give 4 stars (out of five) to Old Man’s War and Redshirts, 3 to Zoe’s War, and 2 to the rest.