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edubb745's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
As someone who likes historical fiction and strays very far from sci-fi, I absolutely loved this book.
It's a lovely entry-level read that is funny, relatable, enjoyable, and had me intensely page turning to the point where I finished this book in 36 hours. I have never read anything like John Perry's story. All characters introduced were lovable and devastating to lose. The tone and precision of the writing was stellar and kept me interested. None of the sci-fi stuff I've been scared of in the past (being too complicated) was important enough for me to stumble while reading, which was an amazing way to handle the complexity the author was introducing to make the sci-fi story come to life.
I wish I could read this for the first time again - in itself I believe that tells you all you need to know about Old Man's War.
It's a lovely entry-level read that is funny, relatable, enjoyable, and had me intensely page turning to the point where I finished this book in 36 hours. I have never read anything like John Perry's story. All characters introduced were lovable and devastating to lose. The tone and precision of the writing was stellar and kept me interested. None of the sci-fi stuff I've been scared of in the past (being too complicated) was important enough for me to stumble while reading, which was an amazing way to handle the complexity the author was introducing to make the sci-fi story come to life.
I wish I could read this for the first time again - in itself I believe that tells you all you need to know about Old Man's War.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Blood
princess_merida's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Grief
ricarmoo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
This book is exactly what I was hoping it would be: a fun, easy to read, sci-fi romp with just the right mix of over the top technology and genuine heart.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book - I really had just wanted to read a pulpy story about humans blasting alien bugs to smithereens and, while I got that, I found it had a lot more going for it than that. I enjoyed the fact that there were some genuinely interesting questions raised about war and fighting, as well as some quite tough discussions about aging and loss.
The action was pretty great and the sci-fi future tech was believably unbelievable. I was pretty gripped and really got engrossed in the action, even if I could see where the general story was moving throughout. That said, it even got a few gasps out of me at times and I did really feel a couple of the losses much more than I would have expected to.
Overall, it was exactly the book I needed it to be. I enjoyed my time with this book a lot
I was pleasantly surprised by this book - I really had just wanted to read a pulpy story about humans blasting alien bugs to smithereens and, while I got that, I found it had a lot more going for it than that. I enjoyed the fact that there were some genuinely interesting questions raised about war and fighting, as well as some quite tough discussions about aging and loss.
The action was pretty great and the sci-fi future tech was believably unbelievable. I was pretty gripped and really got engrossed in the action, even if I could see where the general story was moving throughout. That said, it even got a few gasps out of me at times and I did really feel a couple of the losses much more than I would have expected to.
Overall, it was exactly the book I needed it to be. I enjoyed my time with this book a lot
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Violence, Colonisation, and War
tabula_risa's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
marktheshark's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Violence, Grief, and War
bookmarktavern's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Infidelity and Suicidal thoughts
witcheep's review against another edition
Part 1 is interesting with the premise of transferring an old person's conciousness into a younger body in order to live the rest of their years young, fighting in a galactic interspecies war. I'm more interested in these scifi aging processess than the war.
However, there are underlying racists themes and very clear antagonizing of the opponent, altough the sole reason for war seems to be to fight for habitable territory on planets all over the space, even though humans like to stay mostly on planet Earth.
The second part begins with an army initiation into the warfare, and I lost interest by the first introductory sequence. Strict hierarchy and very authoritarian superiors seem to make me lose my interest; the scifi aspects are put on the back burner to dive deeper into the war aspect of the story. The scale of these two subjects just tipped so that the plot doesn't interest me enough to continue further.
However, there are underlying racists themes and very clear antagonizing of the opponent, altough the sole reason for war seems to be to fight for habitable territory on planets all over the space, even though humans like to stay mostly on planet Earth.
The second part begins with an army initiation into the warfare, and I lost interest by the first introductory sequence. Strict hierarchy and very authoritarian superiors seem to make me lose my interest; the scifi aspects are put on the back burner to dive deeper into the war aspect of the story. The scale of these two subjects just tipped so that the plot doesn't interest me enough to continue further.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, and War
meimayy's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
John Perry with the dry humour, signs up to be a soldier out there in the dangerous universe, where one can only expect the unexpected. I can appreciate the non-sugarcoated action.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence and War
theycallmespinthia's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic
chigh's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I started reading Scalzi with Starter Villain, which I loved it's hilarious, light-hearted, supervillain story. To see if I liked Scalzi's writing further, I decided to go with the Old Man's War series. I'm not sure that was a good decision. That statement is not a reflection upon this book.
It's a pretty good book. I at least superficially liked the characters with in it. I'm not one to overly like war/military stories, but I did choose to read it). I didn't like the Full Metal Jacket cliché of "boot camp". But I did like the story of taking "elderly" people and giving them new life and putting them in new situations. I would like to have seen more, intentionally diverse characters in main roles and more interactions between them rather than battle scenes. Perhaps it's what they've been through that makes the characters, but we'll never know because it wasn't written that way.
Because this series name is the same as this book, if it continues with nothing but war and battle, I may lose interest. I'd prefer conflict of a different nature.
It's a pretty good book. I at least superficially liked the characters with in it. I'm not one to overly like war/military stories, but I did choose to read it). I didn't like the Full Metal Jacket cliché of "boot camp". But I did like the story of taking "elderly" people and giving them new life and putting them in new situations. I would like to have seen more, intentionally diverse characters in main roles and more interactions between them rather than battle scenes. Perhaps it's what they've been through that makes the characters, but we'll never know because it wasn't written that way.
Because this series name is the same as this book, if it continues with nothing but war and battle, I may lose interest. I'd prefer conflict of a different nature.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, and War