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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Been meaning to read this book for years, and when I finally got to it, I gobbled the thing up. Wonderful story, dark imagery of war and an ending that brought tears to my eyes. Really enjoyed the fun scifi technology and dramatic mix of alien races.
This book was massively disappointing to me. After reading Scalzi’s later series, The Interdependency, and loving it I thought I’d go back and try out some of his other works. I do wish I hadn’t.
Old Man’s War has the fun and fast paced writing of Scalzi’s other works, but this belies shallow and unrealized characters as well as a moral code that is frustrating at best and reprehensible at worst.
These flaws can be well shown in the arc of the main character Perry. Perry notes at several moments in the beginning of the book that he was “very anti-war” and even “fought more than most” against wars on earth. After only a few months of training and a new body he then proceeds on to participate in the genocide several alien species and wantonly destroy cultures and whole planets without any remorse. It takes him literally stomping a tiny species of alien out of existance to start thinking that maybe something is off here. You would think an old man would have slightly more moral fortitude than a teenage recruit, but Perry certainly does not and he is not alone in this. The characters of this novel have astoundingly little to say about thier new roles as genocidal soldiers of space age imperialism. Though this is perhaps not surprising since they are all clearly coded as middle-class white moderates who are the most morally vacuous demographic in our nation (despite Scalzi clumsily trying to “eliminate” race by making everyone green as if that solves the whole problem).
The whole thing bleeds centrist/conservative imperialism and militarism. Even if it’s meant to be somewhat of a satire or critic it does not effectively work as such.
Old Man’s War has the fun and fast paced writing of Scalzi’s other works, but this belies shallow and unrealized characters as well as a moral code that is frustrating at best and reprehensible at worst.
These flaws can be well shown in the arc of the main character Perry. Perry notes at several moments in the beginning of the book that he was “very anti-war” and even “fought more than most” against wars on earth. After only a few months of training and a new body he then proceeds on to participate in the genocide several alien species and wantonly destroy cultures and whole planets without any remorse. It takes him literally stomping a tiny species of alien out of existance to start thinking that maybe something is off here. You would think an old man would have slightly more moral fortitude than a teenage recruit, but Perry certainly does not and he is not alone in this. The characters of this novel have astoundingly little to say about thier new roles as genocidal soldiers of space age imperialism. Though this is perhaps not surprising since they are all clearly coded as middle-class white moderates who are the most morally vacuous demographic in our nation (despite Scalzi clumsily trying to “eliminate” race by making everyone green as if that solves the whole problem).
The whole thing bleeds centrist/conservative imperialism and militarism. Even if it’s meant to be somewhat of a satire or critic it does not effectively work as such.
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book starts off well, and has a rather good premise. However, it sort of meanders in the middle with a few "PEW, PEW, SPACE MARINES BATTLE, ARGH!" scenes, then just sort of ends. Likewise, the main character shrugs toward his inevitable hero moment, though he is rather likable. This is a good book if you like some straightforward military Sci-Fi.
I liked this. The idea of recruiting 75+ year old folks to fight interstellar wars and the 'how' was interesting.
Overall, the story was pretty straight forward but fun. The first half focused on unveiling the world but once John joined the CDF it turned into recounting war stories up till the climactic Battle of Coral. And both aspects were a lot of fun to read, occasionally very funny too.
I am interested to see how the plot proceeds. The Colonial Union doesn't come off as good in here so much as just pro human but there are hints that they're darker than that. Like Earth being quarantined, interstellar communication being controlled by the CU or that time that a miners' strike was broken up by super soldiers. That was a go back and re read the chapter moment once I realized that's what was happening.
Overall, the story was pretty straight forward but fun. The first half focused on unveiling the world but once John joined the CDF it turned into recounting war stories up till the climactic Battle of Coral. And both aspects were a lot of fun to read, occasionally very funny too.
I am interested to see how the plot proceeds. The Colonial Union doesn't come off as good in here so much as just pro human but there are hints that they're darker than that. Like Earth being quarantined, interstellar communication being controlled by the CU or that time that a miners' strike was broken up by super soldiers. That was a go back and re read the chapter moment once I realized that's what was happening.
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense