A review by frasersimons
Old Man's War by John Scalzi

dark lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Had this been shorter I don’t think I’d have finished it. It’s fun, some of the time, but mostly the narrative voice was so sterile and the humour not my thing, the annoyances outweighed any interesting aspects it had, for me. Nothing evocative or specific made the prose work incredibly bland, the absurdism lacked any bite, so that the main emotional drivers didn’t connect, and some character decisions were unconvincing, feeling in service to a plot beat or the aping of what a patriotic stoic veteran would say, rather than what he says is important to him.