raelindenberg 's review for:

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

4.0

adventurous funny hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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This book was good - I’m interested enough to read more in the series. Although two drawbacks include the:

1. 1. Everyday “normal guy” is good at nearly everything he tries. 
2. 
   
3. 2. Leans pro-military or at least military sympathetic. The aliens make it easy for our brains to be okay with constant warfare since it’s not human deaths, and there is a character who’s interested in interstellar peace who is killed in his attempts to foster it. I don’t know, as someone who fully understands the narrative trope of “killing non-humans means violence is justified or desensitizes us to it” I was a little annoyed...this is a classic move to imbue military concession in our understanding of “this is how the world works.”

Nevertheless, this book had a good pace, good sense of humor, and doesn’t necessarily shy away completely from the notion that war has psychological implications and maybe a better way to co-exist should be found and utilized.

Overall, if you’re able to put aside being annoyed with how militarized a lot of space lit is, you’ll actually have a good time with some well-written characters and an interesting world to explore. Gonna have to see how the rest of the series pans out.