My mind was blown when John Perry had his transformation. I knew it was coming, but didn’t expect how it happened. I get wrapped up in what the characters are doing, and I care for them even though they have to go off to war. I thought the story was a very creative and intelligent way of theorizing where current day situations could lead us; a sort of thought experiment with a few concepts.
Scalzi’s universe isn’t hard science fiction, but I love how that brings me above the drudgery of this world into the fantastical. My mind was stimulated both intellectually and creatively, expanding what I thought was possible both logically and artistically.
Perfect for an entry-level sci-fi reader and the ideal addition to a veteran fan’s collection, John Scalzi's Old Man’s War will take audiences on a heart-stopping adventure into the far corners of the universe.
John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.
The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-and aliens willing to fight for them are common. The universe, it turns out, is a hostile place.
Before this book, I had a very hard time understanding the concept of frenemies. I mean really understand it. Being friends but also enemies. I love the struggle in this book because it is unusual and seems to ask something more of the characters than the routine killing expected of soldiers of war.
I love how it takes this concept beyond the honored enemy relationship of two men on opposite sides and includes the men they lead. So much depth and complexity to the situation. It also uses the forced proximity trope to crank up the pressure and not make it easy on the characters. It did help that I had read other books in the series, but I’m not sure if its necessary.
I love the characters in this book and I got really attached to them. I am really drawn to leaders who care about the men they lead. Having those men respect their leader cranks it up a notch. There is a war on, so I should not get attached to the characters. Yet, I do. I love how personal the stakes are.
I also like how real Sullivan’s world can feel. With all the blood and grit and what value the characters put on those around them everything feels all too real. The ending was surprising but masterfully written. The reveal at the end had a much larger impact on me because Sullivan hid the details in plain sight, but I missed them.
A New York Times Bestseller & Amazon Editor's Pick!
After more than five hundred years of exile, the heir to the empyre is wary about his sudden reassignment to active duty on the Goblin War's front lines. His assignment to rescue an outpost leads to a dead-end canyon deep inside enemy territory, and his suspicion turns to dread when he discovers the stronghold does not exist. But whoever went to the trouble of planning his death to look like a casualty of war did not know he would be assigned to the Seventh Sikaria Auxiliary Squadron. In the depths of…
Commander Kami Trenn and her misfit squad of mixed-race space marines fight an unknown and so far unseen enemy.
The fate of the universe hangs in the balance, but will they be able to make enough of a difference, and can they hope to uncover the enemy’s plans for galactic domination before the Alliance falls? Maybe they can, if they can stop fighting each other.
