By Nic Lindh on Sunday, July 30, 2006 in review , book · 1 min read
Review: Old Man’s War
With Old Man’s War, John Scalzi picks up Heinlein’s fallen mantle and runs with it†—the basic premise is that in the future humanity has spread out from Earth and has met other alien races, a surprising amount of whom are in no way interested in sharing the galaxy, and thus there is war; old people are given the option of joining the army, with rumors floating around that there is a means to rejuvenate these older people and get them into fighting shape…
Apart from cranking up the sex and gore, Scalzi manages to channel Heinlein to an almost eerie degree. If you’re a fan of Heinlein—or even if you were when you were a teenager—Old Man’s War is a fun romp, and one that leaves you wanting more.
Scalzi also operates an enjoyable blog that is worth adding to your feed reader.
†Yeah, that put a strange image in my head too.
You have thoughts? Comments? Salutations? Send me an email!
Related reading you might enjoy
Book roundup, part 40
Includes American Gun, I Want to Burn This Place Down, Blood Royal, Scorpio and Corvus.
Book roundup, part 39
Includes Empire of AI, Crossroads of Ravens, The Tainted Cup, and A Drop of Corruption.
Book roundup, part 38
Includes Dark Wire, The Crusaders, Dominion, The Mercy of Gods, Livesuit, and Weaponized.
Book roundup, part 37
Includes Doppelgänger, Be Useful, Rose/House, System Collapse, and Empire of the Wolf.
Book roundup, part 36
Includes Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Extremely Online, Number Go Up, Mercury Rising, The End of the Myth, and The Big Break.
Book roundup, part 35
Includes Hello World, A Frozen Hell, Powers and Thrones, Dead Country, Blitz, The Hope that Kills, and Worth Killing For.
Book roundup, part 34
We pour one out for The Expanse and Sandman Slim, and we raise our glasses for a sequel to Malazan. Also, an extra-bleak Holocaust tour and a discussion of how cults control their members through language. Includes Cultish, Nein, Nein, Nein, Driven, Happy-go-Lucky, The Nineties, Fargo Rock City, The Scholast in the Low Water Kingdom, King Bullet, The God is Not Willing, and Leviathan Falls.
Book roundup, part 33
Why your body hurts, lots of politics, and some truly demented grimdark fantasy in this installment. Includes Reign of Terror, Evolution Gone Wrong, The Cruelty is the Point, How to be a Liberal, The Splendid and the Vile, Deep Work, A Desolation Called Peace, Black Stone Heart, and She Dreams in Blood.
Book roundup, part 32
Includes Everybody Has a Podcast (Except You), Pappyland, Backstory, and Medallion Status.
Book roundup, part 31
Some very good history, some very strange novels and some slick space opera. Includes Enemy of all Mankind, A Very Punchable Face, Confederates in the Attic, Ballistic Kiss, Harrow the Ninth, The Library at Mount Char, Children of Time, The Last Emperox, and Cage of Souls.