Speculative Fiction Junkie

John Scalzi

John Scalzi's Old Man's War series is another party I'm late to. Initially published on Mr. Scalzi's immensely popular blog, Tor subsequently offered to publish the novel, and it's been the subject of rave reviews ever since. In fact, while I haven't conducted an extensive search, I can't recall reading a single negative review of this book.

Old Man's War tells the story of John Perry, who enlists in the Colonial Defense Forces when he turns 75. During his first 74 years, he, like his fellow earth dwellers, knew relatively little about the CDF, other than that they recruited the elderly. The book follows him from enlistment, to his receipt of a new and improved body, through training, and then through multiple deployments into action on enemy planets.

The first thing that Old Man's War has going for it is Mr. Scalzi's decision to make the protagonist unaware of what life in the CDF is like. He and the rest of the recruits have no idea what to expect about military life in space. This allows the reader to discover everything as Perry does, which serves the dual purpose of keeping the reader engaged with the plot and helping us identify with Perry. We're right there with him when he gets a new and improved body, and we get to share his exhilaration as he discovers it's abilities. Similarly, we get to see, and take part in, the conflicting emotions produced by the realization that the universe is in fact a sort of Hobbesian nightmare in which humans are constantly engaged in armed struggle with other alien races for habitable planets.

The main thing that makes Old Man's War such a success, however, is Mr. Scalzi's imaginative powers. This book is a short, quick read; yet Mr. Scalzi has packed more innovative technology, more original alien species, and more interesting cultural notions than other books twice its size. I don't want to spoil anything, but suffice it to say that the alien races one encounters in this book come in all different sizes and appearances. And some of the rituals and rules they abide by are truly bizarre and fascinating. I found myself wanting to know more about almost every race encountered, about their society, history, and ideas. In the final analysis it was this that really made this book a page turner. It didn't hurt, however, that Scalzi is an excellent writer with a fantastic since of humor!

On a sillier note, it was really nice to see the PDA finally get a starring role in a novel of this quality! Prior to the creation of Speculative Fiction Junkie, I was a blogger for a magazine on Windows Mobile PDAs and even made a few PDA games myself. These weren't very successful but I did get the occasional good review. Reading about PDAs in Old Man's War thus combined two of my favorite things: PDAs and good science fiction!

As is often the case with great books, my only real complaint is that there isn't more of it. As mentioned above, Old Man's War is a short novel, and the reader is introduced to so much of in it that cries out for more thorough treatment. As the plot progressed beyond, say, a fascinating alien custom we had just been introduced to, I often found myself thinking, "wait, stop, I want to hear more about that!" In truth, though, it probably would have been impossible to accomplish this without hindering the breakneck pace that is largely responsible for making this book such a fun read.

Rating: 9/10

The True First

Old Man's War was first published by Tor in 2005. I read somewhere that the first print run was only 3,800 copies, which, if true, would explain why acquiring a first edition, first printing of this gem will cost hundreds of dollars.

[This review was not based on a review copy]