Old Man's War

John Scalzi
Old Man's War Cover

Forgettable, corny, mistitled

couchtomoon
4/23/2016
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Upon the death of his wife, an elderly man joins the Colonial Defense Forces in order to prolong his life. He gets the requisite Gen-Eng upgrade followed by a week of really great sex (off page) with fellow elderly, gen-eng'd recruits before going into battle. Then he kills, feels, gets promoted, kills, feels, gets promoted, finds a clone of his dead wife, magically survives things because special, gets promoted because special. Not quite in that order, but still.

Titular fail: It's not "Old Man's War." The old man is genetically-engineered into a younger body within the first few chapters. It's "Genetically-Engineered Old Man Who Moves, Talks, and Thinks No Differently Than a Thirty-Something's War."

Analysis: Empty fiction with dubious heroics, limited diversity, and no message. Sad and Vapid Dogs, y u no like this? This is your thing!

Quote: I don't know. It's just dialogue. Nonstop. There was nothing to highlight.

Personal admission: I did legitimately lol every time the main character called his BrainPal by its name: Asshole. I'm not made of stone.

For a novel about mature adults, this is the most immature of the bunch. Forgettable, corny, fluffy, dubious. Jesse at Speculiction calls this kind of stuff "popcorn sci-fi", but even popcorn offers some whole grain sustenance that you won't find here.

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