Scalzi, John: Old Man's War

[calico_reaction]

Comments

[justinhowe]

I think Scalzi had another novel out before this and some short stories. Glad you liked it and yeah, I pretty much read it cover to cover in one sitting. I got a kick out of Scalzi includes the "owner's manual" for the new BrainPal software. GHOST BRIGADES does feature some stuff close to telepathy, so you might want to check it out for that alone.

And who would have thought... we agree on something for once.

[calico_reaction]

I looked up his books, and he wrote another novel before OMW, but it wasn't published until after OMW came out. :)

And thanks! I plan on picking it up as soon as the paperback comes out. :)

And who knew! :)

[fiveforsilver]

I agree with basically everything you said - and I, too, read his blog for some time before picking up any of his books, and became an instant fan after reading OMW.

If you haven't yet, you can check out his first novel here, since it's out of print. I recommend it; it's hysterical.

[jeffhowell]

Johnny Sans Pants also recommended this to me. I read it while wearing pants, and enjoyed it very much. I'm a member of the FPPoVHoA (First Person Point of View Haters of America) so I was glad to find a first person narrative that was really well done. It had an enjoyable voice, nice concepts, good use of characters, a fast pace which I liked. A real page turner.

[chronovore]

I became so accustomed to the First Person narrative form that the current novel I'm reading, which is more typical in format, seems really weird to me. It takes all kinds, I suppose.

[chronovore]

A Heinlein trait that Scalzi adopts, which really annoyed me in both authors' cases, is to make the annoying people die soon after introduction. He establishes the pattern early, then keeps it up through the whole story

[calico_reaction]

I haven't read Heinlein yet (I know, I'm horrible), so I didn't realize that was a "trait". The killing off of annoying people didn't bother me so much though, especially in that first case, because I had a feeling of what the Ghost Brigades were. :)

And HA! about the drill instructor. I see what you're saying, but I also think Scalzi set it up plausibly, with the whole tattoo thing. :)

But yeah, good stuff overall. I won't be getting hardcovers cause I'm cheap, but I'm happy to read everything he writes. :)

[chronovore]

Start with Starship Troopers, and you'll see all the stuff that Scalzi does that is similar. And since you liked OMW, it's nearly a sure bet that you'll enjoy Starship Troopers.

[tjalorak]

I've been on a military sci fi kick recently and recently got around to reading this.

Even in this genre and even given the years that have passed by, I think Scalzi does a great job in having a fresh twist on cloning, consciousness transfer, galactic organization, and the Fermi Paradox. I have never read anything like the consciousness transfer between an old body into a new cloned body.

I agree in that Perry has a very strong and fun sense of humor. I cracked up several times while reading this novel. I do think that it's not a very strong novel in terms of emotional relationship development, but that's not the point of the novel anyway and the way he writes is very consistent so it doesn't jar me out of the novel.

A fun read.

[ext_283115]

I still need to read the rest of his books...

http://www0.epinions.com/review/Old_Man_s_War_by_John_Scalzi/content_514689502852