Book Review: "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi

[jpskewedthrone]

I finished this a few days ago and I have to say that I can see why John Scalzi won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for it. For a debut novel, the reading of the novel was effortless. The prose was so smooth you barely even knew you were reading at all, throughout the entire book. Incredibly smooth reading.

As for the story itself . . . well, you need to know a few things about me before I get into it too much. First of all, I don't read much SF. I'm almost purely a fantasy fan. So keep that in mind. Also, I have never read Heinlein and one of the main points brought up by anyone who has read Heinlein and then Scalzi is that Scalzi is apparently channeling Heinlein from the afterlife. I can't comment on this, because I've never read Heinlein . . .

But I have read Scalzi and I liked it. As I said, the read was effortless on my part. This is basically the story of a man who enlists at the ripe old age of 75 (the youngest age you can be to enlist), gets trained to fight, and then goes off planet to fight. The first two-thirds of the book are about his enlistment and the surprises he gets once he's off planet and is out discovering what enlistment really means and that the world off planet is MUCH more interesting than what he's known all of his life. And that's pretty much the plot. A sort of more serious plot emerges in the last third of the novel, but it isn't really as significant as what has followed before. This is the man's journey, and that's all it's intended to be.

That being the point of the book, I kind of had a minor issue with the fact that we don't really get emotionally "into" the character in the book. This would be my biggest complaint about the book: the lack of any intense emotional connection between us and the character. It's written in the first person, which means we should get intensely personal with the character . . . and we don't really. Or at least I didn't. One of the most emotional aspects we get from him is the death of his wife before he enlisted. I wanted this death to be felt more, especially since it has significance for the last part of the book. And this IS the most significant emotional response we get from the main character . . . but having that be true for the book as a whole . . . I wanted a little more. I wanted this level of emotion for the friends he meets and subsequently die (it is a war, people die, I don't think I'm giving away anything here), and something bigger, something deeper, for his wife.

But that was my only issue as I read this. There WAS emotional connection, don't get me wrong; I just wanted it to be developed more. And I certainly intend to read more Scalzi, because the writing and the story were GOOD. It was easy to read, with nice touches of humor in appropriate places, and it was a human story set against an alien universe. I've already bought "The Ghost Brigades" in fact. I'd certainly recommend the book.

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Comments

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

I already had this in my queue before your review, but this certainly reinforces my instincts in picking it up. Thanks.

[gina-stormgrant.livejournal.com]

I have always meant to read something by Scalzi, and just this week I picked up Old Man's War off a sale table for $5. W00t!

Thanks to your review, it's now moved up to the #1 spot on my TBR shelf. Thanks!

[bearmountain.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he's good--and very accessible reading.

[tygerversionx.livejournal.com]

Seriously, don't you want a BrainPal? :)

Old Man's War and Ghost Brigades are set in the same universe, but in a way they feel completely different. I'll warn you of that. You'll see Jane again, but Ghost Brigades is from almost a completely different perspective.

But you might connect more with the main character, and his struggles. I found Scalzi's writing "voice" to help me identify with ALL the characters he's writing, but I know that style isn't for everyone.

But still ... yay! A (semi)-Scalzi convert! :)

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

He gets better with each book and I liked the fourth in the series best (Zoe's Tale), so do keep on reading. You won't be disappointed.

He's very smooth, isn't he? Reading Scalzi is effortless.

[corrinalaw.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the writing style, not having read Scalzi, but that plot is definitely something that seems like Heinlein.

[selfavowedgeek.livejournal.com]

Most definitely a good read. The Ghost Brigades too a little more getting into for my tastes than OMW; however, it's a bit more intimate look into the 'verse he's created. The Last Colony is simply a fun, fun ride. Zoe's Tale is enjoyable if for no other reason than the POV variation on The Last Colony it provides.

I came to Heinlein after reading Scalzi. Although I can see where the praise and comparisons are warranted, Scalzi is working in the same territory, definitely, and is part of that tradition within the military science fiction sub-genre. Whatever polemics you get from Heinlein, though, doesn't conflate with anything in OMW or the following books. At least, not on the level from which Heinlein was working. Just sayin'.

[mythusmage.livejournal.com]

His debut novel true, but he did have a lot of practice before then. Head on over to his blog at Whatever (http://whatever.scalzi.com/) and read up---in the archives---on how he came to be a blogger, and then a novelist.

[realmjit.livejournal.com]

Having read the first three in this series, and lots of heinlein, I can concur that Scalzi is channeling Heinlein with a 21st century filter. Heinlein's women were Barbarella (and hornier) while Scalzi's are more like modern day Valkries.

[fatbaldguy60.livejournal.com]

I was a Heinlein fan from long ago in my childhood. I certainly got that vibe again when reading Scalzi's wonderful books.

[steve-buchheit.livejournal.com]

I read Ghost Brigades first. It is a better novel and I felt more involvement of being drawn into the characters than with "Old Mans War." In the first section of GB I hit the line, "Leave it to the humans to bang the rocks together." After I picked myself off the floor I said, "I've got to read more by this guy."