John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War is straight ahead meat and potatoes science fiction. Starships, aliens and interplanetary warfare. Perfectly executed. Quite satisfying.
Old Man’s War is built around a premise of US citizens actually enlisting in the Colonial Defense Forces when they turn 75. Our protagonist, John Perry, honors his dead wife and then takes this route into the stars. He exhibits particularly fine mettle in making the transition to a soldier’s superhuman body, creative destruction of aliens, and survival in a hostile universe.
However, the story really thrives on a number of personal relationships developed by Perry. When you’ve already lived a life that you can’t return to, how you interact with others in the same boat makes for an interesting tale, not to mention fighting some nasty aliens. The contrast between the philosophies of the wise old soul and the soldier ethic is quite bracing, providing a juicy intersection to build upon.
Compared to Stross and Stephenson, Scalzi’s first novel is a walk in the park. There are no in depth excursions into how particularly technologies work, no involved historical digressions, and minimal fanboy jargon. Comes in at a reasonable page count too.
Old Man’s War retains a couple of interesting unresolved mysteries. First, apparently US citizens aren’t allowed to be colonists, only soldiers. Humans from more populous regions, e.g. India, seem slated to expand humanity’s hold on foreign planets. Second, Scalzi has little, if any, physical description of the characters. The reader is left to fill in the blanks. I just found this to be an odd little twist.
Saying Old Man’s War is meat and potatoes science fiction is not meant to demean the book. It actually ranks high on this year’s reading list and is strongly recommended. I’m looking forward to reading more of his work.