Old Man's War

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: William Dufris

Perfect for an entry-level sci-fi listener and the ideal addition to a veteran fan’s collection, John Scalzi's Old Man’s War will take audiences on a heart-stopping adventure into the far corners of the universe.

John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.

The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine—and what he will become is far stranger.

John Scalzi's Old Man's War is a stunning novel of the long war for human survival—in a universe replete with hostility

©2005 John Scalzi (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award nominee, Best Novel, 2006

"Scalzi's imagined interstellar arena is coherently and compellingly delineated." (The Washington Post)

“Though a lot of SF writers are more or less efficiently continuing the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein, Scalzi's astonishingly proficient first novel reads like an original work by the late grand master...This virtuoso debut pays tribute to SF's past while showing that well-worn tropes still can have real zip when they're approached with ingenuity.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Solid…[Scalzi] sidesteps most of the cliches of military science fiction, delivers fast-paced scenes of combat and pays attention to the science underpinning his premise.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Gripping and surpassingly original. It's Starship Troopers without the lectures. It's The Forever War with better sex. It's funny, it's sad, and it's true.” —Cory Doctorow

Real science fiction, for a change

What made the experience of listening to Old Man's War the most enjoyable?

It was nice to finally read a science fiction book that actually was science fiction, not science 'fantasy'. The science fiction was understandable science, not pulled out of nowhere fantasy stuff that all to often is passed off as science fiction in our largely scientifically barely literate population.

Fun and entertaining

A bit Starship Troopers, a bit Forever War and a big chunk of originality. Scalzi doesn't bury you with the science(not that I personally have a problem with that), he just writes a good book.

It was like an underdog sports movie.

During the parts where you’re discovering the rest of the team and the training montage you’re pretty captivated. But once the team has gone through the montage the eventual outcome is inevitable. That's how this book was for me....Great until they were done training...then.....i don't remember what happens anymore....

loved it

I love scalzi and after reading a gazillion great reviews I decided to go for it and wasn't disappointed!

Don't pass this one up.

I'ed like to mention this is the first review I've ever written. I have hundreds of audibles books in my library. I read, a great many more books than I've listened to on audibles.com. I happen to pick up this book when it first came out. The book dust jacket caught my attention. I just happen to be 69 years old. And this book begins with a totally new type of hero. This guy who has lived a normal life, on the earth that we all know today. Until he reached his 75th birthday. That's the day, he enlist in the Universal army. And of course there primary task was to protect and defend the human race, as its human citizens proceeded to colonized not just our solar system, but the entire universe or as much of it as they may be able to reach. Of course because many intelligent life forms that are already within the colonization process themselves don't look favorably on having Humans or any other interstellar travelers trying to take up residence in their particular solar systems. The concepts of this book and the amazing possibilitys, turn this book, into a great adventure. And one of the best, space travel sci-fi book trilogies, I've had the pleasure to read and now listen to. The second in this series is called. The Ghost Brigade. And the third is called, The Last Colony. I hope audible.com, will be able to add those other two books in this series. They're a great read. With a totally different twist on how to turn a 75-year-old male or female into a very competent. 25 Year old soldier of the future. And the narrator for this book does a great job of making it come to life.