Old Man's War

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

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

I READ THE WHOLE SERIES!!!! (-:

"SCALZI AND QUALITY CONTROL"

I won't spoil anything for you; just keep your eyes peeled for at least one really cool idea every three or four minutes. (And if Scalzi hasn't blown your mind within the first couple hundred pages, it'll happen when Alan Rosenthal explains how the skip drive works.) I can't really tell you anything specific without giving away something better left for you to discover as you read.

I can say in general, though, that Scalzi has a pretty healthy sense of what it will take for human beings to colonize other planets in a universe that contains other sentient species. He's also got a knack for thinking up clever and gruesome ways for people to die. Oh, and there's a lot of nicely handled bittersweet stuff that may bring tears to your eyes if you're inclined to that sort of thing.

There are 4.5 books in the series and in my opinion:

Book 2: Ghost Brigades deserves 4 stars
Book 3: Last Colony deserves 3 stars
Book 4: Zoe's Tale deserves 3 stars
Book 4.5: Sagan Diary deserves 2 stars


NEXT BOOK IS "THE HUMAN DIVISION"
Expected publication: April 2nd 2013

Refreshing Sci-Fi

This is true science fiction. I can't believe I found this among all the junk.

Good books like this one are not easy to find!

I love this book! What a well written sci-fi novel! I love how John Scalzi's characters are always people who just make sense of everything around them as normal educated people should. I also love how well the universe is set - so well that I am now really sad that I can't be a part of it... This was the second John Scalzi novel I bought on Audible. I now have 7 of his novels and will be getting more in the coming months.

A good story

Well written, well narrated, unusual take on the psychology of battle, youth, and aging. Not brilliant, but very good. I found myself wanting to stay in the car, to keep listening to the story. A good book for a road trip.

I hope this series continues for a long time.

Truly epic achievement. Wonderful narration, excellent plot, nothing not to like. This author rivals Christopher Moore as one of my SF favourites.

Teriffic From Start to Finish

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

The imagination and the writing.

What did you like best about this story?

It's such an interesting take on the Sci-fi genre. Great pacing.

Have you listened to any of William Dufris’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

It took me a little while to get used to him, but I ended up really liking him.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No. just a smile.

Any additional comments?

I'll be checking out John Scalzi again!

Slow start, but gets interesting.

I struggled with this book at first and then liked it more and more as I progressed. This is a good story that serves as a podium to discuss topics that touch all of us...marriage, friendship, war, death, and understanding of self. I like that it was not completely predictable, especially that it didn't end with the protagonist walking off into the sunset with his special forces wife.

I do not care much for William Dufris' narration. He's not bad, but the quality of his voice and his character voices are not as professional sounding as many of the other narrators. Wil Wheaton is a better voice for Scalzi's novels.

Pretty darn good

Would you listen to Old Man's War again? Why?

Yes (see below)

Any additional comments?

I had to take points off only because of the histrionic, emotional basket case scenes which have been creeping into every genera and I think used to be wisely kept in the erotica and romance generas. E.g., pained,”misty” eyed scene of a group at a separation that would fly for a group at HS or college graduation… but with people who’ve only known each other for a week’s cruise? Stuff like that which makes the characters we are supposed to sympathise with seem instead like basketcases. I’ll leave out the other few scenes like that because they would be spoilers and there really aren’t so many it ruins the book (maybe 4 total) as it does so many books these days. For this reason I would advise stopping after the first 2 books (much less of it in book 2) which are otherwise really pretty good stuff (interesting sci-fi world, action, humor,drama, even a political intrigue mystery aspect).

BTW, My highest sci-fi recommendation is the Troy Rising series by John Ringo. It has an interesting sci-fi world, action, humor, even a political intrigue mystery aspect, and drama (but not histrionics)

Exciting, accessible, likable sci-fi

John Scalzi is a great author, and this book is probably his best work so far. It's hard, war-in-space science fiction, but it's also very readable and accessible to readers new to the genre. The protagonist is surprisingly charming and likable, and the side characters are interesting and easy to root for, even if they don't get a lot of development or depth in this volume. It's a fairly action-packed story, but with enough human interest to keep the reader who cares more about character relationships satisfied. The performance for this audiobook was well-done. The voice sounded like the voice I would have imagined for the protagonist, and while other character voices weren't amazing, there was a consistent attempt to differentiate, and it wasn't difficult to follow who was supposed to be speaking. Overall, this audiobook did well by a very good book.

Absolutely fantastic!

Absolutely fantastic, a slow start, but then builds to a perfect pace. Great story and narration. Well done all around.