Saturday, January 17, 2015

Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

My first novel of the new year and it is excellent.   First published in 2005, this is the first of a three book series.  It is similar to Evan Currie's Odyssey series, but perhaps even better.

The concept is that one may choose to join the Earth's interstellar army, the Colonial Defense Forces, at age 75.  Taken off of Earth, recruits are the beneficiaries of presumably alien -originated technologies which make them young again in body.  After a minimum two year term, these elderly soldiers may choose to transition back to civilian live as colonists on other planets.

For folks who are a couple of decades from death anyway, this seems like a good deal.

Of course, things aren't quite as shiny as the recruiting propaganda might suggest.  Our hero, John Perry, finds himself an excellent soldier and in a variety of entertaining, suspenseful, and always interesting situations. The risk of spoilers is too great to say more about this highly recommended novel.


Old Man's War

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