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Old Men's War
John Scalzi Book Review

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Plot Summary of Old Men's War
"Earth has reached the stars and been slammed back into isolation. Humans are out there colonizing the galaxy, but Earth itself is cut off from it, becoming almost a backwater. The Colonial Defense Force (CDF) ensures that this remains so. John Perry decides to join the army and fight aliens. He gets a new, grown body (green and all) that will make him young again (even if he's not completely human anymore) and the extreme possibility of dying out in the mean universe.

He's intelligent and he rises through the ranks fairly quickly by using his brain. The friendships that Perry forms when he first enlists seem very logical, as these people have been thrown together into a strange situation with no visible support apparatus. Even the fact that the first thing these older people do when they get young bodies is to enjoy themselves with as many people as possible is certainly understandable.

The small problem with Old Man's War is that it takes a long time to get through the setup of the setting. It takes almost half the book before Perry actually gets into the action. The rest is his journey to the CDF and the establishing of the galaxy and his place in it. It is only a small problem because Scalzi does make it interesting, but I wish some of it could have been condensed.

"

eyal, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Old Men's War
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 40%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%




Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
War or Invasion Yes
Major kinds of combat: - lasers
Lifeform altered? Yes
Kind of alteration: - Scientifically turned into another lifeform
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - warrior/knight
Age: - 60's-90's
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male Alien
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
Terrain - Space, need spacesuit
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - unfriendly aliens
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How much dialogue? - little dialog
Most similar books to Old Men's War
The Final Phase by William Neven
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Invasion of the Insectoids by Steven Gordon
Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary by Martha Wells
Maximum Ride: School's Out -- Forever by James Patterson


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John Scalzi Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
eyal  

SCHOLARS:
Harriet Klausner  


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