Old Man's War: An Okay Book

Old Man's War is the second time I've tried John Scalzi. I was annoyed with Redshirts, so this book was definitely a step up. It's well written, well edited, flows nicely, easy to read, sets up a nice and rich world, and has a mostly good story arc.

The overall concept is innovative. By the time John Perry turns 75, his wife has died and he has nothing to look forward to, so he decides to join the Colonial Defense Forces. They have technology that can make him young again, but there's one small catch: he must be declared legally dead and start a new life off-world, never to return to Earth again.

Once he enters the intergalactic war, he learns that Earth fights not to conquer, but rather to survive. As many different civilizations compete for limited resources in the galaxy, they have no choice but to fight. Conquer other worlds or die--much like the Dark Forest philosophy from the Three Body Problem series, but instead of hiding, all worlds come out fighting.

As I read on, something kept bugging me, though. It was a good book, but I didn't see anything that made it a great book. I'm going to be extra picky, as this novel placed first in Tor's top ten SFF novels of the decade.

The book suffered from some annoyances common among early novels. Even though Scalzi did a decent job in distinguishing his different characters, he yet had all of them acting the same. It was as if he had instilled his own funny pessimistic satiric view on life. For example, when our heroes are youngified, the first thing they do is go have sex with themselves -- for an entire chapter! At first, a reader might say, "Well, why wouldn't they? Wouldn't you do that if you were young again?" There's no question that Scalzi himself wouldn't hesitate, and I know a majority of people would likewise indulge, but I also know several people in real life who just wouldn't do it. Scalzi missed a wonderful opportunity for further character distinction by having one of the characters decide not to participate.

The same comment goes also for the F-bomb dropping by everyone. Not everyone does that. Several books I've read recently are not in the Tor list, and they do a better job at character distinction than this (having only certain characters cussing). It's understandable that their first drill commander would let the F-bombs fly, but wow, was that character the most cliche character in the book. It just didn't flow naturally.

And finally, the book's form was disappointing. The whole purpose of the plot was to build the world for the readers. John just happened to find himself at the right places at the right time to learn different aspects about how things worked. As I saw the future pages in the book were getting fewer, I started wondering why it was chosen as #1 of the decade. Was there some great Ender's Game reveal coming at the end?

When I got to the last page, it didn't happen, and it seemed that so many things were left unresolved. The book just ended. I sat there staring at it and scratched my head. I had enjoyed the other three novels I had already read from the Tor list much more than this one. How did it get to be #1? Popularity? Does the series get much better in the sequels, now that the world has already been established?

Old Man's War was a fun read and well done, but for now I'm not too excited to continue the series. Eventually I'll get around to it, ... maybe in a couple of years ...