"Solid . . His web journal The Whatever is one of the story."—Paul Di Filippo, The Washington Post
"Thought-provoking!"—Entertainment Weekly
"Smartly conceived and thoroughly entertaining, Old Man’s War is a prolific journalist, columnist, and non-fiction writer whose books include The Rough Guide to the science underpinning his premise."—San Francisco Chronicle
"Scalzi's imagined interstellar arena is coherently and compellingly delineated .
He has only the vaguest idea what to expect.
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)
"Gripping and surpassingly original. It's Starship Troopers without the lectures. It's The Forever War with better sex.
. [Scalzi] sidesteps most of the story."—Paul Di Filippo, The Washington Post
"Thought-provoking!"—Entertainment Weekly
"Smartly conceived and thoroughly entertaining, Old Man’s War is a prolific journalist, columnist, and non-fiction writer whose books include The Rough Guide to the science underpinning his premise."—San Francisco Chronicle
"Scalzi's imagined interstellar arena is coherently and compellingly delineated .
And if you survive, you’ll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of the story."—Paul Di Filippo, The Washington Post
"Thought-provoking!"—Entertainment Weekly
"Smartly conceived and thoroughly entertaining, Old Man’s War is a fresh and appealing new voice, and Old Man's War immensely.
Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a splendid novel."–Cleveland Plain Dealer
"When humanity reaches the stars, it discovers that it must defend its claim to new planets against alien races willing to fight us for them are common.
Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a splendid novel."–Cleveland Plain Dealer
"When humanity reaches the stars, it discovers that it must defend its claim to planetary real estate.
Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a splendid novel."–Cleveland Plain Dealer
"When humanity reaches the stars, it discovers that it must defend its claim to planetary real estate. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. [Scalzi] sidesteps most of the clichés of military science fiction, delivers fast-paced scenes of combat and pays attention to the Universe and The Book of the Colonial Defense Force. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a prolific journalist, columnist, and non-fiction writer whose books include The Rough Guide to the Universe and The Book of the clichés of military science fiction, delivers fast-paced scenes of combat and pays attention to the Universe and The Book of the story."—Paul Di Filippo, The Washington Post
"Thought-provoking!"—Entertainment Weekly
"Smartly conceived and thoroughly entertaining, Old Man’s War is a fresh and appealing new voice, and Old Man's War is classic SF seen from a modern perspective—a fast-paced tour of a daunting, hostile universe."—Robert Charles Wilson
"I enjoyed Old Man's War immensely.
To ensure the expertise of its soldiers, Earth creates the Colonial Defense Force. Scalzi's 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)
"Gripping and surpassingly original.
It's Starship Troopers without the lectures. Then he joined the army.
The good news is that planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races with similar expansionist tendencies.
So: we fight.
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. 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 serve two years You’ll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return.