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vishwesh's review against another edition
3.0
Short and sweet!
3 and a half stars. It is a wonderful and fun book with some great premise.
3 and a half stars. It is a wonderful and fun book with some great premise.
eliaa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, Infertility, Gun violence, Death, Genocide, Gore, Medical content, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
Moderate: Sexual content and Cannibalism
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Infidelity, Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal death
riderred97's review against another edition
4.0
Apparently I started this two years ago? I don’t think I read the first page, but oh well.
I enjoyed this read! It was an easy no-frills sci-fi meathead book. It scratched an itch I’ve had since reading The Forever War. It didn’t go to the same depths discussing societal and cultural issues, but it was still a fun enough read that I might pick up the rest of the series! I need to know where Jane is!
I enjoyed this read! It was an easy no-frills sci-fi meathead book. It scratched an itch I’ve had since reading The Forever War. It didn’t go to the same depths discussing societal and cultural issues, but it was still a fun enough read that I might pick up the rest of the series! I need to know where Jane is!
testaroscia's review against another edition
4.0
Scalzi's books flow with wit, good dialogue, some interesting ideas. I'm pretty sure i will be tapping into the rest of the series
trin's review against another edition
3.0
The first 100 pages or so of this book are absolutely fantastic. The Colonial Defense Forces recruit citizens of Earth on their 75th birthdays to fight with them against the various alien species threatening the series of colonies Earth needs because of population overflow, war, all the usual ways we’ve fucked up the planet. Senior citizens sign up because the CDF promises to make them young again—if they sign a contract to serve for ten years. And most of them will probably get gruesomely killed in that time. But at least they won’t die old, right?
All of this stuff is fascinating. I loved the set up, the procedure and world-building involved in John Perry, 75-year-old widower and retired ad writer, joining the army and making friends with his fellow recruits and going through pre-procedure tests and through the actual procedure (which I won’t spoil) and the boot camp stuff that comes after. Scalzi describes the actual battles which follow with no less intensity, but once John starts fighting, the sense of who he is really gets lost. (I was actually waiting for that to be revealed to be part of the point, but it wasn’t.) John just becomes A Soldier, almost instantly. Besides his sense of loyalty and his lingering feelings about his dead wife, there’s very little left to connect him to who he used to be. It’s mentioned several times that John and his wife protested the big war on Earth, but John seems almost entirely unconcerned with the unquestioning massacre of various alien species. I must admit, it started to make me a liiiiiitle uncomfortable. Scalzi has said that his inspiration for this book was [a: Robert Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|http://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg]’s [b: Starship Troopers|17214|Starship Troopers|Robert A. Heinlein|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1406457252s/17214.jpg|2534973], and this book, I think, faces a lot of the same problems I’ve heard are inherent in that one. (I haven’t actually read it, so if I’m way off base, please tell me.) Both, I believe, walk the line between criticizing war and glorifying it, and so whatever message results is kind of muddled. I got the most enjoyment out of [b: Old Man’s War|51964|Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)|John Scalzi|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1487044882s/51964.jpg|50700] when I, well, just tried not to think about it too much. Not an attitude I usually endorse, but there you go. Still, the underlying sci-fi concepts in this book—the stuff about identity—are really interesting; I am anxious to get my hands on the sequel, even if it means I’ll have to turn off my brain for a while. Or at least the hard-working liberal guilt section.
All of this stuff is fascinating. I loved the set up, the procedure and world-building involved in John Perry, 75-year-old widower and retired ad writer, joining the army and making friends with his fellow recruits and going through pre-procedure tests and through the actual procedure (which I won’t spoil) and the boot camp stuff that comes after. Scalzi describes the actual battles which follow with no less intensity, but once John starts fighting, the sense of who he is really gets lost. (I was actually waiting for that to be revealed to be part of the point, but it wasn’t.) John just becomes A Soldier, almost instantly. Besides his sense of loyalty and his lingering feelings about his dead wife, there’s very little left to connect him to who he used to be. It’s mentioned several times that John and his wife protested the big war on Earth, but John seems almost entirely unconcerned with the unquestioning massacre of various alien species. I must admit, it started to make me a liiiiiitle uncomfortable. Scalzi has said that his inspiration for this book was [a: Robert Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|http://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg]’s [b: Starship Troopers|17214|Starship Troopers|Robert A. Heinlein|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1406457252s/17214.jpg|2534973], and this book, I think, faces a lot of the same problems I’ve heard are inherent in that one. (I haven’t actually read it, so if I’m way off base, please tell me.) Both, I believe, walk the line between criticizing war and glorifying it, and so whatever message results is kind of muddled. I got the most enjoyment out of [b: Old Man’s War|51964|Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)|John Scalzi|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1487044882s/51964.jpg|50700] when I, well, just tried not to think about it too much. Not an attitude I usually endorse, but there you go. Still, the underlying sci-fi concepts in this book—the stuff about identity—are really interesting; I am anxious to get my hands on the sequel, even if it means I’ll have to turn off my brain for a while. Or at least the hard-working liberal guilt section.
cecile87's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the humor. It was an odd book, but I enjoyed it as a light scifi read. I think I'd have stayed on Earth and lived out my terminal days there rather than become a soldier.
starfleetmom's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
light sci-fi, with some humor.
chloejen's review against another edition
4.0
john scalzi really named the main character of his debut novel after himself
hirvimaki's review against another edition
4.0
Very Starship Troopers-esque, I really liked this story. Well written and thought out, it was a good enough read to get me to read the other books in the series. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and found them to be warm and likable.
azazel11's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0