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annathepiperAfter following John Scalzi's blog for a while and finding him a generally entertaining blogger, I decided it was high time to tackle some of his prose--so I picked up Old Man's War a few weeks back and have whipped through it in short order today.
Old Man's War has a blurb on its cover that compares it quite favorably to Heinlein. Having yet to read a word of Heinlein, I can't speak to the truth of this comparison--but I can definitely tell you that this story's very light on the character details and very heavy on the things exploding. There's just enough characterization to give various cast members some noticeable trait to help you remember them, and that's about it; the vast majority of the time, unless it's immediately pertinent to the plot, you don't even get details of physical description. This was a little disconcerting for me at first (since I do like to have at least a few basic details of appearance filled in), but I quickly got over it. The story moved fast, was generally engaging, and was well-armed with other details of interest: recruiting senior citizens into the Colonial Defense Forces by the hook of promising to make them young again, the idea of a universe populated with countless alien species who are in fact mostly hostile to humanity, and what in the world's going on with the Ghost Brigades, which turn out to be a plot point for Our Hero, John Perry.
On the other hand, nothing about it was ever particularly surprising, either. John has a meteoric rise through the ranks, based just as much on luck as his wits, and never has anything happen to him that's particularly challenging or develops his character in any significant way; he does have a brief fit of angst over whether he's still human as opposed to a kickass fightin' machine, but that's about it. The alien species we're introduced to are just as lightly sketched in as the human characters, and although the one character that raises the question of "so why do we keep shooting at all these other species rather than trying like, y'know, diplomacy?" is an annoying asshat, he does have a valid point. One does wonder where the friendly non-human species are; two get mentioned, but only in passing, and there are no friendly non-humans on camera.
Still, there's enough of interest here that I do plan to check out the next book. Three stars!
Old Man's War has a blurb on its cover that compares it quite favorably to Heinlein. Having yet to read a word of Heinlein, I can't speak to the truth of this comparison--but I can definitely tell you that this story's very light on the character details and very heavy on the things exploding. There's just enough characterization to give various cast members some noticeable trait to help you remember them, and that's about it; the vast majority of the time, unless it's immediately pertinent to the plot, you don't even get details of physical description. This was a little disconcerting for me at first (since I do like to have at least a few basic details of appearance filled in), but I quickly got over it. The story moved fast, was generally engaging, and was well-armed with other details of interest: recruiting senior citizens into the Colonial Defense Forces by the hook of promising to make them young again, the idea of a universe populated with countless alien species who are in fact mostly hostile to humanity, and what in the world's going on with the Ghost Brigades, which turn out to be a plot point for Our Hero, John Perry.
On the other hand, nothing about it was ever particularly surprising, either. John has a meteoric rise through the ranks, based just as much on luck as his wits, and never has anything happen to him that's particularly challenging or develops his character in any significant way; he does have a brief fit of angst over whether he's still human as opposed to a kickass fightin' machine, but that's about it. The alien species we're introduced to are just as lightly sketched in as the human characters, and although the one character that raises the question of "so why do we keep shooting at all these other species rather than trying like, y'know, diplomacy?" is an annoying asshat, he does have a valid point. One does wonder where the friendly non-human species are; two get mentioned, but only in passing, and there are no friendly non-humans on camera.
Still, there's enough of interest here that I do plan to check out the next book. Three stars!
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Date: 2007-08-01 04:29 am (UTC)It's possible that it was meant to feel that way -- consider the guy had just been basically remade, I wouldn't be surprised if some mental editing to remove conscience had been done too -- but I flipped lightly through the end of the book, didn't see any sign that it was the central issue, and moved on.
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Date: 2007-08-01 04:36 am (UTC)I'm not entirely surprised by this, mind, since the book is very clearly pro-military and has set up a situation where the vast majority of alien species out there are out to exterminate humanity. Given this, I can't exactly blame Our Hero for his fast turnaround, at least in this first book.
The interesting question for me is going to be whether this worldview of his gets challenged in subsequent books. I liked Book One well enough that I'll give Book Two a shot and see how well Scalzi builds on what he's set up so far, and if he shoots down any of the assumptions he leads the reader to in Book One.
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Date: 2007-08-01 03:28 pm (UTC)What Scalzi does well, he does really well. This is a huge compliment - I'd rather read a book that excels at a certain thing and has shortcomings than one that's just slightly above average across the board. The Heinlein comparisons are apt - particularly Starship Troopers - but without nearly as much lecturing to the audience and without the casual misogyny, thankfully.
I'm not a huge follower of Military Science Fiction - much like you, I prefer my books to be more about character, and less about the Implications of Technology or Tactical Scenarios. So, it's not really for me primarily. But it's a breezy read, the dialogue is fun, and I'd be willing to go back for more. For a first published novel, especially, well done. If he can crank up the characterization a notch, and I have an inkling that he can, I can see him writing some books that I'd really dig in the future.
And yes, his blog is nifty.
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Date: 2007-08-01 08:15 pm (UTC)