The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

This is to discuss Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

I read Old Man's War in July of 2014. I didn't write a review and the details of it have faded in my ephemeral memory. It is the story of an old guy who volunteers to join our military to be a soldier in an interstellar war. In exchange he gets a new young body.

It's good. I enjoyed it. It's proof of Scalzi being a good SF author.

He has followed it up with a number of books, making Old Man's War the first in a series, none of which I've read yet. The basis for the first sequel, The Ghost Brigades, is established in Old Man's War. I've been meaning to read it, just haven't gotten to it yet. [So many books; so little time]

The only other Scalzi book I've read is Redshirts, which is kind of a spoof on Star Trek.

I'm looking forward to the discussion on this one. It's listed as a classic, but I don't see why. I went into it with high expectations and came out feeling entertained but no more. I don't see what this book does that makes it equal to Starship Troopers or The Forever War.

I'm looking forward to rereading this. I liked this quite a bit & read the next 2 books in the series after I read it in 2009, but then quit reading the series when I saw he'd published "Sagan's Diary". That was a bit too much for me. I've enjoyed several other books by him, too. I think "Lock In" might be my favorite.

I often recommend it as something comparable to "Starship Troopers", "the Forever War", & Armor, although I wouldn't call it a classic. (It's good, but not that good.) They all have similar elements & show quite a difference in how the time in which they were written views war & gender, although they address different aspects of the latter with the possible exception of "Armor". I can't recall any in that one.

I enjoyed Old Man's War, it was really entertaining. I remember I read it after a period of reading very average sci-fi which is probably why I gave it 5 stars as it was so much better in comparison. I enjoyed both the Forever war and Starship troopers and gave them both 4. Good reads gives The Forever war 4.14, Starship troopers 3.99 and Old man's war 4.23 so all pretty similar really.

I finally received the book. Will start reading it right now.

I have yet to read this series and have had it in waiting for quite some time. I have read most of Scalzi's work other than this, so I imagine it's time I get to it.

I've started it. Easy reading, compared to the other month's read. Looks promising and original, old people in space.

Drat. I meant to start reading this next, but forgot & picked up Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War instead. It's been on my TBR pile for quite a while now since I preordered it & all. In a way, it ties in since Roach is looking into the science surrounding war - protecting & feeding soldiers.

The first part of Old Man's War makes a point about immortality that went well with a point Theodore J. Kaczynski makes in Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How, the last book I read. He points out that resources are limited so any form of immortality will be limited to an elite. Scalzi's soldiers are certainly special.

I just finished, "Old Man's War' the other day - have yet to write a review - Thank you host, Jo for bringing this one up.

In a nutshell, I found it to be written with all of Scalzi's, entertaining style. A joy to read; fast pace interesting an never dull. Only, I am not a fan of military science fiction. As I did with Heinlein's "Starship Troopers", I enjoyed the writing more than the type of story. Unlike "Starship Troopers" and Haldeman's "Forever War" which this is often compared to, I felt that, and though it is much more sophisticated, this owed just as much to van Vogt's "Voyages of the Space Beagle" as it was very episodic. As though it was a series of short stories strung together by discussions of quantum mechanics rather than"Nexilism".

I will read more of the series at this is not a stand alone novel. I hope later instalments will deal with what erks me the most about this one; that, in spite of some attempts at remorse, there is an overall accepted level of genocidal violence of intelligent sentient beings of other worlds.

Well, I suppose that is what the war genre is all about.

I'm very pleased for reading this book, all the action on the book distract the reader of thinking on some mysteries that come up.
I'm very curious with the story and really want to read the other books.
For me there are still several points that I really want to clear.
Why can't people go back to Earth? A virus would be easily cured with the alien tech.
Why can't humans living on Earth know more about the outer space?
Are the "Aliens" the result of the evolution of the humans living on colonies?
Are the "Consu" the last phase of Human Evolution?
So many questions...

Phil wrote: "I'm looking forward to the discussion on this one. It's listed as a classic, but I don't see why. I went into it with high expectations and came out feeling entertained but no more. I don't see wha..."

I really didn't like this book. I read it with a reading group year or so ago. I felt it was pretty poorly written. At the time I finished it my dog got sick, so I ended up moving on to the second book anyway because I wasn't up for getting into new characters. I liked it even less. I'd heard a lot of good things about Scalzi, but based on those two books I can't really say I understand why everyone is so jazzed by him. I thought some of the concepts in the books were interesting, but the execution of these novels was lacking in my opinion. And I agree, this book doesn't hold a candle to The Forever War.

I enjoyed it. Military SF isn't a sub-genre I particularly like. But Scalzi is good at telling the story. He keeps-up a good pace so there is always something happening. There is a nice amount of humor. The aliens are unusual and interesting.

I usually prefer books that are more deep or challenging, but a nice light read is fun from time to time.

Since the point of this group seems to be to look at how SF has changed over the years, this is a bit of an odd pick for the 2010s. It was written recently, but it mostly feels like it could have been written in the 50s or 60s. There is probably more even-handed treatment of female characters in this one, and there is even a nod to inclusion of homosexuals. Even so, the main story of an ordinary straight male going on an adventure through the galaxy fighting aliens and succeeding easily at everything seems old-fashioned.

Ultimately, though, I enjoyed it and am glad I read it.

I'm just over halfway now but I think I can join Ed's opinion. Think I wil rate it 3 stars.

I just finished this novel. It was pretty simple to read, so I finished it quickly. It was very enjoyable as it was light and funny, and the military tech Scalzi gave us was interesting enough to grab my attention.

Even if it did deal with the morality of the actions of the military, it didn't have the impact some classic sci-fi novels have. The plot was rather thin and it felt like it was more of an action-adventure novel.

Having older people join the military was a rather nice touch though. They aren't as impressionable as youth and they didn't joined the military for ideals, but for selfish reasons.

It was a fun read, but I wonder why it is so popular.

I read somewhere that Scalzi wanted to imitate Heinlein in the sense of writing popular, accessible novels that are driven by SF concepts. I think he succeeded in that goal.

It certainly is accessible, but I wonder if it will be remembered in 30-50 years.

Just got about 65 pages into it. I enjoyed reading the comments above and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book

Okay, I finished it.
After seeing this book in so many “must read” lists, I finally got around to it. And was not disappointed.
For a slam-bang military SF novel, it is remarkably thoughtful. John Scalzi opens the book with one of the best two-sentence, opening paragraphs I have read: “I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife's grave. Then I joined the army." The narrator's voice in this first-person novel was beautifully and realistically “old-man,” inside a twenty-something body.
There have been literally thousands of reviews of this book, so I’ll keep my own short. Comparisons to early and middle Heinlein are accurate. Scalzi’s sense of humor and satire is fine-tuned. He brings up a host of sci-fi tropes and then subtly subverts them. The military aspects are technically sound and emotionally professional. The alienation and isolation of warriors—and the terribly imaginative “ghost soldier” Special Forces, were striking. His aliens are imaginative and realistic. And, there’s a love story in it-surprise, surprise.
Ultimately, it’s about what it is to be human. I thoroughly enjoyed Old Man's War from beginning to end.

I've been putting this one off- the military aspect of it didn't appeal to me, and other books kept cutting in line ahead of it. I did finally read it, and it turns out that I really enjoyed it. It's a real potato chip of a book- can't stop at just one, and I've ordered the rest of the series. :)