John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife’s grave. Then he joined the army. The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-and aliens willing to fight for them are common. The universe, it turns out, is a hostile place. So: we fight. To defend Earth (a target for our new enemies, … our new enemies, should we let them get close enough) and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has gone on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity’s resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force, which shields the home planet from too much knowledge of the situation. What’s known to everybody is 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 be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You’ll serve your time at the front. 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. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine-and what he will become is far stranger.
Old Man’s War Series
#1 Old Man’s War
#2 The Ghost Brigades
#3 The Last Colony
#4 Zoe’s Tale
#5 The Human Division
#6 The End of All Things
Short fiction: “After the Coup”
Other Tor Books
The Android’s Dream
Agent to the Stars
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded
Fuzzy Nation
Redshirts
Lock In
The Collapsing Empire (forthcoming)
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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Scalzi get heaps of praise and must sell a ton of books for all the reviews and accolades he gets. However, this is another example of plain vanilla writing with some slightly interesting concepts. The world is generic and while the characters are somewhat well-developed, the first in this series was not good enough to warrant picking up #2. The quest for decent military sci-fi continues.
Great exploration of what it means to be just’ human. What people go through during war. Very plausible.
I was hooked with the first line of the novel. It is the first of three, and I hope he revives the series.
I haven’t been as fond of his other novels, but this series is excellent.
Fabulous stories!
Superb. Put Scalzi on the map.
The reason for the title is the reason for reading this book. Unique.
Outstanding.
Oh to be old again
This was military fiction to the max. It reminded me of avatar and aliens, 2 movies which I liked so much as military fiction. It had some callbacks to full metal jacket which was pretty funny. Pretty much the book was funny but at the same time serious and had moments of being sad. It was great.
Scalzi rocks always a good story teller never quite knowing where you are being led and always entertaining
I can’t believe this is decades old yet reads like it was written yesterday.
True classic, with not only some great ideas, but a smooth, entertaining feel in the progression. So many stories have copied elements of this since, Avatar being one noteable example, but none quite capture the concepts as well as this book
Another epic Scalzi dystopian space drama, that leads into 6-7 equally good sequels
Read all these – really. Don’t hesitate. In the future, 75 year olds are recruited for off-planet service in the Colonial Forces. Why? You can only assume they have some rejuvenation techniques or something. But, if you’re 75 and have nothing better to face than more aches, pains and a dwindling supply of life – why not sign up and find out? A lot of people do. Well written, entertaining and satisfying.
This was recommended by a good friend of mine and it was a perfect fit. I enjoyed the premise and the characters quite a bit. They seemed like the kind of people I would enjoy zipping through the universe on space adventures.
An original twist on the space marine action story. There are a lot of interesting characters in the book and you find yourself immersed in the story very quickly. It’s a great story on it’s own, but also a springboard for the rest of the stories in that universe.
A huge inspiration for me, personally, and a modern classic in its own right. Scalzi brings such a great voice that’s altogether hilarious and heartbreaking. He reinvented the space opera in so many ways, and I love being able to recommend this book to anyone–whether they enjoy sci-fi or not.
Fascinating world and story.
I have been awaiting sequels for years now.
Great sci-fi from a new master!
A very well written military sci-fi. Original and entertaining, not the standard space marine/space cruiser captain formulaic crap.