Product Description

With his wife dead and buried, and life nearly over at 75, John Perry takes the only logical course of action left: he joins the army. Now better known as the Colonial Defense Force (CDF), Perry's service-of-choice has extended its reach into interstellar space to pave the way for human colonization of other planets while fending off marauding aliens. The CDF has a trick up its sleeve that makes enlistment especially enticing for seniors: the promise of restoring their youth. After bonding with a group of fellow recruits who dub their clique the Old Farts, Perry finds himself in a new body crafted from his original DNA and upgraded for battle, including a brain-implanted computer. But all too quickly the Old Farts are separated, and Perry must fight for his life on various alien-infested battlegrounds. "Scalzi's astonishingly proficient first novel reads like an original work by the late grand master, Robert A. Heinlein" - "Publishers Weekly". "Delivers fast-paced scenes of combat, and pays attention to the science underpinning his premise" - "San Francisco Chronicle".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #375 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

The Times
'Clever dialogue, fast-paced story and strong characters.'

Synopsis
With his wife dead and buried, and life nearly over at 75, John Perry takes the only logical course of action left: he joins the army. Now better known as the Colonial Defense Force (CDF), Perry's service-of-choice has extended its reach into interstellar space to pave the way for human colonization of other planets while fending off marauding aliens. The CDF has a trick up its sleeve that makes enlistment especially enticing for seniors: the promise of restoring their youth. After bonding with a group of fellow recruits who dub their clique the Old Farts, Perry finds himself in a new body crafted from his original DNA and upgraded for battle, including a brain-implanted computer. But all too quickly the Old Farts are separated, and Perry must fight for his life on various alien-infested battlegrounds. "Scalzi's astonishingly proficient first novel reads like an original work by the late grand master, Robert A. Heinlein" - "Publishers Weekly". "Delivers fast-paced scenes of combat, and pays attention to the science underpinning his premise" - "San Francisco Chronicle".

About the Author
John Scalzi is an author and online writer, known for his blog Whatever, at which he has written daily on a number of topics since 1998. Old Man's War, his first novel, was a finalist in the Hugo Awards.

Customer Reviews

Excellent
I really enjoyed the book (and am now reading the next in the series). I found the book very easy to read. I find some books take an age to get "into" as you have to become familiar with the variety of characters from the start (not bad but can make a boo harder to get started on). I was totally involved after the first few pages. The characters are rich and varied but you don't have to struggle through many chapters to get to know them.

To recommend a books is difficult as different people like different types of book. All I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed it and am currently thoroughly enjoying the next in the series (and ordering the 3rd and intending to read more of the same author).

Ian

War is Hell of a Read
The author acknowledges the debt to Robert A Heinlein but not having read Starship Troopers I will have to compare this to two other awesome Sci-Fi war books. If you loved Armour by John Steakley or Salt by Adam Roberts then you are in for a treat. Not has nihilistic as Armour, not as political as Salt but just as fast paced and addictive. This is Sci-Fi adventure for grown-ups. Everything you need is here, including space marines parachuting in from orbit, hand-to-hand combat with alien warriors and dramatic spacecraft crash landings. The future portrayed here may be fascistical and violent but the book is always extremely entertaining.

bigears
This is a special book from a good serie. In many respects the author has borrow heavily from many places but has created a vibrant and exsiting universe all of his own.

If you like this try 'Starship troopers' or 'forever war' you will really enjoy them.