Old Man's War

[sawyl]

Travelling by train on the last day of half-term is seldom to be recommended. But thanks to John Scalzi's Old Man's War, a funny, Heinleinesque slab of military SF, today's journey really seemed to flash past.

The book opens with a neat conceit. Although set a few hundred years in the future, Earth has become a backwater, disconnected from humanity's efforts to colonise the galaxy. The only think people really seem to know about the Colonial Defence Force is that you can join when you hit 75 and they somehow give your youth back and send you out to conquer the galaxy for humanity. Which means that when John Perry signs up to join the CDF, he really doesn't have the first clue about the world he's about to enter. So as Perry and his friends get used to their new bodies, pass through basic training and learn about the universe, the reader gets to watch over their shoulders.

And the truth, Perry quickly discovers, is that the universe is a nasty, violent place packed full of scary aliens who've got it in for humanity. Some are religious fanatics. Others are determined to contest colonisation and mineral rights. While some have just developed a taste for human flesh — one group of aliens even go as far as taking a celebrity (alien) chef on campaign with them, just to make sure that they have they have the latest long pig recipes on hand.

A lot of the appeal of the book comes from the humour and charm of John Perry. He starts the book as a wise-cracking coffin dodger whose only real regret is that his wife isn't alive to share the trip with him. The section where he and his new friends, the Old Farts, recover their lost youth are a sheer delight, from Perry's razor sharp comedy routine with his doctor to the wonderfully way they all decide to give their BrainPal PDAs obsene names.

But as the story unfolds, Perry's hidden depths start to come out. He has sudden doubts about his humanity in the middle of a fight with a bunch of one inch tall lilliputians, through whose city he has been stamping in best godzilla fashion. He has a chance encounter with a stranger who reminds him of his dead wife, gets dragged off on an insane mission and somehow manages to find time to remind himself that he really is human after all, green skin or no green skin.

Highly recommended.