- Scalzi, John.
Old Man's War.
New York: Tor, 2005.
ISBN 0-7653-0940-8.
-
I don't read a lot of contemporary science fiction, but the
review by Glenn
Reynolds and those of other bloggers he cited
on Instapundit motivated
me to do the almost unthinkable—buy a just-out science
fiction first novel in hardback—and I'm glad I did.
It's been a long time since I last devoured a three hundred
page novel in less than 36 hours in three big gulps, but
this is that kind of page-turner. It will inevitably be
compared to Heinlein's
Starship Troopers.
Remarkably, it stands up well beside the work of the Master, and also
explores the kinds of questions of human identity which run through
much of Heinlein's later work. The story is in no way derivative,
however; this is a thoroughly original work, and even more
significant for being the author's first novel in print. Here's a
writer to watch.
April 2005 