Old Man's War

Old Man's War is a science fiction novel by John Scalzi published in 2005. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2006. A sequel, The Ghost Brigades, was published in 2006, followed by two other books, The Last Colony and Zoe's Tale. The first-person narrative is about a soldier named John Perry and his exploits in the CDF (Colonial Defense Forces). Old Man's War is similar in overall structure to Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troo... more

Old Man's War is a science fiction novel by John Scalzi published in 2005. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2006. A sequel, The Ghost Brigades, was published in 2006, followed by two other books, The Last Colony and Zoe's Tale. The first-person narrative is about a soldier named John Perry and his exploits in the CDF (Colonial Defense Forces). Old Man's War is similar in overall structure to Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Joe Haldeman's The Forever War as it follows Perry's military career from CDF recruit to the rank of captain. It is set in a universe heavily populated with life forms (much like David Brin's Uplift Universe); colonists from Earth must compete for the scarce planetary real estate which is suitable for sustaining life. As such, Perry must learn to battle against a wide variety of aliens. While the soldiers in Starship Troopers and The Forever War relied on powered body armor to gain advantage over their aliens, the soldiers in Old Man... less