REVIEW: John Scalzi's OLD MAN'S WAR

C John Scalzi's Old Man's War was nominated for a 2006 Hugo Award for Best Novel with winners to be announced at the 2006 LACon IV science fiction convention. I have been spending my summer trying to read the 2006 nominees since I was alerted to the full list by Kevin Drum in March. So far I have read Robert Charles Wilson's Spin (loved it!), Charles Stross' Accelerando (hated it--couldn't finish it--almost unreadable) and now Old Man's War. Kevin hated Learning the World, by Ken MacLeod, but I may give it a chance. I also have no interest in reading A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin.

The winner was announced on August 27, 2006 in Los Angeles and Spin was the winner for Best Novel! John Scalzi received a special award (not considered a Hugo) called the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer sponsored by Dell Magazines.

Scalzi's work will remind you one of the great Grandmaster of Science Fiction: the oft-imitated Robert A. Heinlein.

Old Man's War has a killer set-up and an engaging hook. The set up is that the Colonial Defense Forces of Earth are using genetically re-engineered seventy-five year olds to fight battles for human-colonizable planets with other alien species. The hook is that the story is told from a first person perspective. Both these aspects are encapsulated in the novel's first paragraph: "I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife's grave. Then I joined the army."

One of the (obvious) defects of this story-telling device is that since the protagonist of the story is also in the center of all the action it becomes increasingly untenable for the reader to suspend disbelief in the plot. However, if one does suspend disbelief and just go along with the ride, Scalzi is able to sweep one away with the fast pace and carefree nature of his prose.

REVIEW: B.