Reddit reviews Old Man's War

Old Man's War. It's about an old man who joins the armed wing of Earth's colonizing force, which only recruits from the oldest portions of society. It's the first book in a series of books that deal with mankind's expansion into space, and the possible problems.

If you like science fiction, go buy it right now. Don't look at any plot descriptions, because most of them spoil the questions surrounding why only the old are recruited, which doesn't get answered until a third of the way into the book.

Scalzi's Old Man's War was excellent. I devoured it in the initial reading, and I've re-read it about 3 times since (all this year).

In all honesty, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are pretty tough to get into, since they are practically the ur-examples of fantasy, written back when a lot of commercial fiction methodology was still being developed.

When i read a book, I worry first and foremost if I'm entertained, if I am, I'll give it my recommendation, regardless of the flaws. These are the ones I think you'd find best for jumping in with.

YA/Middle Grade Books

• The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner (post-apocalypse)
  
  
• Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan (modern kid finds he's the son of Poseidon)
  
  
• Leviathan/Behemoth/Goliath by Scott Westerfeld] (World war 1 with mechs and genetically engineered animals)
  
  
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini (a kid finds a dragon egg and fights the big bad guy. As a warning, it uses the exact same monomyth structure as Star Wars so the similarities are... apt.)
  
  
  Fantasy
  
  
• Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (a gang of thieves try to rob the evil overlord)
  
  
• Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (a brutal war between about a half different factions over who gets the crown. Gets really complex fast so it might not be a great one to start with.)
  
  
• Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (I always say it's Oceans 11 written in the Game of Thrones world)
  Discworld by Terry Pratchet (I'd recommend not starting at the beginning.)
  
  
  Sci-Fi
  
  
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (it's Ender's Game. You must read this)
  
  
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi (Not sure how to pitch this. It's space marines fighting everyone)
  
  
• The Sector General Series by James White (It's like House, but in space with aliens. Not without flaws but very underrated in my view)
  
  
  Urban Fantasy
  
  
• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (a hard boiled private eye who is also a wizard)
  
  
• Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia (Band of mercenaries hunt monsters. The author is very libertarian/right wing so if you can't stand that, you might not like the books. The kindle edition has to be bought from the baen.com bookstore)
  
  
• Grimnoire Chronicles by Larry Correia (1930's with magic, zeppelins, etc Same warning as above, but it's more subdued here.)
  
  
  Thrillers/Suspense
  
  
• Da Vinci Code/Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (even though I think Brown really needs to improve his writing style, he still can get the books going pretty intensely)
  
  
• Jurassic Park, Timeline, Congo, etc by Michael Crichton (a bit tougher reads since they're pretty scientific, but still good stuff)
  
  
• John Grisham's early work such as A Time to Kill, The Firm, Runaway Jury, etc. (legal thrillers but not hard to get into. I'm not a huge fan of his later stuff)

Old Man's War by John Scalzi who's actually pretty cool blogger, and is an apparent good person

Use whatever makes the most dramatic and compelling story, and whatever reinforces the narrative itself. I'd probably start with throwing the reader into the middle and fill in the background as the main story progresses. For example, how Paolo Bacigalupi builds the setting in The Windup Girl or John Scalzi allows the setting to unfold in the background of Old Man's War.

You can always go back and write prequels, first contact stories, and the like afterward. Remember, Tolkien didn't start with the Simarillion either- he just threw the reader into the setting.

The question however is this: who's your target audience? Adults or young adults? If you can get an illustrator like Drachen to work with you (cause damn he's good), That would be something to consider in and of itself.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

This book is fantastic: http://www.amazon.com/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi/dp/0765348276

Maybe not rich histories, but very, very interesting for a stand alone book.

You've got some great suggestions so far- I'd also suggest Old Man's War ...it's fun.

Legacy of Heorot is also a good, fun read.

Connie Willis writes great short stories, and The Doomsday Book is one of the better time travel books that I've read (especially if you have any interest in history).

One of my favourite things to do is to pick up short story anthologies at the library, which usually gives me a good idea of which authors I'd be interested in reading.

Old Man's War

Fire Upon the Deep

Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America

xD ok this will be a long message bear with me.

1. Is there a synopsis of each story available?
   
   Yes! Every serial I write has a home page, and every home page has:
   
   

• Links to every part that is released
  
  
• A brief 'blurb' for the series, normally what I'd put on the back of the hardcopy :)
  
  
• Links to any artwork I've been sent or purchased of the series
  
  
• Links to any other media, like audio files or videos
  
  For my serials, the home pages are as follows:
  
  Flameweaver Saga
  
  Halfway to Home
  
  
  

2. I want to read other stuff
   
   From a quick browse-through of your comments I didn't see you crossing paths with any other serial authors - If you haven't read any of his stuff, I highly, highly recommend /u/Hydrael's work, over at /r/Hydrael_Writes! His Dragon's Scion and Small Worlds projects are exceptional! Small worlds is also published on Amazon!
   
   
3. I want to read traditional novels
   
   I can help with that! Some quick recommendations that I personally love - these are loosely ranked in order of how I'd recommend them, but the fact that they're here at all means they've got my support :)
   
   Fantasy novels:
   
   The October Daye series:
   
   

• Urban fantasy
  
  
• Awesome worldbuilding
  
  
• Is where I learned how to write twists, and where I picked up my penchant for chekov's guns
  
  Trickster's Choice/Trickster's Queen
  
  
• Traditional fantasy
  
  
• Wonderful politics and intrigue
  
  
• Influenced how gods are handled in Flameweaver
  
  
• Both written easily enough for young readers to understand, and complex enough for adults to enjoy
  
  Graceling
  
  
• Traditional fantasy
  
  
• A bit more well-known, but a surprisingly solid upper-YA read. Kind of a guilty pleasure book of mine haha
  
  Scifi Novels:
  
  Agent to the Stars and Old Man's War
  
  
• John Scalzi is the author I modeled my own writing style after. So if you like my style, you might like his too.
  
  
• Darkly humerous. Realistic and gritty, without being overpoweringly grim.
  
  
• Wickedly sarcastic
  
  The Ender Quartet
  
  
• A bit wordier/harder to read, after Ender's Game. The last book (Children of the Mind) is probably one of the most challenging books I've ever read. But rewarding.
  
  
• Long-running, intricate plotline
  
  The Ship Series
  
  
• Indie series I happened across a few years ago
  
  
• Upper YA. Younger characters, but dark content
  
  
• Well-written, relatable characters

How about giving him a book of Stephen King novellas? Four Past Midnight, Hearts in Atlantis, or, if he wants some really scary, dark stuff, Full Dark, No Stars.

Or Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos for military sci-fi. Or Old Man's War by John Scalzi. OMW is a terrific series. Love those books!

Fellow fan of series here! Let me see...

Young Adult
Percy Jackson series is fun (and finished, too, I think).
Artemis Fowl series isn't quite as good as Percy Jackson IMHO, but it's got a following.

Fantasy
Harry Dresden series This is one of my favorites. Harry is Chicago's only professional wizard. There are a ton of these books and they are still going strong.
Game of Thrones These are great...but unfinished. If you watch the show, reading the books does help you get even more out of the story, I think.
Wheel of Time Another good series. There is a LOT of this series and it's finished. (Thank you, Brandon Sanderson!)
Mistborn Speaking of Brandon Sanderson... This one is very good. I highly recommend reading the Mistborn books before trying the Stormlight Archive, but only because as good as Mistborn is, Stormlight Archive is even better.
Stormlight Archive Amazing. Man, these are good. The series isn't finished, but the two books that are available are some of my favorites ever.
Kingkiller Chronicles I loved the first book. I could not freakin' believe I enjoyed the second one even more. The third one is still pending.
Temeraire Dragons in Napoleonic times. Super cool premise! This one is not finished (I don't think, anyway).
Gentlemen Bastards Con men in a fantasy realm. It's pretty light on the fantasy elements. Very light, I'd say. I'd also say that it has some of the very best swearing that I've ever come across. :D

Scifi
Old Man's War I'm almost finished this one--it's amazing!

Horror/Thriller
Passage Trilogy I've heard these described as vampire books...maybe zombie books... It's apocalyptic for sure. Great books!

Mysteries
Amelia Peabody Egyptology + murder mysteries. Super fun, but trust me...go with the audiobooks for these. They are best when they are performed.
Stephanie Plum Total popcorn reads. If that's your thing, shut off your brain and just enjoy.
Walt Longmire These get particularly good as it goes along. The main character is a sheriff in modern day Wyoming. (Side note: The TV show is also great--just don't expect them to stick to the books.)

Graphic Novels (Everything recommended can be gotten in a "book" format instead of only in comic form, in case that matters. I've gotten most of these from my local library.)
Locke & Key Eerie as crap. Love the art! This one is on-going.
Y: The Last Man All the men on the planet drop dead in a day...except for Yorrick. REALLY good. This is the series that got me reading graphic novels. Plus, it's finished!
Walking Dead I am not a zombie fan...but I like these. They're not done, but I've read up through volume 22 and am still enjoying them.

Other
OutlanderI have no idea how to categorize these or even give a description that does them justice. I refused to pick it up for AGES because it sounded like a bodice-ripper romance and that's not my bag. But these are good!

I hope there's something in there that'll do for you. Have fun and read on!

Edit: Apparently, I need to practice formatting. :/
Edit 2: I forgot to add the Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentlemen Bastards #1).

Old Man's War

The Forever War

I just started Old Man's War (John Scalzi) a couple nights ago. Interesting read so far. I am tempted to set it aside for a bit and re-read Hyperbole and a Half, because it's just a good read. Also, the "Simple Dog" reminds me of a friend's dog. :)

Forever War is also one of my favorite books. If you haven't gotten to it, Old Man's War is really great as well. Scalzi also wrote a book called Red Shirts which tackles the problem with the poor no names who keep dying while their captain miraculously lives. It's a good sci-fi humor book

Ask, and you shall receive.

Swan Song - Robert McCammon Of the books I read last year this was my favorite.

Old Man's War - John Scazi - It's a pretty fun Military Sci-fi series

Leviathan Wakes - S. A. Corey - Near space, space opera.

Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson - Epic Fantasy with an interesting magic system, good place to start with a popular author

The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie - "Grimm Dark" fantasy, he does an interesting thing by playing with a LotR style quest.

The Black Prism - Brent Weeks - Interesting Magic system, one of my favorite ongoing fantasy series. Much better than his first trilogy IMHO

Midnight Riot - Ben Aaronovitch - Funny urban fantasy series that takes place in London

His Majesty's Dragon - Namoi Novik - Napoleonic* war + dragon's, fun quick reads.

Sevenes - Neal Stephenson - Stand Alone sci-fi novel about human's trying to survive in space as the world ends.

I can suggest more if you want, and I assume you've probably read at least some of these. Hope you enjoy some of them at least though.

Try:

• The Forever War by John Haldeman
  
  
• Armor by John Steakley
  
  
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi
  
  Hmm, apparently anything written by a John something or the other will work...

I've read all these books, and they were decent reads. However, I should mention some positives and negatives about the series.

PROS:

• The books are fairly well written.
  
  
• The plot line at least makes some decent sense.
  
  
• Some of the technology and tactics make sense as well, and the neat thing is the concept of light delay in astronomical terms in relation to combat positioning and fleet tactics. This is really the meat and bones of the books and is usually the most interesting to read (in my opinion anyways)
  
  CONS:
  
  
• There is a lot of deus ex machina with the fleet fights.
  
  
• There is a convenient hand waving of why the main character is so good at what he does. It's literally because everyone else is so terrible.
  
  
• The romantic subplots seemed a bit forced, and constantly talking about 'honor' and crap seems really silly in context of a fight to return home.
  
  OVERALL:
  
  I'd definitely check these out if you're jonesing for some science fiction, but there are definitely better books out there if you're looking for something amazing to read.
  
  OTHER SERIES / BOOKS RECOMMENDATIONS:
  
  Into the Black - EDIT: Had book 4 listed here instead of book one, fixed
  
  Lines of Departure
  
  Old Man's War

I'm in the middle of Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman's collection of short stories, and I'm loving it!

Link

You ALL still have Zoidberg!

You'd get along well with the main character from Old Man's War.

Old Man's War.

Train them in modern planes, give them regeneration and we would have Old Man's War.

It's not very sci-fi though, it's mostly just a sci-fi setting, but you're right it's not very recent.

Maybe Old Man's War would have been a better suggestion?

I would really suggest the series ,Old Man's War. I'm not very good with summaries but it is a fantastic series if you are into sci-fi. Essentially elderly people's minds are transferred to new bio-enhanced bodies to fight humanities enemies. Sounds really generic but really well done in my opinion.

If you are into more of a military recommendation and less of a sci-fi one I would suggest The Weapon

It was also mentioned but Starship Trooper is a classic book and one of the inspirations I had for military service.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0765348276?pc_redir=1412323595&robot_redir=1

The Old's Man War Series (link http://amzn.to/1T0yQSB) and Warship of the Black Fleet Saga (link http://amzn.to/1XgUCqm).

Good to hear from you. I am not a book critic at all so I thank you for letting me try.

>Indeed, the story is designed to start in media res, and the lack of familiarity with the setting is intentional. The next six chapters are dedicated to exploring the characters and the world around them. I've always found it more interesting when the reader is thrust into an unknown universe, only to have information about that universe slowly disclosed over the course of the story.

Ever read John Scalzi's work? In Ghost Brigades he does this very well in the first chapter where you are just boggled to the point that you can't put the book down to find out where the story will go next. I know that most writers do this, but that was the one that stands out right now. He is a great writer and I recommend him if you haven't read any of his work. Start with Old Man's War.

>You shouldn't ;)

Dang! If you can, link the next installment. I'll be having a slow day at work tomorrow!

• Ursula K Le Guin's Hainish Universe books: Worlds of Exile and Illusion, The Word for World is Forest, and The Left Hand of Darkness
  
• Iain M Banks' Culture Series
  
• Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series
  
• Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky
  
• Charles Stross' Singularity books
  
• Robert A Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, and Have Space Suit, Will Travel
  
• Michael Marshall Smith's Only Forward and Spares
  
• Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age and Cryptonomicon
  
• William Gibson's Neuromancer
  
• Larry Niven's Ringworld and The Mote in God's Eye
  
• Frank Herbert's Dune series
  
• John Scalzi's Old Man's War series

I hope the downvotes were more for my inartful and pretentious comment than against the book. Don't take my word for it though check out the reviews on Amazon. I like the book though because it blends classic space exploration scifi, like Heinlein, with more modern genetics, networking and computer technology speculation.

Old Man's War (recommended by Penny Arcade!)

And if you can consider this science fiction, then Infected it's pretty awesome, and very raw and gritty

• Armor - More ground base fighting in powersuits than in space - Second half of the book isn't very exciting - Audiobook is awesome
  
• The Forever War - War fought against aliens over a long period of time. Space and ground battles
  
• Old Man's War - Lots of advanced tech in these books with space battles and ground combat - This would probably be my first recommendation
  
• Currently reading Leviathan Wakes which is turning out to be pretty good

You'd enjoy Old Man's War

I recommend Old Man's War

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The beginning line is awesome: John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.

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It's part of an amazing series and they are all excellent books.

May I suggest buying a copy of Old Mans War by John Scalzi

Similar concept:

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

[Generic Amazon link] (https://www.amazon.com/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi/dp/0765348276)

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

https://www.amazon.com/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi/dp/0765348276

If you like sci-fi, read this.

Young Miles - Lois McMaster Bujold

Old Man's War - John Scalzi

On Basilisk Station - David Weber