Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

10 reviews

chigh's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I started reading Scalzi with Starter Villain, which I loved it's hilarious, light-hearted, supervillain story. To see if I liked Scalzi's writing further, I decided to go with  the Old Man's War series. I'm not sure that was a good decision. That statement is not a reflection upon this book. 

It's a pretty good book. I at least superficially liked the characters with in it. I'm not one to overly like war/military stories, but I did choose to read it). I didn't like the Full Metal Jacket cliché of "boot camp". But I did like the story of taking "elderly" people and giving them new life and putting them in new situations. I would like to have seen more, intentionally diverse characters in main roles and more interactions between them rather than battle scenes. Perhaps it's what they've been through that makes the characters, but we'll never know because it wasn't written that way. 

Because this series name is the same as this book, if it continues with nothing but war and battle, I may lose interest. I'd prefer conflict of a different nature.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

wickedgrumpy's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

This is my second book by John Scalzi and I’m beginning to think that they are not the author for me.  Their humor makes me cringe in secondhand embarrassment and I’m pretty sure it is not meant to have that effect.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

millydrisco's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Infertility, Racial slurs, Racism, and Murder

eliaa's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content and Cannibalism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cancer, Infidelity, and Pandemic/Epidemic

trisha_clay's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Rape

kihvod's review

dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia

iono's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Xenophobia, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Body horror, Cancer, Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, and Alcohol

lavi23's review

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

This is one long pro war pro colonization book. Killing of native population is mentioned as a necessary mean in the book and a lot of other very questionable actions are shortly discussed and then ignored. Why try diplomacy when you can just kill anyone, and kill they do. 
 The main character is the absolute super hero who has everything working out for him while no one knows why. It‘s well written but the story lacks depth, common sense and humanity. 
The more I think about the book, the more disturbing just the basic world building becomes. The outset is, that colonization needs to happen as some continents on Earth overpopulated. Like the Indian subcontinent, which had also been bombed with nuclear bombs by the US. The US is not overpopulated, has a lot of old people and the soldiers seem to be mainly US-American - so Americans to the rescue for a problem that they have at least jointly created. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Xenophobia, and War

novella42's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and War

singalana's review

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content