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A review by kmkasiner
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
3.0
I wasn't sure how to rate this. I loved the first half. The worldbuilding was fascinating and I liked the group of friends that formed.
I lost interest considerably once the battles actually started. (I know, war is in the title, and I usually wouldn't have picked this up, but it was a recommendation.) I ended up skimming some parts that were just pages and pages of strategy and fighting play-by-play. If Scalzi was intending to riff on Heinlein, he definitely succeeded in that, with the battles and the ingenue main character.
Overall, the characters ultimately could have used more fleshing out. Some of them blended together, and I found it a bit odd how easily John removed himself from his past life. He seemed to not care about anything except his wife. (His son was mentioned only once, and he apparently didn't have any friends on Earth.)
So, a middling three stars it is.
I lost interest considerably once the battles actually started. (I know, war is in the title, and I usually wouldn't have picked this up, but it was a recommendation.) I ended up skimming some parts that were just pages and pages of strategy and fighting play-by-play. If Scalzi was intending to riff on Heinlein, he definitely succeeded in that, with the battles and the ingenue main character.
Overall, the characters ultimately could have used more fleshing out. Some of them blended together, and I found it a bit odd how easily John removed himself from his past life. He seemed to not care about anything except his wife. (His son was mentioned only once, and he apparently didn't have any friends on Earth.)
So, a middling three stars it is.