Old Man's War cover art

Old Man's War

Military Science Fiction Adventure

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Old Man's War

By: John Scalzi
Narrated by: William Dufris
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About this listen

The universe is a dangerous place in John Scalzi's Old Man's War, the first in The Old Man's War series.

At seventy-five years old, John Perry is after a fresh start - so, naturally, he joins the army. Earth's military machine can transform elderly recruits, restoring their lost youth. But in return, its Colonial Defence Force demands two years of hazardous service in space. This is how Perry finds himself in a new body, crafted from his original DNA. A genetically enhanced and upgraded new body, ready for battle.

But upgrades alone won't keep Perry safe. He'll be fighting for his life on the front line as he defends humanity's colonies from hostile aliens. He'll pay the price for his choices, and he'll discover the universe is even more dangerous than he imagined.

Continue the gripping space war series with The Ghost Brigades.

 Fantasy Fiction Hard Science Fiction Humorous Military Science Fiction Space Opera Comedy War

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Critic reviews

Gripping and surpassingly original. It's Starship Troopers without the lectures . . . It's funny, it's sad, and it's true
I enjoyed Old Man's War immensely. A space war story with fast action, vivid characters, moral complexity, and cool speculative physics, set in a future you almost want to live into, and a universe you sincerely hope you don't live in already
John Scalzi is the most entertaining, accessible writer working in SF today
Scalzi is one of the slickest writers that SF has ever produced
Clever dialogue, fast-paced story and strong characters
It gladdens the reader's heart . . . great fun
Top-notch. His combat scenes are blood roiling
Astonishingly proficient
All stars
Most relevant
At first when the book began I thought the story was going to be a slow, drab affair, but about 10 minutes in my mind was changed. I am currently 6 hours in, and think its worth writing a review already. I was listening to this in my car on a long journey home from Scotland, and at times it had me crying with laughter, particularly the drill sergeant scenes. William Dufris does a fantastic job, a minor quibble may be his grasp of the female voice for those characters, somebody else said he said like a drag queen, that's a spot on description, but it doesn't in any way detract from his excellent narration of the story, clear, concise, with a great ability at bringing home the jokes like they were meant to be read.
The story itself is a great change from the standard sci fi fayre, its not all about the tech, although it is of course mentioned and in some cases explained, its more about the characters, who are engaging and memorable. This really is worth a listen, can't recommend it enough.

Top marks. Good fun, certainly made my drive down the motorway fly by!

Unnexpectedly funny, new take on Sci Fi Cliche

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A great story in the Avatar mould but with a complete human backstory. The characters are superbly played out by William Dufris wonderful voice acting (even if most of his women sounded pretty similar) but that can be forgiven for the lovely sarcasm and wit that shone through in the storytelling. Would recommend to anyone who loves an underdog-comes-hero type story, with a healthy dollop of space sci-if to boot.

Great story and wonderfully narrated.

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love the voice acting well done. it reminded me of the internal voice i would use when reading pulp science fictiin books from the 50s and 60s. The narrator of Stranger in A Strangeland had this voice whooup.

Great story, great main character, interesting periferal characters leads well into the next book

super story excellent all round idea.

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This is a great book for any fans of sci fi
If you like halo or anything like that this is for you
There are also at least three other books in the series to check out. If you are a parent reading this I would say this book is for the age of 11 and Above
I couldn’t tell you how good this book really is but definitely get it.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

This was awesome

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I enjoyed this first installment of the series, its timeless, well written, and fairly light.

Excellent and original sci fi, easy read

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