The book Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi, was a fascinating read, for me, for two reasons:

Firstly, the premise underpinning the entire story was fascinating “John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. He visited his wife’s grave. Then he joined the army.”

Secondly, it is the first book, I can remember, that I have read in just one day. Sitting around waiting during jury service helped but the pacing and engagement of the story together with the “I wonder what happens next” feeling led to me wanting to read more.

The story is really well focused around the central character, John Perry, and follows the first few years of his military career (in the secretive CDF, Colonial Defense Forces) defending the earth from all manner of potential alien threats. He meets up with other seniors on the way up and they collectively form a happy band of “Old Farts”, as they call themselves, and stay in touch through a shared network. A key advantage of recruiting seniors is the decades of collected knowledge and experience they can be bring to the CDF – mind you who can bring experience in fighting new breeds of alien creatures?

The idea of regaining their youth is a common and tempting factor amongst the ageing recruits, which drives them to sign up, but do they really understand what the process involves? There is a promise of a minimum two year sign-up period, with an option for ten, after which they can give up their commission and settle down somewhere (away from Earth). That is, if they live that long. They also have to get through basic training – which is anything but basic.

Fortunately John has a head on his shoulders and quickly finds favour in the ranks, with a good measure of inventiveness and good luck thrown in for good measure. Eventually, he gains the attention of the Ghost Brigade, in particular the familiar Jane Sagan, will he become the first ‘realborn’ to actively serve in the ghost brigade? Or will he literally be torn apart at the seams? Can he even hope to keep up with humans born for warfare?

To give you some sense of the story line, three stories jumped to mind, Firstly, I was reminded of the movie Cocoon about a group of seniors who discover a swimming pool “fountain of youth” that makes them feel young again. Next, the Arthur C. Clarke story 3001: The Final Odyssey which continues the adventure of astronaut Frank Poole as he is discovered a thousand years later, drifting in space, frozen, and is brought back to life and gets to grips with new technologies way ahead of what he is used to. Finally, the movie Starship Troopers about a future where humans have to battle giant alien creatures and and struggle to come to terms with what’s going on around them.

At 319 pages the story the story is fast paced and well plotted and is definitely worth a few hours of reading time. It left me wanting to know more and I plan to read the sequel to Old Man’s War, entitled The Ghost Brigades.