I read this book because it came with a bundle of books by other authors for my kindle. I’d read THE GOD ENGINES and have been to Scalzi’s blog, so I’d heard of this book and decided to give it a try.
I liked THE GOD ENGINES very much, because I thought it was brilliantly done. While not as brilliant, I actually enjoyed this book even better because it’s not as relentlessly dark. Quite a few of the characters in this novel actually survive to the end.
Because, as the title suggests, this novel is about old people who join the army, it reminded me of other books about the military life. But it’s also a space-opera type science fiction, with strange creatures, odd planets, and new technology. It’s also got just enough of the kind of philosophy that sci-fi is so good at. It makes you think about technology, and what you might do with it. (I’m almost glad this kind of technology isn’t available here, because I know my dad would sign up, and then I’d only get one more year with him instead of the 15-20 I’m hoping for.)
I recommend this for people who want a fun, fast-paced sci-fi war novel written in Scalzi’s clean, readable prose.
