Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Jan. 1st, 2010 12:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrThis is the first book I've read in a bit that was neither a children's book nor a romance novel. EDIT: And now I remember I was recced it in a discussion of sf with good romance plots, heh.
EDIT 2: I didn't realise this was part of a series. If the stuff that was missing from this book turns up in the later ones that puts this one a different light.
And, well..it's made me feel less embarrassed about reading romance novels and children's books. Not that it's bad, I quite enjoyed it, but it's pretty blatant manly wish fulfillment.
The premise: many years ago the colonists went into space, and now have a monopoly on space travel and space (ostensibly for reasons of Quarantine but noone on Earth buys that) The only way to get into space is to be from a third world country or join the military once you hit 65. Noone knows how they turn 65 year olds into soldiers but many sign up to find out, including the hero.
The process of joining the military was pretty interesting, but once he did it was fairly straightforward war-is-hell-band-of-brothers stuff, albeit much better at keeping me interested than that genre usually manages. The hero goes from just some guy to the Extraspecial-iest Soldier in the Army through sheer smarts and awesome to an extent which stretched my incredulity by the end.
There's a few genuine attempts at updating the old formula: some relatively well drawn female characters who weren't all love interests, a gay friend who's gayness isn't a big deal, and some nods to ethnic and cultural diversity and the fact that maybe the whole colonising-and-warring thing isn't the best way to engage with the infinite diversity of space.
But despite most colonists being non-Western POC the army is incredibly American and fairly white and we never get any connections to the presumably less American colonist's culture. And the brief nods to "maybe colonising other planets is kind of bad" are imo far overshadowed by the "LETS KILL THOSE EVIL ALIENS" parts.
EDIT 2: I didn't realise this was part of a series. If the stuff that was missing from this book turns up in the later ones that puts this one a different light.
And, well..it's made me feel less embarrassed about reading romance novels and children's books. Not that it's bad, I quite enjoyed it, but it's pretty blatant manly wish fulfillment.
The premise: many years ago the colonists went into space, and now have a monopoly on space travel and space (ostensibly for reasons of Quarantine but noone on Earth buys that) The only way to get into space is to be from a third world country or join the military once you hit 65. Noone knows how they turn 65 year olds into soldiers but many sign up to find out, including the hero.
The process of joining the military was pretty interesting, but once he did it was fairly straightforward war-is-hell-band-of-brothers stuff, albeit much better at keeping me interested than that genre usually manages. The hero goes from just some guy to the Extraspecial-iest Soldier in the Army through sheer smarts and awesome to an extent which stretched my incredulity by the end.
There's a few genuine attempts at updating the old formula: some relatively well drawn female characters who weren't all love interests, a gay friend who's gayness isn't a big deal, and some nods to ethnic and cultural diversity and the fact that maybe the whole colonising-and-warring thing isn't the best way to engage with the infinite diversity of space.
But despite most colonists being non-Western POC the army is incredibly American and fairly white and we never get any connections to the presumably less American colonist's culture. And the brief nods to "maybe colonising other planets is kind of bad" are imo far overshadowed by the "LETS KILL THOSE EVIL ALIENS" parts.
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-01 05:17 am (UTC)Yes, I'm a fan, and I like this kind of thing. I say it's worth your time to read the rest of the series for the less warlike bits.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-01 06:16 am (UTC)What made you pick up Old Man's War? I wouldn't have pegged you for it.
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Date: 2010-01-01 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-01 05:18 pm (UTC)Sf has long had that "Ew, don't get emotion-cooties in my books!" thing going on, so while you do see relationships start sometimes, I'm afraid they do tend to read more "win the girl and other fabulous prizes!" than "romance." That, or they just tend to be a fairly minor part of the book. :-/
Jumper, perhaps? YA spec-fic by Steven Gould, set in contemporary Texas. Main character is an abuse survivor (major part of the book, so trigger warning), but the romance in there is, I dunno, a quarter-ish of the book? Maybe? (Long time since I've read it. And there's a terrorism sub-plot that may or may not have racial problems with it; I really don't remember the details about it, only that it was there.)
John Barnes's A Million Open Doors, perhaps. (Again, a lot of years since I read it, so I can't vouch for it on racism or such.) A Million Open Doors might well annoy you, though: at the opening, the principal characters are a group of young men running around having duels and stuff, and getting mad at their girlfriends for not being devoted enough. They grow up a bit -- or at least one of them does -- but it remains very male world-view throughout.
In both books, the relationship that developed in book one is significant in book two, as well. Even though SF doesn't do romance much, it does do marriages, in a way that I don't associate with lots of other genres.
Sherri Tepper's Grass had multiple romance storylines in it, but in a way that reads more fantasy of manners than "romance." (It's technically more SF than fantasy, as much as you can make a distinction between the two.) I've seen multiple people rec it enthusiastically, but it mostly just really, really annoyed me. (Lots and lots of middle class white woman guilt.) So.
As weird as this is going to sound, there are significant romances in many of Butler's books. (I adore Dana and Kevin in Kindred, f'rinstance, and I think there's a romance in Parable of the Sower? And I know there's one in Dawn.) But the thing with Butler is that she is all about what you do when you've lost everything, so, um, you can't really trust her to not put the romantic lead on the chopping block. Because she does. She totally totally does. So while I'd say that the romantic relationships are one of the things I really like about Butler, you should never go into a Butler book because you like romances.
...and I think that's the thing with SF. It's a genre, which means it has its own set of things that it's "about". Romance is not one of those things. So sometimes there will be a love interest, and sometimes that love interest and burgeoning relationship will even be hugely significant, but it's usually there in service to some other end. I dunno that you could pick up an SF book because you heard it has a decent-for-SF romance storyline, and in the end feel anything other than disappointed in it. Because the romance is just hugely unlikely to be much more than one of the things that happens along the way.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 02:44 am (UTC)Of the books you mention I've read Jumper and "The Parable of the Sower" and yeah, I wouldn't really classify them as romances to the extent that you could read them primarily for the romantic plotline, but both were done pretty well.
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Date: 2010-01-02 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-01 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-01 08:09 am (UTC)Well, green actually. There are non-white Americans in there except once they're all green you can't tell anymore. [Aside: now that I think about it I wonder if Scalzi was making a point there.]
And as Stephbg pointed out this is a deliberate choice on the part of the Colonial Union. The fact that westerners have to be 75+ to emigrate straight into a shooting war is a source of some resentment (in at least one character shown on the page).
I would also second stephbg's recommendation to read the rest of the series as things get very different and not all is as it appears (not by a long shot).
no subject
Date: 2010-01-01 08:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-02 02:46 am (UTC)If the bits that were missed in "Old Man's War" are addressed in later books that's quite different, I didn't realise there were any later books.
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Date: 2010-01-02 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 04:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 05:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-05 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-05 05:45 am (UTC)