Old Man's War Review (great military SF)

Mini-review #7
This is a series of short reviews for military SF and mecha SF.  You will not see a review of something I don't like as it isn't worth writing about in that case, but I will tell you what works for me and what doesn't about the stories I did like.  When I was writing my Exocrisis Blue stories and trying to find places to post about it or reviews of other mecha SF I was unable to find any, so I'm creating my own hub. Now onto the review.  For the master list of reviews, click here.
 
The title Old Man's War, by John Scalzi, first attracted my attention to this book years ago.  I devoured this book and then the next two books as they are just GOOD, with great characters and good military SF.  It is a favourite of mine up there with Starship Troopers so it lives in hallowed company.  The followup novel to this is titled The Ghost Brigades (what a great name too!) and concluded with The Last Colony.

xm25   Flickr / peo_soldier

The story is about John Perry, a 75 year old man who joins the Colonial Defense Forces to protect humanities interplanetary colonies.  After you sign up you cannot ever return to Earth.  The novel even plays up this very interesting point with some conspiracy theory-ish fun.   
John gets a new body, gets shipped off to boot camp, and begins the life of a super soldier.  BUT - you really aren't a super soldier by galactic standards as humans are pretty wimpy and being a super soldier just evens the odds a bit.  It turns out that humanity is deeply embroiled in a massive stellar war and things are desperate.  John and his buddies are shipped off to their first battle, survive it and then they get involved in a major operation.  At this point, I'll let you find out more as the story rolls on with lots of momentum.

This series of books is a highly recommended read.


Does it have a cast of characters listing? 
No.  

What is the scope / scale of the story? 
Small unit operations, battalion level ops within much larger campaigns.

Does it have likeable characters?
Yes.  I like John and a number of the other characters.  Even the spooky Ghost Brigade special forces have a face that introduce a major character who resembles John's beloved, but deceased wife of many years.  You really want to know what happens next with them. 

Does it have an entertaining storyline?
Yes.  You are taken along for a great ride in learning about the universe off of Earth from the point of view of John who is learning for the first time about everything off of Earth.  Good boot camp scenes and scenes about becoming accustomed to their new bodies.  Great touch! Intricate, but not byzantine story, makes for interesting reading.

How is the internal consistency / plausibility?
Yes. No problems with the story or universe filled with hostile aliens.  It is just fun with excellent world building and tense combat scenes.  Brain to brain transfers from an aging 75 year old body into a product improved human body that is stronger, better, faster, and tougher is a very nice touch.  

What cool bonus features are there?
Lots of cool tech from the engineered soldier bodies, BrainPal implants to access computers, the Ghost Brigades, skip drives, and orbital elevators - oooh, who doesn't like space elevators.