Old Man's War
John Scalzi · 2005
At 75, you join the Colonial Defense Forces, receive a new body, and fight aliens. Scalzi's 2005 debut is Heinlein for the 21st century, with the militarism played straighter than expected and the old-age perspective lending genuine weight.
The case against
Heinlein's furniture, rearranged: boot camp, wisecracking drill sergeants, bug hunts, with Scalzi's banter issued to every character like standard kit, so a 75-year-old widower sounds like a snarky blogger. The forever war underneath goes conspicuously uninterrogated; aliens exist to be exotic, then dead. Fast and likable, and thin in the way fast and likable usually is.
Science Fiction & Fantasy · the Pro canon
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