Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

Omphalos

Orthodox Herbertarian
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Although I really am a decent guy when you get to know me, I'll admit that my own personal outlook has the entire world populated with idiots, and, I'm sorry to say, I'll probably consider you one until I get to know you and you prove me wrong. I get lots of on-line criticism about that. Well, maybe not exactly about that. More like for treating people I don't know like idiots, which in my mind and hopefully in the minds of all non-idiots is something that is seen as directly related to that particular outlook of mine. I guess that makes me a bit of an ***, but what the heck; at least I'm true to myself, and really, what else can we truly ask for in ourselves? I'm pretty sure that is also why I am so reluctant to jump on the bandwagon when a new, highly praised author comes along, although I also happen to believe that most new things are no good. But since said new author bandwagons are often built entirely upon the opinions of internet-idiots, I'll just chalk that one up to the former outlook. Find fault in that too, do you? Just look at where its gotten us with Kevin J. Anderson, and please admit that sometimes, I'm right.

So...a few years ago along came this new guy, a journalist of some sort, named John Scalzi. The idiot-mill immediately went into overdrive, and soon my favorite message boards were abuzz with the virtues of his first book, Old Man's War. My response was fairly typical. I ignored them all and told myself "if it's any good, it'll be available in 2015. I'll just read it then." On a lark I picked it up at the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library warehouse one day (I'm on the board of that organization, but I promise you, I didn't steal it - I got it for free for slaving away a Sunday in the warehouse last fall). Earlier this week I finished reading Odd John at about nine o'clock p.m. one night. I wasn't sleepy so I reached out and found Old Man's War in my hand. Thinking "what the hell, how bad can it be?" I opened it up and did not put it down until about two a.m. Oops. I had to fly to Portland the next morning. I couldn't keep my eyes open on the flight, so I finished it in my hotel that night. It was fantastic...Please click here, or on the book cover above, to be taken to the complete review..
 
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