Review of Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Or... Space Guns Go Boom Boom: A spaghetti space western starring forgettable characters and lazy contrivance. Old Man's War starts off strong with sincere, amusing characterisation. It deploys humour without the exclamation points and sincerity that's quiet and real. I believe John loved his wife profoundly, and misses her terribly, but that eight years have passed and the feelings are deep but no longer raw. That he has quiet scars on his soul. The author doesn't ever try and say "My heart ached at the loss, every day, like an earthquake levelling Japan" but instead makes simple, real observations: "I miss my wife. It’s easier to miss her at a cemetery, where she’s never been anything but dead, than to miss her in all the places where she was alive." That's beautiful. It's showing, not telling, and what endears me immediately to the main character. I also believe in John's age. It's a first-person view of a 75-year-old and I believe ...