"Old Man's War" by John Scalzi

I found this book at a library book sale and I immediately thought, "Hey, I have a friend who loves Scalzi!" So I paid $0.50 and took it home.

Summary: Humanity has colonized uncounted worlds and found that we are not alone. As the Colonial Union literally and figuratively rockets forward, they leave Earth in the dust. John Perry is 75 years old and not particularly interested in being old any longer. The Colonial Defense Force has the technology to make people young again, but they haven't shared that with Earth scientists. The only way to benefit from it is to enlist. And if you enlist, you can't go home again.

Perry says good-bye to his whole life and signs up for a second chance. He and a thousand other recruits are trained in the art of combat. People from all professions are there with the same goal of extending their lives, which means politicians, farmers, scientists, teachers are all brought together with a lifetime of experience and emotional investments that make them a particularly unique fighting force. They are the front line defending humanity from the exotic dangers of the galaxy and having nieces, nephews and grandchildren back home gives them that added incentive to do their best.

What I Liked: Something about Scalzi's writing style is perfect for me. Each sentence seems to be exactly what it needs to be to get the point across and introduce you to the next sentence. I read this book very quickly (by my standards) and I am eager for the sequel. He does a great job with foreshadowing so that there are a series of mysteries throughout the book, keeping me interested.

What I Didn't Like: The faster-than-light skip drive gives me the shivers.

Rating: Must Read.

Also Read by this Author: None.

Reviewed by: Nick

"Beginnings" By David Weber

This book is part of a collection of books lovingly called the Honorverse because the first books started by following Honor Harrington, an officer of the Royal Manticoran Navy. I have read nearly all the Honorverse books, but this is the first one since we started the blog. 

Summary: First, a summary of the Honorverse novels, since this book is part of a series. In the year 2103, humanity began colonizing other star systems. The process was slow at first, but with new hyperspace technologies it became possible to travel faster than light and the number of colonies soared into the thousands. In the year 1416 Post Diaspora, humanity colonized the Manticore star system, where Honor Harrington eventually is born and becomes an officer. Most of the books are dedicated to her adventures commanding starships in battle against enemy star nations, pirates, terrorists and incompetence. There are also three spin-off series based on cool characters that are introduced in the main series, but only briefly cross paths with Honor Harrington, one of these series is co authored with Eric Flint. There is one more series called Worlds of Honor, which are collections of short stories which take place in the Honorverse, but do not fit in one of the established series for some reason or other. Typically they are about side characters, or take place a long time ago or just do not fit in the story arch. Also, Weber invites other authors to write short stories for the anthologies.

"Beginnings" is the sixth anthology and includes five stories, two by Weber himself, and one from each of the following: Charles E. Gannon, Timothy Zahn and Joelle Presby. The first story is about a ship captain on Earth, shortly after the Diaspora, investigating a merchant vessel taken by pirates. He navigates the harsh politics of a world torn between its desire to explore and its desire to keep everyone under control while he finds the masterminds behind the crime. The second story takes place in space around the young star nation of Manticore, before Harrington's time. The star nation has experienced an extended peace-time and a mysterious enemy wants to take advantage of the lull in military spending. The vulnerable nation is attacked and the Royal Manticoran Navy struggles to fend it off. In the third story, Allison Chou and Alfred Harrington meet at the university and undergo quite the adventure before eventually becoming Honor's parents. The fourth story is a glimpse into the childhood of Honor Harrington as she wanders around the dangerous forests of her home planet and has a fateful encounter with some treecats. And the last story follows one of the first female officers in the Grayson Space Navy as she navigates uncharted territory.

What I Liked: Being a huge fan of the Honorverse, I love these little stories as they provide insight into events that are hinted at in the books, but never explained. It's like the saying about New York, “There are 8,000,000 Million Stories in The Naked City”. Well, these anthologies are a great opportunity to see bits and pieces of the other stories on the fringe of the main story line.

What I Didn't Like: These are short stories, and there is a chance Weber will never expand on your particular favorite. And in the anthology you end up jumping from story to story that you come out of the reading groove more than usual, but that is true will all short stories. It's also strange to have four different writing styles in one book. They emphasize different politics, technologies and conventions, which can be off balancing.

Rating: Must read. The Honorverse universe is the best setting for a book.

Also Read By This Author: 
Main Honor Harrington series: On Basilisk Station, The Honor of the Queen, The Short Victorious War, Field of Dishonor, Flag in Exile, Honor Among Enemies, In Enemy Hands, Echoes of Honor, Ashes of Victory, War of Honor, At All Costs, Mission of Honor, A Rising Thunder, Shadow of Freedom
Crown of Slaves series: Crown of Slaves, Torch of Freedom
Saganami Island series: The Shadow of Saganami, Storm from the Shadows
Star Kingdom series: A Beautiful Friendship
Anthologies: More Than Honor, Worlds of Honor, Changer of Worlds, The Service of the Sword, In Fire Forged

Reviewed By: Nick

"Priests of Mars" by Graham McNeill

This book was lent to me by a good friend. He and I both really enjoy the Warhammer 40,000 universe and so he thought I would like it.

Summary: Thousands of years ago, Archmagos Telok built an Explorator fleet to cross the Halo Scar and bear witness to what lay beyond its destructive and obscuring gravity disruptions. No one has heard from him since, but recently a fragment was found. It came from a savior pod launched from Telok's flagship. Also, a message was received that he had found the "Breath of the Gods". These two discoveries were enough to inspire a down and out Archmagos Kotov to follow in Telok's path. After loosing prestige, Kotov knew he would need a big victory to come out on top, so he assembled his own fleet and set out to solve the mystery of Telok's disappearance and bring back the knowledge Telok failed to deliver.

In this book you follow a variety of people in the fleet, the mighty warriors of the Black Templar Space Marines, the mysterious geniuses of the tech-cult Adeptus Mechanicus, the towering Titan war-machines, the lowly bondsmen slaves of the engine room, and the rogue trader who found the fragment. You get see the lives of all these different people and watch them interact as they approach the Halo Scar, an enormous collection of deformed stars clustered together such that they distort gravity in violent and confusing ways. Trying to look at anything beyond the Halo Scar is nearly impossible and navigating through it is a near suicidal task, but the evidence that Telok may have done it and been rewarded is too much to ignore.

What I Liked: McNeill really lets you get to know all the characters in a way that you experience just how big of an adventure they have found themselves embarking on. It is easy to get invested in their story and become concerned that they make it through all their trials. 

What I Didn't Like: All the character development meant that the actual plot was a bit slow. I had assumed the book would include their entire journey, but about halfway through I realized there weren't enough pages to accomplish that. There are at least two sequels, which I intend to read, Lords of Mars being next. I would not be surprised if there end up being several more. 

Rating: I recommend this book for anyone who likes to imagine a futuristic universe well beyond anything we have experienced on Earth. I really do love the Warhammer 40k universe!

Also Read By This Author: None.

Reviewed By: Nick

"Homefall" by Chris Bunch

Years ago I read a sci-fi trilogy called the Last Legion. I liked it a lot and even got my best friend to read them. More recently, I was at a used book store that had the fourth book in the series. It never occurred to me that there would be a fourth book, and so was totally shocked when I saw it. This is that book. I read it immediately.

Summary: First, a little bit about the trilogy. It follows two recruits, Garvin Jaansma and Njangu Yoshitaro, of the Confederation Legion who are sent to the outer edge of the known galaxy to a quaint star system known as Cumbre. On their journey the transport is attacked and they barely survive and make it to their destination. On Cumbre it becomes clear that they were the last people to have any news from the capital Centrum. All communication and trade with the Confederation stops leaving Cumbre to fend for itself. Each book is a war, first there is a civil war on Cumbre, then aliens attack, then a neighboring star nation. Throughout the books it is just assumed the Confederation is gone and forgotten, but this fourth book finally addresses the issue. Garvin and Njangu are given command of a special expedition discover what happened to the core worlds. Their commanders had already tried sending drones to Centrum, but all were mysteriously lost. The two soldiers decide to disguise themselves as something everyone loves: a traveling circus! Collecting up performers and a big ship, the Circus Jaansma blasts off on an adventure. They jump world to world investigating the fall of the Confederation and getting tangled up in local politics. These circus/soldiers struggle to keep their identities secret as they piece together clues to answer their biggest questions.

What I Liked: It gave me a chance to revisit a favorite series of mine and see again some loved characters I had missed. It also had a lot of intrigue and spycraft which is exciting. I also found it comical when these ultra-violent soldiers were confronted with subtle politics, like a bull in a china shop.

What I Didn't Like: Bunch glossed over some stuff, making it feel like he was rushing through the book, not really savoring the story. Also, I suspect some of the scenarios would have ended differently in real life, assuming we had the technology.

Rating: I recommend the whole series for some fun military sci-fi action.

Also Read By This Author: The Last Legion, Firemask, Storm Force.

Reviewed By: Nick