Old Man's War

I picked this up in Waterstones the other day, purely because it was the SF novel of the month. But I'm glad I did. John Scalzi has created an interesting world in which 75 year-olds, their bodies decrepit despite organ transplants and cosmetic surgery, sign up to fight for the Colonial Defence Force, millions of light years away from Earth, knowing that they'll never return.

Why OAPs should be fit for this kind of active service is unclear to the pensioners. But they sign anyway, and soon all is revealed...

I won't give the story away, except to say that this is a rollicking space adventure, and it's not Cocoon. There are aliens a plenty and battles all over the place.

It comes as no surprise to realise that there are more stories to be told in this universe. I'll be there.

As an aside, Marc Andreessen, previously of Netscape, has listed Scalzi as one of his favourite SF novelists of the '00s so far.