Josh
As someone who loves military sci-fi this hit a lot of things I look for in the genre. The story gets moving quickly with good pacing and Scalzi does a great job making the world and technology easy to follow without drowning the reader in dense hard sci-fi expositions. I ended up reading the entire thing in about 24 hours because it just kept me turning the pages and I didn't want to put it down.
The biggest strength is easily the humour. The style is right in my wheelhouse with sarcastic banter, witty dialogue, and even some excellent deadpan humour throughout the entire story. Even in the middle of a war story (and part love story really) the characters feel fun to spend time with. I also appreciated that it never felt like it was trying to preach a particular viewpoint as military sci-fi often can. I greatly enjoyed the premise as well which I thought added some nice flair.
It's not a 5 star book for me though unfortunately. I didn't find the emotional weight often landed. Characters die, sometimes in significant ways, but the story rarely slows down to really explore the impact those losses have. Speaking of characters, while they aren't one dimensional, outside of John and Jane to some extent, I didn't find many of the supporting characters particularly deep or memorable outside their humour.
The other thing that held it back for me is purely a matter of personal preference. My favourite military sci-fi tends to balance light and dark. The humour alongside the overwhelming scale, danger, and horror of war. This book absolutely delivers on the humour, but I wanted more moments where the characters and myself as the reader really felt the enormity and terror of what they were facing before the humour cut through.
That said while it may not have had the atmosphere or emotional depth I personally look for, it was funny, fast paced and a genuinely enjoyable read.
4.5 Old Farts out of 5
As someone who loves military sci-fi this hit a lot of things I look for in the genre. The story gets moving quickly with good pacing and Scalzi does a great job making the world and technology easy to follow without drowning the reader in dense hard sci-fi expositions. I ended up reading the entire thing in about 24 hours because it just kept me turning the pages and I didn't want to put it down.
The biggest strength is easily the humour. The style is right in my wheelhouse with sarcastic banter, witty dialogue, and even some excellent deadpan humour throughout the entire story. Even in the middle of a war story (and part love story really) the characters feel fun to spend time with. I also appreciated that it never felt like it was trying to preach a particular viewpoint as military sci-fi often can. I greatly enjoyed the premise as well which I thought added some nice flair.
It's not a 5 star book for me though unfortunately. I didn't find the emotional weight often landed. Characters die, sometimes in significant ways, but the story rarely slows down to really explore the impact those losses have. Speaking of characters, while they aren't one dimensional, outside of John and Jane to some extent, I didn't find many of the supporting characters particularly deep or memorable outside their humour.
The other thing that held it back for me is purely a matter of personal preference. My favourite military sci-fi tends to balance light and dark. The humour alongside the overwhelming scale, danger, and horror of war. This book absolutely delivers on the humour, but I wanted more moments where the characters and myself as the reader really felt the enormity and terror of what they were facing before the humour cut through.
That said while it may not have had the atmosphere or emotional depth I personally look for, it was funny, fast paced and a genuinely enjoyable read.
4.5 Old Farts out of 5