The Old Man's War
6 primary works • 8 total works
Book 1
Book 2
They are the special wing of the Colonial Defence Forces, elite troops created from DNA of the dead and turned into the perfect soldiers for the CDF’s toughest operations. The universe is a dangerous place for humanity, as three hostile races combine to halt our further expansion into space. Their linchpin is a turncoat scientist, Charles Boutin, who unfortunately knows the CDF’s biggest military secrets. And to prevail against this alliance, they must find out why Boutin did what he did.
Jared Dirac is the only human able to provide answers, being a superhuman hybrid created form Boutin’s own DNA. Jared’s brain should therefore be able to access Boutin’s electronic memories . . . but when that appears to fail, Jared is instead passed on to the Ghost Brigades. Then, just as time is running out, Boutin’s memories slowly begin to surface within him . . . but all this while the enemy is planning something much worse for mankind than just military defeat.
Praise for Old Man’s War:
`Clever dialogue, fast-paced story and strong characters.’ The Times
`An original idea, which is brilliantly executed’ Sc-Fi Now
Book 3
Hard-core military science fiction at its very best, John Scalzi's The Last Colony is the third in The Old Man's War series.
'Gripping and surpassingly original' – Cory Doctorow, author of Walkaway
They must save themselves – or die trying.
John Perry was living peacefully on one of humanity's colonies – until he and his wife were offered an opportunity these ex-supersoldiers couldn't resist. To come out of retirement and lead a new frontier world.
However, once on the planet, they discover they've been betrayed. For this colony is a pawn in an interstellar game of war and diplomacy. Humanity's Colonial Union has pitched itself against a new, seemingly unstoppable alien alliance, dedicated to ending all human colonization.
As this contest rages above, Perry struggles to keep his terrified colonists alive on the surface below – despite dangerous interstellar politics, violence and treachery. And the planet has yet to reveal its own fatal secrets.
Continue the gripping space war series with Zoe's Tale.
Book 4
How do you tell your part in the biggest tale in history?
I ask because it's what I have to do. I'm Zoe Boutin Perry: A colonist stranded on a deadly pioneer world. Holy icon to a race of aliens. A player (and a pawn) in a interstellar chess match to save humanity, or to see it fall. Witness to history. Friend. Daughter. Human. Seventeen years old.
Everyone on Earth knows the tale I am part of. But you don't know my tale: How I did what I did - how I did what I had to do - not just to stay alive but to keep you alive, too. All of you. I'm going to tell it to you now, the only way I know how: not straight but true, the whole thing, to try make you feel what I felt: the joy and terror and uncertainty, panic and wonder, despair and hope. Everything that happened, bringing us to Earth, and Earth out of its captivity. All through my eyes.
It's a story you know. But you don't know it all.
Book 5
Hard-core science fiction at its very best, John Scalzi's The Human Division is the fifth in The Old Man's War series.
Lieutenant Harry Wilson has an impossible mission. He must help preserve the union of humanity's colonies, in the wake of a terrible revelation.
For years the Colonial Union has protected its citizens from the dangerous universe around them. But the people of Earth now know the ugly truth. The Union deliberately kept Earth as an ignorant backwater – and as a source of recruits for its war against hostile aliens. Now, other alien races have formed a new alliance against the Union. And they've invited the incensed people of Earth to join them.
Managing the Colonial Union's survival will take all the political cunning and finesse its diplomats can muster. And Harry and his team will be deployed to deal with the unexpected – for failure is unthinkable.
Continue the gripping space war series with The End of All Things.
Book 6
The universe is a hostile place in John Scalzi's The End of All Things the sixth in The Old Man's War series.
Our fate is in their hands . . .
The Colonial Union's Defence Force was formed to save humanity when aggressive alien species targeted our worlds. Now Lieutenant Harry Wilson has an urgent new mission, as a hostile universe becomes ever more dangerous. He must investigate a sinister group, which lurks in the darkness of space playing different factions against one another. They'll target both humans and aliens, and their motives are unfathomable.
The Defence Force itself is weakening as its soldiers fall - without recruits to replace them. Relations with Earth have broken down and it will send no more troops, even as human colonies become increasingly vulnerable to alien attack.
Lieutenant Wilson and Colonial Union diplomats must race to keep the peace, seek reconciliation with an enraged Earth, and maintain humanity's unity at all costs. If they don't, it will mean oblivion, extinction and the end of all things.
Peace is an illusion . . .
For a decade, peace has reigned in interstellar space. A tripartite agreement between the Colonial Union, the Earth, and the alien Conclave has kept the forces of war at bay. But there is a new force that threatens the hard-maintained peace: The Consu, the most advanced intelligent species humans have ever met, are on the cusp of a species-defining civil war. The Colonial Union, the Earth and the Conclave are at risk of being dragged into the conflict, whether they want to be involved or not.
Gretchen Trujillo is a former Colonial Union diplomat, trying to forge a new life away from the conflicts of nations, human and alien. But when she is called to take part in a secret mission involving representatives from every powerful faction in space, what she finds there has the chance to redefine the destinies of each – or destroy them forever . . .