Match BookOld Man's War
John Scalzi
2005 · 355 pages · Science fiction
How it reads
Old Man's War is science fiction (military science fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.
It's set in the wilderness or at sea, in the future, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are survival, identity and friendship. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.
It opens a series. The ending resolves happily. At 355 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something adventurous
- you want a book that pulls you through
- you want an escape
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or melancholy
- you want dense, lingering prose
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- science fiction
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- established
- Setting: place
- wilderness or sea
- Setting: time
- future
- Mood / feeling
- adventurous
- Pace
- fast paced
- Tone / weight
- light and escapist
- Length
- medium
- Narrative style
- first person, one narrator
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- first in a series
- Themes
- survival, identity, friendship
- Ending style
- resolved and happy
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
- Columbus DayCraig AlansonShares: science fiction, adventurous mood, light and escapist tone, military science fiction
In the AfterDemitria LunettaShares: science fiction, adventurous mood, light and escapist tone, fast paced- The Angel ExperimentJames PattersonShares: science fiction, adventurous mood, light and escapist tone, fast paced
CalamityBrandon SandersonShares: science fiction, adventurous mood, light and escapist tone, fast paced- RingworldLarry NivenShares: science fiction, adventurous mood, fast paced, resolved and happy ending
The MartianAndy WeirShares: science fiction, adventurous mood, fast paced, resolved and happy ending
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