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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Military combat throughout; alien species deaths in battle; the violence is visceral and not sanitized
Language
Some
Adult language
Sexual Content
Some
Adult sexual content; the new bodies come with new appetites, and some scenes are frank
Substance Use
Barely any
Some drinking in military contexts
Emotional Intensity
Some
The philosophical question of identity when your body is replaced; the psychological weight of fighting as a soldier after a lifetime of peace
What this book is about
At 75, John Perry enlists in the Colonial Defense Forces—and receives a new, enhanced young body to fight humanity's wars for the colonies. Scalzi's 2005 debut is a loving homage to Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers: fast, funny, humane, and honest about the violence it depicts. The alien encounters are inventive and varied; the human cost of interstellar war is treated seriously beneath the genre pleasures. Old Man's War asks what makes a person who they are when their body is new.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Military violence throughout; battle deaths are not sanitized
Adult sexual content in the context of new enhanced bodies
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