Old Man's War Series

by John Scalzi

This adult military science fiction series follows retired senior citizens who are given young, enhanced bodies to fight in an interstellar colonial war — only to discover the universe is far more complicated and morally ambiguous than the military has let on. The series is fast-paced, wryly funny, and engages seriously with questions about identity, mortality, and the ethics of warfare.

Books in The Old Man's War series in order:

Old Man's War Book cover
#
1
Old Man's War
Recommended For Ages
16
+

At age seventy-five, John Perry enlists in the Colonial Defense Forces who recruit only the elderly and receives a new engineered combat body, discovering that humanity is engaged in a brutal and constant war for habitable planets across the galaxy. Fast-paced, funny, and emotionally smart, the novel is an affectionate engagement with Heinlein's military science fiction tradition that also grapples seriously with mortality, identity, and the cost of war. A massively entertaining debut.

The Ghost Brigades Book cover
#
2
The Ghost Brigades
Recommended For Ages
16
+

The Special Forces of the Colonial Defense Forces soldiers born from the DNA of the dead with no prior memories investigate a traitor scientist who has defected to alien enemies, while a new Special Forces soldier named Jared Dirac carries the traitor's consciousness and must reconcile two identities. A sequel that deepens the moral complexity of its predecessor's universe. Tightly plotted and emotionally engaging.