Another John Scalzi book, and another good one. This one is (arguably) his first novel. Quite military based, which tends not to be my favourite.

The premise is that a bunch of old people – hence the title – join the military for, effectively, a new life. Their bodies get some upgrades to make it worthwhile. Skipping a lot of detail there because much of the fun is finding out what’s happening.

What makes this book, for me, are the characters and the banter between them. It all seems, for want of a better word, real. It’s believable, and the bickering is convincing.

Maybe unsurprisingly for a book about armies and battles, there’s a lot of death but it’s balanced by a lot of heart.

I probably would not have got to this book had I not read some of his others first. That would have been a shame, as there’s a lot to like!