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On his seventy fifth birthday John Perry did two things. He visited his wife's grave and then he joined the army. This sounds quite surreal but it is not a dream. To be more precise, John Perry joins the CDF - The Colonial Defense Force. Once you sign up to a tour of duty with the CDF you are pronounced legally dead. And once you leave the Earth you are forbidden to ever return. I wondered as I began to read this novel what shape or form is a group of septuagenarians going to take in order to influence the tides of battle on distant worlds against unfriendly alien creatures. The answer unsurprisingly is through miraculous rejuvenation techniques. The consciousness of the person is transferred into the bio-engineered body of a grown human being. This new body is to die for, both physically and mentally. Perry is thrust into the military life of new cadet. He quickly learns that the universe is populated by a menagerie of various exotic aliens - some friendly, most belligerent, towards humankind. The causality rate is very high with various aliens having developed hatred's against and tastes for human flesh. His years of hell are only just about to begin. Scalzi's first novel is an impressive endeavour. He creates characters likeable, perhaps too likeable, who populate all levels of the industrial war machines that is the CDF. The pace of the book is adrenalin pumping but with very little plot twists. It's a simple us versus them scenario. The galaxy is awash with alien life but somehow the majority are on a technological par with the CDF. Squaring up against unfriendly aliens on a too regular basis gets to be a little dull and I wanted something more substantial in the storyline. John Perry faces a nervous breakdown as the months wear on. He simply can't accept the fact that less than a year ago he was a respectable old man and now he is a trained killer. Scalzi fleshes out his character to an empathic degree of realization but regardless of how well intentioned Perry was as a pacifist on Mother Earth, the military trained and equipped him with the bare minimum to survive - he simply has to kill. It is a novel peppered with some good humour which can grate after a while, characters all too willing to do what needs to be done, aliens which make it easy for the CDF to never to have to justify it actions. Set you brain to auto pilot while you read this book and don't worry too much. It's mind candy for those with itchy trigger fingers.

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