Old Man's War

I've been a fairly regular follower of John Scalzi's blog for several years now, and yet I've never really felt compelled to read any of his fiction books (I did enjoy his Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies a couple of years ago though). Anyway, I was looking for a light, easy read which wouldn't require much concentration and this book turned out to be just the ticket. The story doesn't get any points for originality - the structure of the tale has been well established since Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Scalzi sticks to the formula pretty closely. However he injects a few interesting tweaks of his own and writes with a sense of humour which ensures that the familiar story of a fresh (old) recruit in a future space military remains engaging throughout.