Well, it's been a while since I posted here, but I can honestly say it's not my fault. I blame my internet connection, which won't ever let me login on account of there being "an insecure connection". It doesn't matter how many times I've tried it, or how many settings I've changed, it always says the same thing. So, here I am, posting on a different computer with a different server, etc. etc. etc.
Anyways... Old Man's War. What did I think of this book? I. Loved. It. Awesome book with an interesting universe containing a myriad of species and technologies. The plot is fast paced, and written in such a way that I almost literally could not put the book down. At first glance, it seems almost the stereotypical "mankind colonizing the universe" ordeal, but a few pages in, we're at odds against some 600 other races, all after the same planets we're after, and instead of your typical army, our space military consists entirely of old people. No offense to said old people, but when your youngest recruit just turned 75 a week ago, it doesn't make much sense. Now I don't want to spoil how all that works, so I'm just gonna skip ahead a few chapters.
(flips past a few pages) Um... Ah, here's something that won't spoil too much plot. Technology & You!
The tech we possess in these books (yes there are 4 books) is just amazing. First off, the human soldiers all have computers in their heads, referred to as BrainPals. Yes it's a cheesy name, moving on. These BrainPals allow the soldiers to communicate silently, access information at any time, without doing anything physically. They can watch movies while running through a forest, listen to music underwater, etc. But what really interested me wasn't their BrainPals, it was their weapons. Their "rifles", instead of being just that, are more accurately described as a "rifle/shotgun/automatic/grenade- and rocket-launcher" All out of the same block of ammo, too. The gun's firing mode is selected via brainpal, and then it machines the ammo right into the chamber. The ammo block itself is actually just that: a block of metal.
So, anyone else interested yet?
Until next time, thanks for reading.
