This book - starting with my review quintessence - was way out of my comfort zone. The main theme is war. The title doesn't lie. It explains its mechanics in some detail. It augments the facts we know about war with some interesting sci-fi twists, like aliens as a general concept. Do you feel as guilty about killing aliens as you do about killing humans? And what about aliens who can be killed with a single footstep. Worse? Easier?

So the sci-fi element is obviously not just for decoration, it serves a purpose. But it's still a war or anti-war piece, which, as I said, is not my turf at all.

The first half is used to set the scene. I really like the way Scalzi does it. A bit of fun here, a lot of detail there. The author then uses the second part to build up material for a whole series, which is probably my biggest point on the negative side. He doesn't really bring it to an end, which automatically makes it a war novel, not an anti-war novel.

This brings me back to the beginning. I don't like war or warfare. Yet it was interesting to read. But the lack of a clear anti-war statement bothered me a lot. I probably won't read the rest of the series. Book series can never build up to a climax like novels or short stories. So I don't expect a different perspective from the other parts.