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Old Man's War (Scalzi)

edited 2026-06-15

A complete reading order for John Scalzi's Old Man's War universe — all seven novels and four shorter works from Old Man's War (2005) to The Shattering Peace (2025). Covers both publication order and the in-universe chronological order, including Scalzi's own 2008 chronology guide, with notes on Zoe's Tale (which retells The Last Colony from a different perspective) and the serialized origins of The Human Division and The End of All Things.

sections1items11completed0 / 11 · 0%first2005latest2025
Tags · [main-novel][short-fiction]
books11 items · 11 unwatched
01NOVEL
2005The debut novel of the series, published by Tor Books in January 2005. Seventy-five-year-old widower John Perry enlists in the Colonial Defe…
320 pp
02STORY
2005A short story published in December 2005 as a limited-edition chapbook (574 standard copies, 26 deluxe) by Subterranean Press, with illustra…
28 pp
03NOVEL
2006The second novel in the series, published by Tor Books in February 2006. The Ghost Brigades are the Colonial Defense Forces' special forces…
320 pp
04NOVEL
2007The third main novel in the series, published by Tor Books in April 2007. John Perry and Jane Sagan — now retired from the CDF and living as…
320 pp
05NOVELLA
2007A novelette published in February 2007 by Subterranean Press, presented as a series of diary entries written by Lieutenant Jane Sagan — the…
104 pp
06NOVEL
2008The fourth novel in the series, published by Tor Books in August 2008. The novel retells the events of The Last Colony entirely from the per…
336 pp
07STORY
2008A short story published online at Tor.com in July 2008 and later included in the hardcover edition of The Human Division. The story features…
30 pp
08NOVEL
2013The fifth novel in the series, published by Tor Books in May 2013. Originally released as thirteen serialized episodes between January 15 an…
432 pp
09STORY
2013A short story by John Scalzi published in 2013 as extra material in the hardcover edition of The Human Division, later released electronical…
12 pp
10NOVEL
2015The sixth novel in the series, published by Tor Books in August 2015. Originally released as four novella-length serialized episodes in June…
384 pp
11NOVEL
2025The seventh novel in the series, published by Tor Books on September 16, 2025. Set ten years after the tripartite agreement between the Colo…
288 pp