The Holy Terror

I liked this book better than Old Man's War, but only marginally so. I feel like Scalzi's goal is to create a "worst case scenario" and then proceed to figure out how his characters can work their way through it. This process is formulaic and less than organic, and leaves me feeling like I'm reading a person's "what if" diary. Scalzi doesn't rely on character development to tell his story, and by doing so I can't help but feel apathetic towards these peoples' plight. I felt more sympathy for the fuzzies and the dog than I did for any of the human characters.Scalzi writes well, and also has many quotable passages, but his stories lack a certain amount of "heart," and ultimately I feel like I'm reading a science textbook rather than a science fiction novel. I don't have any sort of attachment to the world or its characters, and in the end I'm left feeling distanced and cold. There's also a bit of lawyering that goes on that even further makes me feel bereft. This whole book reads like a technical manual on what to do "in case of," and didn't make me feel warm or "fuzzy" in the least.That being said, I think Scalzi does excel in some things. He plans out his stories well and the journey is a good one. If he could just get me to care about his characters he'd have a blockbuster on his hands. I'll keep trying, but I'm not holding my breath.