Title - Starship Troopers
Author - Robert A Heinlein
Year - 1959
Stand Alone or Series - Stand Alone
Pages - 264
Reading Time - 5 days (January 2008)
Rating - 8/10
Summary
Juan Rico signed up with the Federal Service on a lark, but despite the hardships and rigorous training, he finds himself determined to make it as a cap trooper. In boot camp he will learn how to become a soldier, but when he graduates and war comes (as it always does for soldiers), he will learn why he is a soldier. Many consider this Hugo Award winner to be Robert Heinlein's finest work, and with good reason. Forget the battle scenes and high-tech weapons (though this novel has them)--this is Heinlein at the top of his game talking people and politics.
Review
This was an interesting reading. I've being wondering when I would do it and after seeing another time the movie I decide myself to do it. Both the movie and the book are quite good. Believe me. I've read the critics of both the movies and books. They both are stupid. They are so stupid as the ones that consider Tolkien racist. Why people are so single-minded? What a frak guys? You write a book as you want. Stop criticising and putting words and meanings in other peoples work. If Heilein wanted to write a fascism futurism book so be it. It's his right as you have your right to not-enjoying the book.
Now for the book itself... Starship Troopers takes places in the future where a war between the Terran Federation is at war at the Arachnids ("Bugs"). The book starts as Rico (our main protagonist and part of the Mobile Infantry) is travelling in a corvette to battle the bugs in one of their planets. Then the story flashes back into the past where we get to see Rico Gradutation and decision to sign up for Federal Service without the support of his father. We get to know is Fleet Sergent Ho a recruiter and retired Lt. Colonel Dubois, Rico's school instructor. Next we get to see Rico in boot camp and his experiences while in it. Meanwhile we get to see how the war began and how the Arachnids destroyed Buenos Aires. After several incidents and flashbacks and flashforwards he is enlisted in Rasczak's Roughnecks named after his lieutenant. Eventually rico becomes a career soldier and attends an Officer School that happens to be like boot camp. He graduates and becomes a second lieutenant. The end we get to see Rico owning his own battalion and his father (that has enlisted after the dead of Rico's Mother) and serving under him.
The main character is also the character that Heinlein uses to show us the moral and philosophical aspects os suffrage, civic virtue, the necessities of war and capital punishment. With Dubois serves as a pro-war and opinions on several subjects and Ho the inverse. The main character is well developed and not in any way two dimensional or a character without any kind of depth.
The movie is also on it's own rights a good adition to the military sci-fi out there. In my opinion gave us some perspective not so developed as the book about a future (probably not our future but a possibility). The action scenes are well made and even if the book develops more discussion about some ideas the book gives us some hints. In the book Rico was philipine but on the movie he was not. Probaby argentinian since his hometown was Buenos Aires.
Would I advice this book/movie? Certainly. It was a mark to military sci-fi and it gave us some new perspective. Even if these book defends a militarism society with fascism ideals why is is so shunned noawadays? In the 1960 he receive the Hugo Award but nowadays people are against the book. Why? Why the frak are the communism books or anarchist or democrats any better? It's point of views. If you are a one of those three aligned person who follow either political ideals you should read this book. After all is another view of a world. You are so for "liberty of speech" and such idioties so why can't you leave a guy alone because he has different political views?
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