Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

What is it about?: This book is generally considered a classic of sci-fi, coupled with a very visible and opinionated philosophy which can be read as being pro-militaristic and I understand why would it be polemic. It follows a man along his military career in a sci-fi setting in which there is a war against aliens (called “bugs” coloquially) and it does dabble a bit into his personal life from time to time. He goes into missions, meets superiors and colleagues, sometimes they even die. He marches forward and he becomes a hero. Hooray!

Did I like it?: No. This book is a bad attempt at militaristic propaganda, under the thinnest veils one could possibly throw over a sci-fi setting. The fact that it’s supposed to be the future is barely important and the alien race is not fleshed out as for being granted anything more than the “bug” title. The character feels barely worked on, a mere vessel for ideology to be poured on and then for him to pour out without any commentary. Furthermore, the author feels the need to have the complete speeches of a certain professor character who goes on and on and on about his very regressive and outdated ideas that don’t even feel like the character really believes in. In sum, the text is not really worth the time to read it. And that is my opinion.

Read only if: I think this book can be very well suited for the reader who is accustomed to these sorts of books, these sorts of philosophies and these sorts of views about life. I don’t know about sharing them, because advocating for physical punishment for children… yeah, but at least if you are used to it, you can give it a go. It’s mercifully short. Just beware that the sci-fi plot (or the plot for that matter) is pretty much nonexistent.

My rating: I gave it one star. Originally I was going to give it a one and a half, rounded up to two, because the book is decently written and is not insultingly bad, but it gets very grating and boring past the middle point so it’s just one star. I hope whoever reads this likes it more than I did.

This month’s TBR: September 2020

For the end of winter and beginning of spring in the southern hemisphere (no I am not australian), I have a probably very depressing TBR, to be completely honest. But after reading so much classic stuff and elaborated writing styles, sometimes I want to read bloody murder. Or maybe that’s just me! 😀

For the month of September I have the following three books planned:

• Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein: I know there is a cult-classic movie based on this book, and a very dear friend of mine is a huge fan of it, so thanks to him this book is in this list. I can’t remember the details, which is going to make my experience reading this even better!
• The Harvest of Sorrows, by Robert Conquest: If there is something I never get tired of, is history nonfiction. And if there’s something I never get tired of, is thrash metal. How are they related? Harvester of Sorrow by Metallica is (to some debatably) based upon this true story and I am very intrigued about this part of history in this part of the world. This is a true story of tragedy, dehumanization and famine by the Soviet Communist Party upon the collectivized peasants of Ukraine between 1929 and 1932. This is rather appalling, so I have been mentally preparing myself for it for a long time.
• The Coffin Dancer by Jeffrey Deaver: This is the second book in the Lincoln Rhyme series, the first being The Bone Collector (having been made into a famous movie with Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington). I have read the first one and I liked it well enough to want to continue with the story. I don’t know if I will ever finish the series, it’s 14 books long (with some short stories added) but for now I will try to go step by step. Looking forward to some investigation and thrilling suspense.

Continuing with The Animorphs Challenge, September brings the following four books from this series: book 5, The Predator; book 6, The Capture; book 7, The Stranger; and the first book in the Megamorphs series, The Andalite’s Gift. More info on this challenge, past books and a full list in this link.

Do you keep track of the book series that you have started? I feel like if I don’t read them within a short span of time I tend to forget that I have ever started it and it’s a mess. I don’t even remember how many unfinished series I have!

Happy h*ckin reading, ladies and gentlefolk~