Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein

Okay...Robert Heinlein is one the founding father's of modern science fiction along with Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke and Ron Hubbard (yes, the founder of Scientology!). I am really excited to be able to give my views on his work here, because I find that not many people have heard of him or are aware how influential he was. Apart from that side of things, he is the most thought-provoking and readable author I have ever come across. Even if you hate the reviews I do on his books, do yourself a favour, get hold of them - you WILL enjoy them. Starship Troopers has become well-known recently because of the film. It is not a bad film overall, but obviously ...  Read the complete review

Starship Troopers is one of the great foundation stones of modern science fiction. Written by one of the acknowledged masters of the genre, Robert A. Heinlein, it charts the progress of John Rico, a young man who desperately wants to earn the right to vote. This right can only be earned through serving a term in the services. The civilisation Rico is part of regards this “term of service” as a way of separating out the socially aware, ambitious people from the masses. Considering that this book was written in 1959 (first published in the UK in 1961) there are certain comparisons that can be placed at the door of the National Service programme that ...  Read the complete review

I was disgusted! No one had ever heard of the book "Starship Troopers" until the movie came out. The book pre-dates the movie by about 40 years, and is certainly a better tale than can be told in a 90 minute movie (Unless you want allow for the mandatory romance and nudity which Hollywood so freely throws into the mix in place of good solid plot. :-) ) I own a 1987 printing of this book, but surprise, surprise, it was re-printed in 1998 shortly after the movie release, so is still available in a store near you... This book follows several years of John Rico's life with several of his friends, through school and his lectures in morality, on ...  Read the complete review

Starship Troopers is set 5000 years in the future, and tells the story of one man's career in the armed forces. We follow Johnny Rico from his first impulsive decision to sign up, through the trials of boot camp, active service and finally officer training and command. In this future, humankind are fighting a bloody war against a race of insect-like aliens who threaten our very survival in the universe. At first glance this may seem like fairly sub-standard comic book stuff strictly for the under twelves, but there is actually far more to it than there initially appears. Robert A Heinlein's style makes for very easy reading, the pages fly by at an ...  Read the complete review

Seeing the other review of this has made me reliaze how few people have actually heard of Robert Heinlien. Now the other bloke vaugly describes the plot of the book, i'm going to elaborate (i hope). If you want to skip the badly written drivel, skip to the bottom. The book follows the progress of a young recruit as he joins the mobile infantry, along the way he meets lecturers, and the usual recruitment stuff. Where it veers from the film (which i incedently love for what it is) is that it centers more on the man and less on the sfx (which don't exist in a book). Also he (the main character whos name i can't remember) gains rank and gets to go ...  Read the complete review