Have been waiting on a good sci fi for ages, recommended to all the sci fi girlies on insta, loved the plot and the characters. 5 star listen. Narrator well matched to storyline. Great job from author!

Source material of a favourite film.

A re-read, though I honestly can't remember it from 15-20 years ago! I've just re-watched the film with my 13-year-old (his first viewing) and had a hankering to look once more at where it came from, such a clever and funny satirical piece of sci-fi.

So I embarked on the journey with Johnny, deep into boot camp and his rather different society of civilians and soldiers, though most of this story does in fact focus on the training process. I can see other reviewers have an issue with this, but I found it fascinating.

The film may be very different, but there was much to learn of military procedure as well as a society in the future from Johnny's training experiences. Though it was sad to see how characters I like were so minor here.

It's not shoot-em-up on every page, there's a lot more consideration and discussion behind it all, but I wasn't ever bored with this. Johnny is actually a little more nuanced than in the film, the workings of the Mobility Infantry well explained.

I'll never be a fan of war, fighting and violence, but I did rate this.

I adore what Verhoeven did with this to make a spectacular sci-fi film out of it, and you can see the bare bones reproduced and sprinkled in his script, characters and plot, though they are very different creatures.

Enjoyed this as an audiobook, Johnny's voice is well narrated and it's a straightforward narrative to keep up with.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample audio copy.

'Starship Troopers' is a timeless sci-fi classic which is surprisingly thought provoking for what at first glance is a military action novel. It tells the story of Johnny Rico, a soldier in the mechanised infantry during an interplanetary war with insectoid aliens known as 'bugs'. In traditional coming-of-age style it follows Johnny from when he signs up straight out of school (partly to impress a girl), through his tough training, his deployments fighting alien ants on far flung planets, and finally his officer training and rise to lieutenant with his own platoon.

Despite an action packed opening, there is relatively little description of the fights themselves, and they aren't the strongest or even most gripping parts, being quite technical. The story is much more about Johnny's growth as a person, and about the philosophy of the society he lives in. The philosophical parts are written in a very readable way, and although I didn't agree with most of it, it was well and clearly conveyed and I found it very interesting to read. In Heinlein's imagined future, the world is ruled by the military, with only those who have performed military service able to vote or hold senior government jobs. The instructors in Johnny's 'history and moral philosophy' classes (which are the vehicle by which Heinlein weaves in these philosophical sections) describe 20th century society as being too soft, without proper discipline, allowing the rise of crime and disorder. They advocate a strict but fair system that includes corporal and capital punishment, more aligned to the early 20th century values of perhaps the Victorian era.

Johnny is a likeable character, and I wanted him to survive and succeed and found his story interesting even with the digressions into more general topics. He was also surrounded by good people, as he says himself, and they make for characters that are also good to read about. The book is very clearly written, never challenging to read even though it tackles difficult topics. The audiobook is well narrated and easy to follow. It's clear the author had served in the military himself and he provides a real insight into some of the motivations and lifestyle of career soldiers which I think are relevant regardless of the location and time period - that is what gives it its timeless quality. Perhaps it's a bit idealised in some ways - in terms of the way everyone is decent and honourable - but the sense of pride and loyalty felt by many soldiers is really strongly depicted and in my experience (being from a military family, though not having served myself) is not just fictional.

I would recommend this as a thought provoking and interesting book with good characters. If you are looking for non-stop action, it's not the right choice, nor if you want the focus to be primarily on the aliens and 'world-building'. Other than that, if you like a bit of sci-fi then it's well worth reading/listening to.

If you want to read a military space opera about the uber-masculine military spirit, this is for you. Sadly, I didn't have a good time. My eye twitched a lot with the gender aspects of this book, but overall I just didn't like the story or the characters.

This book has a curious little gender segregation thing going on in which men do lots of things and... the "female species" (this is how Heinlein often refers to women: female species, the female, ladies) are only here as 1) objects of desire by the manly soldiers and 2) to be amazing pilots (that's all 'the female species' is good at!).

There was a plot that I wasn't too interested in, but the plot didn't have as much spotlight as Henlein's own thoughts. I didn't enjoy all the political philosophy/morality ramblings. The plot was 'close' to All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (minus the whole time loop stuff), so I'll assume the Japanese book was very inspired by this book. I liked Sakurazaka's better. The action worked well in some parts, but this is mostly about Rico's journey in the military so it was difficult to understand how the 'war against spiders' was progressing (the most 'dark bits' of it reminded me of playing Mass Effect 3 lol).

As I am writing this, I am aware that James S.A. Corey has said this influenced The Expanse, mostly for the power armor and stuff. I am giving this book 2 stars and not 1 because of this (we love Betsy in this house. And if Betsy was inspired by this book, well, it'll get some love) (Betty being Bobbie Draper's power armor).

I actually had an audiobook ARC for this book, narrated by R. C. Bray. This isn't my first time listening to R. C. Bray and I love him (he also read The Martian!) which is why I requested the ARC. He's a pleasure to listen to.

I love classic SciFi! Even more than more recent ones (with a couple exceptions) this one didn’t disappoint at all!

The earth is under attack and the aliens attacking are not afraid of their own casualties. Humankind step up to the cannon fodder 😬😅

This was such a great read for me. It was a stark look at military enrolment and culture in the forces set in the distant future. It’s an interesting concept that only those who serve their country are afforded the rights of full citizenship - including the right to vote.

I always seem to trust SciFi books written from 1960’s-80’s a lot more than more recent works. I love the concepts and progressive thinking these authors had with many of their ideas which would have seemed absurd at the time becoming a reality.

Now, which classic SciFi to delve into next 🤔

A classic sci-fi that follows John Rico's military career Robert created a unforgettable character and hooks you into John's journey. R C Bray is an excellent narrator and he does a very good job on this book. Thanks to F W Howes and Netgalley for this review audiobook.

4 stars for the story, 5 stars for the narrator.

Starship Troopers is your classic military sci-fi novel, but with more nuance and philosophy than I anticipated upon reading it for the first time. There are elements and certain character attitudes that certainly show the age of the novel, but further segments of philosophical thinking that have a timeless and eternally relevant feel.

For many sections of the story, you’d be forgiven for classing Starship Troopers as a classic war/bootcamp novel bereft of any science fiction! Much of the story is charting the rise through the ranks of new recruit Johnny Rico, who from enlistment has plenty to learn before being given his own powered armor and sent on frontline missions. Sensing the start of a bootcamp segment of the story, the stereotype that immediately springs to mind is one of camp camaraderie with angry, borderline sadistic commanding officers. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find Starship Troopers taking a different approach, with officers who are undoubtedly stern, but show a lot of compassion and care for their recruits. It strikes a fantastic balance of respecting and caring about Johnny’s superiors, whilst maintaining the apprehension and slight fear when they’re on the page.

The focus of Starship Troopers is almost wholly on its characters, and I did feel the wider world building wasn’t wholly satisfying as a result. It’s not a particularly fair criticism of a short novel that wasn’t aiming to build a detailed and descriptive world, but more so the viewpoint of a young soldier who doesn’t have a background context of goings on in the war rooms of higher-up generals. It’s a criticism I assert though on the basis that it creates a weak Sci-Fi setting in a war story that is a true classic in the genre.

For the audiobook version, the narrator impressively brought this classic to life. Two elements in particular made this reading stand out in it's quality to me; he was excellent at indicating the rank and authority of characters through tone of voice alone, and his voice for Johnny slowly progressed as he moved up the ranks and gained experience and authority. The latter part in particular is such an important part of the story, and I was really pleased to see it brought to life so well.

I read the book, saw the film and now have listened to the inestimable RC Bray narrate this classic, it’s timeless and still resonates with me

Nothing can match Robert Heinlein, I requested this audio book straight away when I saw that it was available and I am glad I did, because I enjoyed listening to it and would recommend it. While not as good as some his other books, such as 'Stranger in a Strange Land' there was enough to keep me hooked on the story, until I had finished it.

It's been decades since I last read this classic and it holds up pretty well. The narrator did a decent job and I enjoyed the book. Heretically, I actually think tbe film is better....