Starship Troopers

Rating:
Summary: One of Heinlein's greatest!
Review: Well, according to what I've heard. This is the only book by him I've read, but I'll soon be ordering STRANGER FROM A STRANGE LAND. Anyway, I saw the movie before reading the book, which was a big mistake. Had I read the book before seeing the movie, I would have been sitting there when the credits are rolling asking myself "So when does the movie start?" No neodogs, no power suits, and no Skinnies! The movie is about action/love/propeganda. The book is about Juan Rico becoming a man in a completely different society (with a dash of sci-fi). Heinlein doesn't hold back on anything. He greatly describe this new government in great detail and explains how it works. His lessons on morals was very interesting and made me think. But, there is a set back to the book. You can easily tell that the book was written in the late 50's (no computers, people still use PAPER). Of course, this is nothing to hold against the rating of the book. It just makes reading it... inter! esting.

Rating:
Summary: Action Packed Sci-Fi thriller
Review: Starship troopers is a very good book that I have read several times over. Robert Heinlein has written a book that is unlike any other Military novel to date. The way he brings back administrative punishment is very interesting. Overall a good book.

Rating:
Summary: Laughable
Review: Anybody who takes this book seriously needs their heads examined. This is the most pathetic piece of right wing wish fulfillment that I have ever read. Heinlein's love affair with the military industrial complex is so total that he has to attempt to construct spurious high school classes at the beginning of the book in order to justify the ludicrous fetishization of the MI which follows. There is not a single ounce of self-criticism in the entire piece as we follow Rico's progress through the military. The culmination of the book with his father forgiving him and subordinating himself to his son after the death of the mother is the most sub-oedipal dross that it has ever been my misfortune to encounter.

Rating:
Summary: A creative military SCI-FI book that was good.
Review: First I read Heinlein's book "Red Planet" and I really liked it. Then the movie came out and looked like I would like it. When I saw it I loved the movie. Then I read the book and loved it even more. The book made the movie look terrible. The book had a better story and a easier understanding to it. I can't believe that the maker of the Starship Troopers movie ruined the movie by changing almost all the important details that the book had.

Rating:
Summary: A true science fiction classic, one of Heinlein's best.
Review: An intriguing book, very interesting, one of Heinlein's best, I could go on and on. This book was a science fiction classic for decades before it was made a movie.

Rating:
Summary: Know what you are getting in for
Review: This is a very decent work of science fiction, but it is not a big combat bonanza. If you want that look at Steakley or David Drake, this book explores some dense and frightening political ideology but in a realistic way that makes you wonder if heinlein believed it would work or not. Try it, but know what you are getting into.

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, thought-provoking, fascinating
Review: I couldn't put it down. Nothing to do with the "action", of-course (I haven't seen the movie). The way Heinlein expresses his ideas, and the ideas themselves, are interesting, provocative, "makes you think..."

Rating:
Summary: This is an important book.
Review: Long before it was a violent movie with gory special effects, Starship Troopers was a book about patriotism, honor, and morality. This has long been my favorite Heinlein story. Peppered with quotes by famous military leaders and American historical figures, this book is by turns thought-provoking, amusing, inspiring, and exciting. Mike Royko once told of seeing an anti-Vietnam war protester holding a sign that read, "Nothing is worth dying for." Heinlein reminds us that if you think nothing is worth dying for, you have to wonder what you are living for.

Rating:
Summary: Why does everybody rate this book so high?
Review: This is easily the worst RAH book and the only one I wasn't able to finish. It's boring, militaristic and depressing. Save time and money - or buy STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND!

Rating:
Summary: Characters are the most important part of any story...
Review: and there are no characters to really care about and hardly any character development. I enjoyed listening to the philosophical discussions more than anything else in the book but there was not much else. At least in the movie version there was a love triangle between characters that was interesting but unfortuantely the entire movie was poorly acted among various other problems.