In Robert A. Heinlein’s controversial Hugo Award-winning bestseller, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the Universe—and into battle against mankind’s most alarming enemy…Johnnie Rico never really intended to join up—and definitely not the infantry. But now that he’s in the thick of it, trying to get through combat training harder than anything he could have … could have imagined, he knows everyone in his unit is one bad move away from buying the farm in the interstellar war the Terran Federation is waging against the Arachnids.
Because everyone in the Mobile Infantry fights. And if the training doesn’t kill you, the Bugs are more than ready to finish the job…
“A classic…If you want a great military adventure, this one is for you.”—All SciFi
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This writer will “BUG” you.
Heinlein extrapolates WWII Soldier organization and relationships into a future war where each Soldier is enclosed in an armored suit that gives its wearer extraordinary ability.
In order to attain the rights of Citizenship, in this story, a person had to volunteer to serve the state in some capacity for two years. The state had to find some way that anyone who wanted to, no matter how impaired, could serve the state, to earn citizenship. The service was mostly non military and was officially discouraged.
Only citizens could run for office, vote or hold certain jobs. One could not exercise the rights of citizenship, until the service was completed. Non citizens lived their lives, ran their businesses, paid taxes and constituted most of society, but had no say in the politics of the country.
I enjoyed the movie by Paul Verhoven, the guy who also directed one of my favorite movies, Robocop. I had always heard the book was legendary, so I finally made it through to reading it. What a letdown. Instead of the book being better than the movie, it was far dryer and more detailed while coincidentally much less graphic. All the cool bug stuff is almost completely left out, while way too much time is spent spouting boring technicalities regarding army organization. I know the author is an ex Marine. So maybe he is more accurate in some of the small details regarding military units, but it would help if he concentrated on inserting an interesting story while he was at it. Really disappointing. Especially after I liked “Old Man’s War” so much, and learned that the author of that book looked up to Heinlein
There have been a number of books that I have gone back and re-read over the years. Lord of the Rings, Sharpe’s Eagle and the Hornblower series to name a few. Among science fiction books, however, my go-to book has always been Starship Troopers.
First of all, if you’ve seen the movie, ignore it, it only borrows the main themes of the book. The Mobile Infantry is the elite of the elite, equipped with powerful suits of space armour. They battle the ‘bugs’, but also have to deal with the ‘skinnies’, a race of humanoid aliens.
This story takes you through the training and later, deployment of Johnnie Rico in the war against the Arachnids. Unlike the movie, where everyone just runs around killing everything in sight, the soldiers in this story are trained professionals. (Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the movie, but it is a poor imitation of the book.)
Heinlein was a prolific writer, and if you haven’t experienced one of his books, this is a great place to start.
Enjoyed it very much,a different look on their lives,a world with some good ideas
A phenomenal book about war and the duties of an officer. Far better than the movie — which I am a huge fan of as well.
Outstanding. A master storyteller!
The Grand Master of Sci-Fi comes thru again! Starship Troopers builds a universe where battle is still a terrifying curse but mankind has built a society that rewards those who care about its preservation. The protagonists are hive minded insectiles who only wish for mankind’s destruction. From this basis, Heinlien’s story develops.
One of my all time favorites. So much better than the movie.
This is an interesting and thought-provoking exploration of the concept of civic responsibility and on making political power a privilege that must be earned, rather than simply granted as a birthright. If you saw the movie, you really owe it to yourself to read the book and get the real version of the story.
Starship Troopers, the book, is one of my all-time favorites. This military sci-fi novel has all the aspects of hard science fiction I love: an honest and brave protagonist in a ridiculously dangerous situation, controversial politics, space adventures, cool gadgets, and unimaginable aliens.
By contrast Starship Troopers, the movie, is also one of my favorites, but for completely different (and admittedly shallow) reasons. The movie only vaguely resembles the book, but it has hot-hot-oh-SO-HOT characters, space adventure and wonderfully campy dialogue.
I hate hearing someone say “the movie was so cheesy, why would I read the book?” because there’s simply no comparison. They should both be enjoyed for their distinct merits.
Thought provoking. Interesting view of future military operations.
Meh. My husband went on and on about how the movie differed from the book. Yeah, boy – howdy. No kidding. But pages and pages of waxing rhapsodic about mech suits just doesn’t float my boat. Same with military procedure, unless it’s done to clarify the military’s political standing in that society. I’m glad I read it but I can’t really recommend it.
One of RAH’s classics. Military sci-fi at its best.
It finishes too soon.
Much, much better than the movie (which is OK). Be warned, Heinlein held very firm ideas on militarism, social structure, and economics.
Heinlein is a sci fi god. James Cameron was apparently so impressed by this book that he “borrowed” from it liberally for the movie “Aliens”.
Shockingly poor
An interesting 50’s era plot on society
Typical RAH. Could be true some day.