I wasn't around at the time, but unless I miss my guess, Troopers was the first SF novel in which military life was depicted in a manner believable to readers who had actually served. But what makes Starship Troopers such an important book is its pioneering approach to dramatizing military themes in an SF context. Over the years the book has earned the appellation 'controversial' for its politics, which are, to put it charitably, often appalling. A spate of recent military SF novels that have proudly used Troopers as a template has made it appropriate for me to re-read this book after a gap of - good lord (choke) - 25 years. Well, I'm finally tackling Heinlein - most of whose work I haven't read since l-o-n-g ago in high school - and it's appropriate that I start with Starship Troopers, a book that continues to resonate and influence to this day, and one whose popularity and luster hasn't been dimmed despite decades of imitations and a dippy movie. Tweets by way things work around here, I guess it's an 'it figures' situation that the site has been up three and a half years before I've gotten around to reviewing the novels of perhaps SF's most universally acknowledged grand master. Book cover artwork is copyrighted by its respective artist and/or publisher. All reviews and site design © by Thomas M.

Starship troopers novel