Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein (3 stars)

Starship Troopers is a classic of the Sci-Fi genre.  It won the Hugo in 1960, and was made into a movie in 1997 by a director who, rumour has it, didn't even finish reading the book.

Having seen the movie first, I was quite surprised to find this book was as much about the war with 'the bugs' as Animal Farm is about animals on a farm.  Heinlein uses the futuristic war as a minor plot device to present his philosophy on government, crime, and punishment.  He essentially blames the crime problems of the late 20th century on bleeding heart liberalism that avoided harsh punishments for minors.  In Heinlein's society all crime is sorted out quickly with a good flogging (literally).

Heinlein's crime-free society of the future is governed by veterans - only those who have served a term in the military are 'citizens' and have a right to vote.  Unlike most cases in history where a small class of people have reserved the right to vote and make decisions, the rights of those who can't vote have been perfectly preserved and the 'citizens' haven't sought any advantage for themselves.  Hmmm...

The implausibility doesn't stop there.  While I liked the sentiment of reducing the number of armchair officers in the army and deploying every single person into battle, I just don't think it would work as presented by Heinlein.  If your most senior generals and strategists who are running the war can 'buy a farm' all at once in a fight on the ground, as easily as a private, it is going to be pretty difficult to maintain cohesion and long term strategy.  Not to mention that the senior leadership holds the most valuable information and would be equally as prone to capture as the most junior grunt.

In any case, I found the book interesting, but probably would have liked it a lot more if it actually was a Sci-Fi novel, not a philosophy discussion with a Sci-Fi framework.

3 stars.