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Sep 01, 2014KateHillier rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Second book I've read of Heinlein's and can't say I liked it as much. There's a lot to think about here, clearly either our protagonist or author has very strong opinions when it comes to military service, prisons, corporal punishment, and whole whack of other things. Some of it is questionable and some of it is quite dated - there's a bit in the beginning about women pilots which managed to stay under my skin for the entire book - but it is the product of its time after all. There's a basic plot here. It's one man's story of life in the Mobile Infantry (or M.I.) fighting against some sort of communist space spiders. No, I have not seen the movie and I'm thinking it's nothing like this. He decides to join up almost on a whim and we follow him through boot camp and beyond. Very pro-militaristic but not in a climb down your throat sort of way. I really wanted to know more about the war and the reasons about what was going on but, then again, our protagonist really isn't overly concerned despite being shown as a deep thinker and the book really is all about military service and the honour and camaraderie involved. It does that part of its job quite well though, I must say.