Which is better?
i haven't read either because they're both shit
>>8092813
They're both good in their own right, but my heart is closer to Haldeman's message than to Heinlein's.
>>8092813
Starship Troopers. The Forever War is quite bad.
>>8092813
The Forever War. Heinlein was a hack, and everything he wrote was shit.
Another exciting /lit/ thread of unsubstantiated contentless opinions being exchanged, until it eventually derails into a limp-dicked faggot leftist and a /pol/ Nazi roleplayer arguing back and forth for 300 posts
Proof that this board can't even discuss accessible scifi books
>>8092813
This one.
>>8092813
Forever War has more feelings, and very specifically captures the disillusionment of conscripts from the Vietnam War. It also captures the hopelessness of an utterly alienated man, adrift out of time. It's anti-war.
Starship Trooper is a tract of the merits of citizenship in the Ancient Greek sense of the word, and a reflection of the mechanics and benefits of this kind of society. It's pro-war in itself, though Heinlein espoused many ideologies through the mouthpiece of different characters in his books.
So they're different, but Forever War is more poignant, contains more ideas, and is arguably better written, so I'd say is the better of the two.
>>8092813
I've only read Starship Troopers. The Forever War must be pretty shit to get compared with it in the first place.
Starship Troopers is > 60% classroom preaching, why would anyone like this?
>>8093198
Same reason why people like Atlas Shrugged, I guess.
>>8092813
I found The Forever War more entertaining by far. At least it actually had combat in it. Starship Troopers was just Heinlein gushing about how he wanted more authoritarian/corporal punishment in modern/future society.
I don't even remember any action sequences in the whole thing. It's all Rico going through basic training and then officer training school and that's about it. You hear about "the bugs" but they're never properly introduced or "run into".
It's been a long time since I've read it and I don't remember much. I think I skipped a chapter or two just based on the sheer boredom.
Honestly, you want a decent sci-fi war book/series check out "Starfist" the series got axed so there's no real resolution but it's got plenty of actual combat and such.
>>8092813
My heart is more with Starship Troopers but I think Forever War is a better book, just because it's better paced, more thoroughly explores it's world, and relies less on infosumps to make its point. That being said ST's classroom sections really aren't bad.
>>8094023
Most soldiers spend more time training and sitting around doing maintenance than fighting; the low amount of actual fighting is intended.
>>8092858
stranger in a strange land is fantastic
>>8094486
Sure, in reality they spend more time training or sitting around, but that makes for a shitty book, especially a science fiction book.
>>8094023
>Starship Troopers was just Heinlein gushing about how he wanted more authoritarian/corporal punishment in modern/future society.
Literally nothing wrong with this desu.
>>8094622
Yeah, you'd take that attitude as long as the lash is being applied to anyone but you.
Don't be so edgy.
>>8093183
/thread
