Terms of Enlistment
clangeleyes says:
I'm a bit upset, I didn't start this book sooner. It is fun and well paced. The story is nothing groundbreaking, but a great read through a military based futuristic thread. I have to admit though, after a great ground campaign. Some tense escape scenes, I was actually a little let down by the final sequence. It wasn't that it was lacking in pace or anything, just disappointed it went straight for the alien race more advanced than us and in that advanced race, no one stopped to ...ask if there could be any coexistence. That trope is a bit tiring, but I will definitely pick up the rest of these and give them a go.
Simmy says:
I very nearly didn't finish this book. Around page 100 I faltered. Fifty or so pages on things began to improve, and the story became bearable, if not particularly exciting.In so many ways, this book is a repackaged Starship Troopers; the story follows a recruit through basic training, and eventually (quite eventually!) into space and a war with some very bug-like aliens. However, Heinleins fifty-six year old novel is a landmark, innovative for its time (men and women serving together in the frontline military!) and infused with Heinlein's political views. Terms of enlistment lacks both innovation and anything much to say.The central character (aptly named Grayson - a descriptive name for a man with few defining features) escapes from the vast, soylent green-like slums of earth into the military, where he endures a textbook yelling-drill-sergeant, get-down-and-give-me-twenty training regime. His potentially interesting slum background is never evident as he is well spoken, oddly well-read and seems to have neither friends nor any connection at all to where he spent most of his life. Within a couple of months he is part of a squad killing hundreds of rioters in a slum similar to the one he grew up in, and he barely bats a sociopathic eyelid at his transformation from oppressed to oppressor.After the slum riot section the story begins to pick up a bit, but it's still fairly bland stuff. There's a thin romance, some aliens, and some not very impressive tech that would perhaps have been futuristic in Heinlein's day. Ho hum.If you're looking For military flavoured sci-fi with an edge and something interesting to say I recommend you explore writers like Heinlein and Haldeman.MoreLess
I'm a bit upset, I didn't start this book sooner. It is fun and well paced. The story is nothing groundbreaking, but a great read through a military based futuristic thread. I have to admit though, after a great ground campaign. Some tense escape scenes, I was actually a little let down by the final sequence. It wasn't that it was lacking in pace or anything, just disappointed it went straight for the alien race more advanced than us and in that advanced race, no one stopped to ...ask if there could be any coexistence. That trope is a bit tiring, but I will definitely pick up the rest of these and give them a go.
Simmy says:
I very nearly didn't finish this book. Around page 100 I faltered. Fifty or so pages on things began to improve, and the story became bearable, if not particularly exciting.In so many ways, this book is a repackaged Starship Troopers; the story follows a recruit through basic training, and eventually (quite eventually!) into space and a war with some very bug-like aliens. However, Heinleins fifty-six year old novel is a landmark, innovative for its time (men and women serving together in the frontline military!) and infused with Heinlein's political views. Terms of enlistment lacks both innovation and anything much to say.The central character (aptly named Grayson - a descriptive name for a man with few defining features) escapes from the vast, soylent green-like slums of earth into the military, where he endures a textbook yelling-drill-sergeant, get-down-and-give-me-twenty training regime. His potentially interesting slum background is never evident as he is well spoken, oddly well-read and seems to have neither friends nor any connection at all to where he spent most of his life. Within a couple of months he is part of a squad killing hundreds of rioters in a slum similar to the one he grew up in, and he barely bats a sociopathic eyelid at his transformation from oppressed to oppressor.After the slum riot section the story begins to pick up a bit, but it's still fairly bland stuff. There's a thin romance, some aliens, and some not very impressive tech that would perhaps have been futuristic in Heinlein's day. Ho hum.If you're looking For military flavoured sci-fi with an edge and something interesting to say I recommend you explore writers like Heinlein and Haldeman.MoreLess
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randy9021 7 years ago
Great book!!!
Guest 7 years ago
Fairly good with a mix of Starship Trooper and low level love interest.Write Review:
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