As someone going into this totally blind, I'm glad to see it set in what's essentially an alternate reality of the the "real world" and not just a total fantasy world. Not always the case in sci fi but I think it will make more interesting.
What I take from the first couple chapters is I'm interested to learn more about the history and political makeup of the world. I get the idea we have a dysfunctional mess of a world shrouded with a thin layer of utopia. The first chapter you've got an army going in to do what's essentially an intimidation raid but in the second back in time a bit it's generally happy and "normal." Except maybe the whole military enlistment thing, as apparently they have so many people wanting to enlist, they aren't allowed to turn them down, but they go as far as trying to talk them out of it. It almost comes off as enlistment in the military is a virtue signal.
I'm not sure what gives you the idea that The Federation is a dystopia. I think The Federation of Starship Troopers has some things in common with that of Star Trek, in that Earth itself is peaceful and prosperous, and most of the interesting stuff happens out on the frontier. As Johnny's father says when he's trying to discourage his enlistment:
If there were a war, I'll be the first to cheer you on -- and to put the business on a war footing. But there isn't, and praise God there never will be again. We've outgrown wars. This planet is now peaceful and happy and we enjoy good enough relations with other planets.
They don't do much fighting or have much need for an active military, and what conflicts there are seem to be relatively minor incursions of the type we see in chapter 1. So I think you're right that enlistment in service (not the military, per-se, as lots of the jobs they list in ch. 2 and throughout the book are non-military in nature) is used as a social/virtue signal in many cases.
(For others that have read the book before, please note that I am trying to avoid spoiling anything for those that haven't.)
I think it's actually statements like that from Johnny's father that give me the idea. It's almost too perfect with things like "outgrown wars." I guess I get the feeling that combined with the knowledge of the raid in the first chapter that the government has put up a facade.
Perhaps I'm totally off base, I do think getting some context to the first chapter will help. But hey, thinking about it at this point being blind to the rest of the book is part of it for me...
Remember when this book was written. This was right after WWII. A lot of people thought that we'd never do something like that again. A war to end all wars.
I'd like to hear your re-evaluation of that final point of yours after you've finished the book, because I can't be sure I wouldn't accidentally spoil things for you if we talked about it.
As someone going into this totally blind, I'm glad to see it set in what's essentially an alternate reality of the the "real world" and not just a total fantasy world. Not always the case in sci fi but I think it will make more interesting.
What I take from the first couple chapters is I'm interested to learn more about the history and political makeup of the world. I get the idea we have a dysfunctional mess of a world shrouded with a thin layer of utopia. The first chapter you've got an army going in to do what's essentially an intimidation raid but in the second back in time a bit it's generally happy and "normal." Except maybe the whole military enlistment thing, as apparently they have so many people wanting to enlist, they aren't allowed to turn them down, but they go as far as trying to talk them out of it. It almost comes off as enlistment in the military is a virtue signal.
I'm not sure what gives you the idea that The Federation is a dystopia. I think The Federation of Starship Troopers has some things in common with that of Star Trek, in that Earth itself is peaceful and prosperous, and most of the interesting stuff happens out on the frontier. As Johnny's father says when he's trying to discourage his enlistment:
They don't do much fighting or have much need for an active military, and what conflicts there are seem to be relatively minor incursions of the type we see in chapter 1. So I think you're right that enlistment in service (not the military, per-se, as lots of the jobs they list in ch. 2 and throughout the book are non-military in nature) is used as a social/virtue signal in many cases.
(For others that have read the book before, please note that I am trying to avoid spoiling anything for those that haven't.)
I think it's actually statements like that from Johnny's father that give me the idea. It's almost too perfect with things like "outgrown wars." I guess I get the feeling that combined with the knowledge of the raid in the first chapter that the government has put up a facade.
Perhaps I'm totally off base, I do think getting some context to the first chapter will help. But hey, thinking about it at this point being blind to the rest of the book is part of it for me...
Remember when this book was written. This was right after WWII. A lot of people thought that we'd never do something like that again. A war to end all wars.
I'd like to hear your re-evaluation of that final point of yours after you've finished the book, because I can't be sure I wouldn't accidentally spoil things for you if we talked about it.