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katyanaish's review against another edition
3.0
I honestly had a hard time getting into this one.
Intellectually, logically, it is an interesting plot - precog woman sees horrific extinction event in the future, and dedicates her life to trying to weave a tricky tapestry that will avert the disaster.
Emotionally, I just couldn't engage. The thing is, Ia treats the entire world like her pawns. She manipulates everyone, will sacrifice them if she deems it necessary, and doesn't get attached to anyone. She has no loyalty, no emotional engagement. The secondary cast is this rotating group of disposable people, and since the book is really viewing them through her cynical, detached lens of "how can I best use this person" I don't feel any emotional engagement with them either.
Part of what I really love about militaristic space opera is the bonds of a team, where they will have your back through thick and thin, and you will have theirs. But in this series, Ia won't have anyone's back - she will manipulate, bully, or torture them into whatever road she needs them to walk, whether or not they like it. It's the cool, clinical perspective of a god sitting at a chessboard. Bad enough that we see her do this with people on her team, but when she murdered a rape victim - yes, that's a spoiler, but it's not actually a plot point but rather is this odd side moment in the story (this poor hostage had been brutalized and raped, and Ia looked into her future, saw her kid would be bad for the web she's weaving, and just straight-up murdered this innocent victim ... with not even a split-second of doubt about that really being the best course of action) - I realized why I was having such a hard time engaging with this book: she has no compassion or empathy, and I don't really care what happens to her.
Now, from a logical standpoint I get why she holds herself separate from everyone and refuses to emotionally engage. But from the audience perspective, this kind of cold narrative isn't one I can connect to, and seeing her do hideous things because of some umbrella "for the greater good" excuse that... no one but her can confirm, and I'm not really sure I trust her judgement (because I don't trust the judgement of anyone that has no compassion or empathy, quite frankly) ... I'm just not into it.
It's not a bad book. Just not my cuppa.
Intellectually, logically, it is an interesting plot - precog woman sees horrific extinction event in the future, and dedicates her life to trying to weave a tricky tapestry that will avert the disaster.
Emotionally, I just couldn't engage. The thing is, Ia treats the entire world like her pawns. She manipulates everyone, will sacrifice them if she deems it necessary, and doesn't get attached to anyone. She has no loyalty, no emotional engagement. The secondary cast is this rotating group of disposable people, and since the book is really viewing them through her cynical, detached lens of "how can I best use this person" I don't feel any emotional engagement with them either.
Part of what I really love about militaristic space opera is the bonds of a team, where they will have your back through thick and thin, and you will have theirs. But in this series, Ia won't have anyone's back - she will manipulate, bully, or torture them into whatever road she needs them to walk, whether or not they like it. It's the cool, clinical perspective of a god sitting at a chessboard. Bad enough that we see her do this with people on her team, but when she murdered a rape victim - yes, that's a spoiler, but it's not actually a plot point but rather is this odd side moment in the story (this poor hostage had been brutalized and raped, and Ia looked into her future, saw her kid would be bad for the web she's weaving, and just straight-up murdered this innocent victim ... with not even a split-second of doubt about that really being the best course of action) - I realized why I was having such a hard time engaging with this book: she has no compassion or empathy, and I don't really care what happens to her.
Now, from a logical standpoint I get why she holds herself separate from everyone and refuses to emotionally engage. But from the audience perspective, this kind of cold narrative isn't one I can connect to, and seeing her do hideous things because of some umbrella "for the greater good" excuse that... no one but her can confirm, and I'm not really sure I trust her judgement (because I don't trust the judgement of anyone that has no compassion or empathy, quite frankly) ... I'm just not into it.
It's not a bad book. Just not my cuppa.
lorune's review against another edition
4.0
Nice quick read, intresting storyline definately reading the rest to see how it all ends :)
jmoses's review against another edition
4.0
So. A talented precognitive sees the end of the universe and joins the military to stop it.
It could have been so *awful* and trite and filled with tropes. But it's _not_. It's pretty great, actually. The writing is not *quite* there, sometimes, but the story and characters and etc etc are so engaging and interesting that it doesn't matter.
I read this a week? ago, and I'm on #5 now, so I know where things are headed, and it totally pays off. The author is very talented and does an excellent job weaving the story "now", with the ultimate end-goal.
She also quite neatly avoids falling into the trap of "the main character is a precognitive and thus knows everything" which would have been booooooring and dumb. Things aren't set in stone, and there's a wide variety of possibilities so nothing ever feels like the characters are just going through the motions.
Seriously, if you like space/mil scifi, and this sounds interesting, give it a go. I'll certainly read anything set in this universe.
It could have been so *awful* and trite and filled with tropes. But it's _not_. It's pretty great, actually. The writing is not *quite* there, sometimes, but the story and characters and etc etc are so engaging and interesting that it doesn't matter.
I read this a week? ago, and I'm on #5 now, so I know where things are headed, and it totally pays off. The author is very talented and does an excellent job weaving the story "now", with the ultimate end-goal.
She also quite neatly avoids falling into the trap of "the main character is a precognitive and thus knows everything" which would have been booooooring and dumb. Things aren't set in stone, and there's a wide variety of possibilities so nothing ever feels like the characters are just going through the motions.
Seriously, if you like space/mil scifi, and this sounds interesting, give it a go. I'll certainly read anything set in this universe.
theraveler's review against another edition
3.0
A really enjoyable military sci-fi novel with a super strong female protagonist. I don't mind that she's borders on perfection. The story is engaging. Reading the next in the series now.
rheren's review against another edition
3.0
Okay, military scifi is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine: some of the tropes are kind of ridiculous, and it often feels like I'm reading the same few stories over and over again by different authors, but I enjoy them anyways. Giving in to the tropes is definitely present here (look at the differences between training 200 years ago and now. And somehow Basic Training in the 26th century is exactly like Marine boot camp today. Huh?), but this book also has huge elements that I haven't read in a book before: like a protagonist who's effectively omniscient, has superpowers, and is so much stronger and faster than everyone else that she's basically unbeatable in combat. Very unusual read. I'm not sure if I liked it, or was irritated by it. Often she comes off as insufferable and untouchable, but there's a decent balance of action and mystery that it works okay overall. I'll probably read the rest of the series to see where it ends up: I'm not as engrossed as some other series' I've read, but it has potential, so I'm interested to see where it goes.
blodeuedd's review against another edition
3.0
I always have a hard time remembering what people are named in books. Of course I keep track of who is who, even if there are lots of characters. But as soon as the book ends names slip my mind. Well not this time, Ia is an easy name to remember ;) That and the fact she was totally kick-ass.
Anyway, I did not end up liking the book as much as I wanted to. As always do not get me wrong. That does not mean the book is bad. No, it was well-written, thrilling and interesting. Will she save the universe? (even if I mostly want to travel forward in time to see if it all works out).
The negative thing is that it was very very heavy on the tech and military jargon. Not something I find particularly interesting to read about. Also this one character was so hard to understand.
Just like I tend to skip sex scenes in other books (none here thought, nothing of that sort at all), when it came to be too much military stuff I skimmed. It's not that it was heavy, just boring for me.
But I do wonder what happens next. It's quite the undertaking to write about someone trying to save the universe hundreds of years before things go bad. And I do wonder what will go wrong?
If you like sci-fi then yes give it a go, or if you like military books, action, suspense.
Anyway, I did not end up liking the book as much as I wanted to. As always do not get me wrong. That does not mean the book is bad. No, it was well-written, thrilling and interesting. Will she save the universe? (even if I mostly want to travel forward in time to see if it all works out).
The negative thing is that it was very very heavy on the tech and military jargon. Not something I find particularly interesting to read about. Also this one character was so hard to understand.
Just like I tend to skip sex scenes in other books (none here thought, nothing of that sort at all), when it came to be too much military stuff I skimmed. It's not that it was heavy, just boring for me.
But I do wonder what happens next. It's quite the undertaking to write about someone trying to save the universe hundreds of years before things go bad. And I do wonder what will go wrong?
If you like sci-fi then yes give it a go, or if you like military books, action, suspense.
seeinghowitgoes's review against another edition
3.0
LONG. Oh god this was so long. I want an editor to come in and just slash away at it all, but I loved it despite this.
Ia is a pre-cog who at 15 realises her role in the future, for this reason she puts herself through training in preparation for her role as the Prophet and for the future that she will carve out.
It's a lengthy process, after the rather enjoyable training montage, there's a rather mundane series of battles where Ia kicks ass, again... And again... And again. She never seems to go wrong! And there's the biggest flaw in the series so far, she's too good.
There's a fair few more novels to go in this series, I had originally thought to tackle them in one marathon session but I think I need some historical romance to let my brain rest now.
Ia is a pre-cog who at 15 realises her role in the future, for this reason she puts herself through training in preparation for her role as the Prophet and for the future that she will carve out.
It's a lengthy process, after the rather enjoyable training montage, there's a rather mundane series of battles where Ia kicks ass, again... And again... And again. She never seems to go wrong! And there's the biggest flaw in the series so far, she's too good.
There's a fair few more novels to go in this series, I had originally thought to tackle them in one marathon session but I think I need some historical romance to let my brain rest now.
julianav's review
4.0
I really loved the premise of this book, a precog deciding to join the military as it will be the only way to prevent the apocalypse of the future. Ia has decided to forge herself as a perfect soldier able to use her precognitive abilities to ensure that when the yet unknown, but extremely deadly enemy does come, her home galaxy and its military forces are prepared.
I enjoyed the way IA pushed herself to excel despite the extreme advantages her psi abilities gave her. Her foresight in keeping people alive that will be vital for the defense of the galaxy years from now, whilst keeping her abilities secret is entertaining and provides an insight about how difficult it is to hide your reasoning aimed at a future no-one has a clue about.
Ia does get too powerful too fast for my taste and her promotions in rank are quite rapid, even with pre-cognition providing insight and help. The development of her other psychic gifts is likewise sped up. Frankly, she gets away with far too much at her rank and age and her management of her powers is exceptionally accomplished.
Despite the Mary-Sue tinge toward the latter part of the book, the universe is well fleshed out and proper attention is paid to details such as too much gravity at colonised planets, weaponry and spaceships. A decent 3.5 out of 5, but there is enough interest in reading the sequel that puts it towards 4 stars.
I enjoyed the way IA pushed herself to excel despite the extreme advantages her psi abilities gave her. Her foresight in keeping people alive that will be vital for the defense of the galaxy years from now, whilst keeping her abilities secret is entertaining and provides an insight about how difficult it is to hide your reasoning aimed at a future no-one has a clue about.
Ia does get too powerful too fast for my taste and her promotions in rank are quite rapid, even with pre-cognition providing insight and help. The development of her other psychic gifts is likewise sped up. Frankly, she gets away with far too much at her rank and age and her management of her powers is exceptionally accomplished.
Despite the Mary-Sue tinge toward the latter part of the book, the universe is well fleshed out and proper attention is paid to details such as too much gravity at colonised planets, weaponry and spaceships. A decent 3.5 out of 5, but there is enough interest in reading the sequel that puts it towards 4 stars.
paradoxically's review against another edition
3.0
If nothing else A Soldier's Duty contains various new twists to the military science fiction genre. The genre is filled with books of extraordinary people who do their best to do their jobs, and this one is not quite the exception, though there is a little bit more oomph to the 'doing their jobs' business as the main character, Ia, is a precog (amongst other abilities). And she has the self put upon task of saving an entire galaxy from utter destruction in the future.
This is very much a beginning book of a series. It details Ia's signing up for the military and start in serving, as well as the various incidents that happen along the way. Ia's ability to see the future is a huge advantage, though there are many different paths the future can take, and nothing is set in stone (though she is trying to keep the future along a course that would ensure the galaxy's survival). To that end, she uses her career in the military to help nudge events along. That is, perhaps, one of the more interesting parts of the book, where you see Ia weighing various consequences and choosing actions that would make the future she wants possible. On the other hand, you could say that knowing the future takes some enjoyment out of the book, as Ia already knows beforehand what will happen, so that tension of what will happen next may be diminished.
The book is rather episodic. You can clearly see where it jumps from one event from another (Ia signing up and going into boot camp, her first assignment, and so on). This is not necessarily bad, but the book isn't as seamlessly coherent as it could be. And it is a bit understandable, considering that what is driving the book forward is Ia's need to keep the future on the track that she needs it to be.
You could call Ia a Mary Sue. There is no doubt about that. She's competent in about everything and she knows the future to boot. I'm of two minds about it, but so far it hasn't really annoyed me too much (well, barring a couple of scenes). Considering that the author has structured the series around Ia seeing the future, you really can't get away from it. But Ia, for all of her vaunted perfectness, just somehow amuses me (though I'm not sure if this is the reaction I'm supposed to have, aha). She's a bit wooden, and entirely focused on her task, but I kind of like her. All of the other characters are rather one dimensional. Sometimes you don't know where they're coming from, or why they act the way they do, but the book is very much oriented on telling you Ia's story.
There are instances of information dumps, which I rather dislike. Several parts of the story could be tightened up some more or left out entirely because of this (there is no reason why we need several pages about guns), but I kind of expect them in this genre. Business as usual as it were. The pace was fine, it's just that the entire feel of the book was that it's just setting up for subsequent books. This book is about the beginning of Ia's journey, and it isn't much deeper than that. Overall, I liked reading it. There are a lot of issues with it, but I still liked reading it. 3 stars.
This is very much a beginning book of a series. It details Ia's signing up for the military and start in serving, as well as the various incidents that happen along the way. Ia's ability to see the future is a huge advantage, though there are many different paths the future can take, and nothing is set in stone (though she is trying to keep the future along a course that would ensure the galaxy's survival). To that end, she uses her career in the military to help nudge events along. That is, perhaps, one of the more interesting parts of the book, where you see Ia weighing various consequences and choosing actions that would make the future she wants possible. On the other hand, you could say that knowing the future takes some enjoyment out of the book, as Ia already knows beforehand what will happen, so that tension of what will happen next may be diminished.
The book is rather episodic. You can clearly see where it jumps from one event from another (Ia signing up and going into boot camp, her first assignment, and so on). This is not necessarily bad, but the book isn't as seamlessly coherent as it could be. And it is a bit understandable, considering that what is driving the book forward is Ia's need to keep the future on the track that she needs it to be.
You could call Ia a Mary Sue. There is no doubt about that. She's competent in about everything and she knows the future to boot. I'm of two minds about it, but so far it hasn't really annoyed me too much (well, barring a couple of scenes). Considering that the author has structured the series around Ia seeing the future, you really can't get away from it. But Ia, for all of her vaunted perfectness, just somehow amuses me (though I'm not sure if this is the reaction I'm supposed to have, aha). She's a bit wooden, and entirely focused on her task, but I kind of like her. All of the other characters are rather one dimensional. Sometimes you don't know where they're coming from, or why they act the way they do, but the book is very much oriented on telling you Ia's story.
There are instances of information dumps, which I rather dislike. Several parts of the story could be tightened up some more or left out entirely because of this (there is no reason why we need several pages about guns), but I kind of expect them in this genre. Business as usual as it were. The pace was fine, it's just that the entire feel of the book was that it's just setting up for subsequent books. This book is about the beginning of Ia's journey, and it isn't much deeper than that. Overall, I liked reading it. There are a lot of issues with it, but I still liked reading it. 3 stars.