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A review by advictoriam
A Soldier's Duty by Jean Johnson
3.0
I originally gave this one star but am bumping it up to three now that I've gotten past the initial frustration I felt after trudging through this book.
I really thought I would love this, making it even more disappointing when I found this book to not be my thing at all. I do think that is a big part of why I didn't enjoy it, not because it was poorly written or anything like that. It just isn't the kind of book I find appealing, which I didn't realize until I was far enough through it that I wanted to finish it.
The writing in this is solid, but it can also frequently verge on being too detailed. That much detail can be overwhelming, not to mention unnecessary. It could have been edited down quite a bit without losing anything vital to the story.
I also did not care for the main character, Ia. Beyond my own personal dislike, I just think the characterization was off. Because of her abilities, Ia knows every single thing that's going to happen. This takes away the suspense, and frankly just makes the story a little boring. Ia is always one step ahead of everyone else and something that bothered me about this was that she always seemed so very cocky about it and like she was better than everyone else. Given that she has a pretty significant advantage over everyone this seems unfair and rather off-putting. Her gift would have been a lot more interesting if it varied in its effectiveness and its accuracy. Basically, Ia's abilities are pretty cool but she's overpowered. I think that's supposed to be the point but like I said, it doesn't necessarily make for a good story.
The characterization of Ia also comes into an especially heavy focus given that she is really the only character to be fully developed, at least at this point in the series. Dozens of secondary characters are introduced and then dropped. The other characters are only used when Ia needs them to perform some small role or for her to mention that at some point in the future they will play a small role. Maybe other characters are fleshed out in the later books but it would have been nice to have more of it here.
Overall I just found this book difficult to get through. There isn't much in the way of a straightforward plot. It's basically Ia accomplishing task after task. You can also definitely tell that it's a part of a series as it is so clearly just a small portion of Ia's supposed mission.
Probably the aspect of this book I found the most interesting was the world building. The world shown in this novel is incredibly detailed and well thought out. Its complexity makes it feel more plausible as an actual world, although as I mentioned, too many details about said world can distract from what is actually going on in the book. It could also be confusing at times because there is a lot of jargon, especially involving the technology and weaponry.
While this is by no means a terrible book, these various issues made it hard for me to get into it. To be fair, these are things that could very well work for other people. This books really seems like one where mileage would vary. I also won't be carrying on with the rest of the series, which is something that usually bothers me. I'm curious of how some aspects will be developed further but not quite enough to put myself through reading the other books.
I really thought I would love this, making it even more disappointing when I found this book to not be my thing at all. I do think that is a big part of why I didn't enjoy it, not because it was poorly written or anything like that. It just isn't the kind of book I find appealing, which I didn't realize until I was far enough through it that I wanted to finish it.
The writing in this is solid, but it can also frequently verge on being too detailed. That much detail can be overwhelming, not to mention unnecessary. It could have been edited down quite a bit without losing anything vital to the story.
I also did not care for the main character, Ia. Beyond my own personal dislike, I just think the characterization was off. Because of her abilities, Ia knows every single thing that's going to happen. This takes away the suspense, and frankly just makes the story a little boring. Ia is always one step ahead of everyone else and something that bothered me about this was that she always seemed so very cocky about it and like she was better than everyone else. Given that she has a pretty significant advantage over everyone this seems unfair and rather off-putting. Her gift would have been a lot more interesting if it varied in its effectiveness and its accuracy. Basically, Ia's abilities are pretty cool but she's overpowered. I think that's supposed to be the point but like I said, it doesn't necessarily make for a good story.
The characterization of Ia also comes into an especially heavy focus given that she is really the only character to be fully developed, at least at this point in the series. Dozens of secondary characters are introduced and then dropped. The other characters are only used when Ia needs them to perform some small role or for her to mention that at some point in the future they will play a small role. Maybe other characters are fleshed out in the later books but it would have been nice to have more of it here.
Overall I just found this book difficult to get through. There isn't much in the way of a straightforward plot. It's basically Ia accomplishing task after task. You can also definitely tell that it's a part of a series as it is so clearly just a small portion of Ia's supposed mission.
Probably the aspect of this book I found the most interesting was the world building. The world shown in this novel is incredibly detailed and well thought out. Its complexity makes it feel more plausible as an actual world, although as I mentioned, too many details about said world can distract from what is actually going on in the book. It could also be confusing at times because there is a lot of jargon, especially involving the technology and weaponry.
While this is by no means a terrible book, these various issues made it hard for me to get into it. To be fair, these are things that could very well work for other people. This books really seems like one where mileage would vary. I also won't be carrying on with the rest of the series, which is something that usually bothers me. I'm curious of how some aspects will be developed further but not quite enough to put myself through reading the other books.