Thursday 15 November 2012

A Soldier's Duty - Book Review


A Soldier's Duty (Theirs Not to Reason Why #1)
by Jean Johnson


What is it about:
Ia is a precog, tormented by visions of the future where her home galaxy has been devastated. To prevent this vision from coming true, Ia enlists in the Terran United Planets military with a plan to become a soldier who will inspire generations for the next three hundred years-a soldier history will call Bloody Mary.

What did I think of it:
I'm in two minds about this book.

On the one hand it is a very interesting read. It follows Ia as she starts her military career and I very much enjoyed the view into the hard world of the Terran United Planets military. I also really liked the writing, the world building and the view of the future Johnson paints in this book.

What I did miss in this book is emotion. Ia is completely focused on the future and on nothing else. I would have wanted to learn more about her inner turmoil. What does she feel? Where does she find the strength to do what she does? Does she ever have doubts? That sort of thing. But apart from a few small moments Ia is like this super being who just keeps going and manages to overcome every obstacle without any problems.

This made that I had no connection with Ia, and apart from finding the setting and everything very interesting there was nothing else that made me want to keep reading. I wasn't invested in the story enough to care where it would lead to.

So in the end this was an interesting read, but I had hoped for more. I don't think I'll read the next book in this series, instead I think I will give Johnson's Sons of Destiny series a try.

Why should you read it:
It's an interesting SciFi read.


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1 comment:

Aurian said...

Ooo I am sorry it did not blow you away like it did me. I absolutely loved it, and I did connect to her. She had no doubts, as this was the one possibility to succeed, and she knew that she had to give up her career of choice (singing), and a family of her own to do all that is needed. Which does not mean it was easy for her. But perhaps more of that is explained in the second book, where she goes back home on leave.