Thursday 28 February 2013

Review: A soldier's duty - Jean Johnson


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.

My thoughts:
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 though, nothing of that sort at all, no romance no sex), 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?

conclusion:
If you like sci-fi then yes give it a go, or if you like military books, action, suspense.

Cover
Kick-ass

Series: Theirs not to reason why #1
Genre: Sci.-fi
Pages: 432
Published: 2011 by Ace
Source: Own

Tomorrow there will be a review of book 2 and Rameau is taking care of that.

47 comments:

  1. I do like fantasy and I do like military type books, but I loath when they go into too much detail about techie stuff and whatnot. *sighs* Sounded so good though. Great and honest review B!

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    1. I can't say whether it would work or not. I think for me the military blah blah was worse than the techie talk

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  2. *waves weakly* Is it Friday yet?!?!?!?

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  3. Yes! I've got this one on my shelf. So far I like what you're saying and I don't think I'll be too bothered by military jargon :) Thanks, Blodeuedd!

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  4. Na, I don't care for sci-fi that's really heavy on the techy stuff.

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    1. I can't believe I am saying this but..I wished for some romance

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  5. I absolutely loved this book, even the second time I read it. Glad you enjoyed it enough Blodeuedd. I had no problems with the military stuff, I enjoyed it.

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    1. I did like it :) Just not as much as you did ;)

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  6. The tech and jargon would get me too. I do know what you mean about forgetting names once book is over. Esp if in 1st person.

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    1. I am so bad, I always forget! But Ia was easy, haha, I wish all could be this easy

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  7. Cool cover, but the tech and military jargon would bore me.

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  8. If Aurian loved this book...I mean I can't be a bigger sissy right? ;p

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  9. Yeah, I can't say I would be all that thrilled with the military jargon but the kick ass stuff I am all for and yes this does have an awesome cover!

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    1. I also like that when you look close it looks as Ia was said to look

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  10. I like all the deets in a book, and the gadget crap, so now I am curious because i definitely like kick-ass heroines!

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    1. Then this is most definitely the book for you

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  11. I'm not huge on the military type but I do like sci-fi. It is hard to keep track of everyone's names... especially with the volume of books we read. At least it was memorable! :)

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    1. Yes I mean i end a book and it's gone. So many books have similar names, and I am so forgetful. We read too much

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  12. Awesome looking cover. I'm not too fond of the tech/military jargon either. Most of the time it just confuses the heck out of me.

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  13. I saw this book and it sounds like a good read, but I was afraid it'd be a bit more in military than I usually like. Thanks for the thoughts. :)

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    1. It was..ALL military, and the military, ugh boring. It was all yehaa I am a marine, we rock, we kill. Snoooze

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  14. This sounds good. Another one for my wishlist :)

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  15. This sounds like a good read, in spite of the overuse of jargon. I'm the same way, I totally skip over really heavy tech speak or jargon about military too! And I usually don't miss anything important either! :-) Love the charcter's name; Ia is definitely unique. Great review!

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    1. Haha, yes I mean how much can there be? And they never do anything exciting just yada yada yada. I skip and do not miss a thing.

      Thanks .)

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  16. I haven't read this series but some other books, they're nice but not awesome. Now I think I'll forget about this other series.

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    1. I did read, hm, at least one of her other books so yes I felt the same as you

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  17. GREAT review
    Might give this a go sometime in the future
    Your reader,
    Soma
    http://insomnia-of-books.blogspot.com/

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  18. I would probably struggle with all the tech terms and military jargon as well, and I don't like reading feeling like I need a glossary of terms. Aside from that though, this sounds like an interesting series with a really creative world!

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    1. It was not hard to read, just boring. I think she tried her best to not to get to techie on us

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  19. I completely lose interest when books get into to much politics or military. I'm the same with names. So many times I find myself going back and trying to find a persons name even though I just finished the book.

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    1. I am the same ;) That is why I try to write reviews at once cos else the names will be gone

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  20. This book sounds interesting but I'm not sure, I don't like books too heavy on the tech and military jargon as you said this one is... Something to think about.

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    1. Yes for me it was dull, others loved it. But then I also do not like sci-fi shows too heavy on that.

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  21. I agree that cover is pretty kick ass! Love tough women!

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  22. Kick-ass characters rock (like Cat of Cat and Bones) but this doesn't sound like one for me.

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  23. Well I like Military and SciFi so I guess I need to give these a go :)

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