That’s a fair correction. I guess authoritarianism is too far of a comparison for the book. I had read it a long time ago and remembered it pretty much straight up glorifying the military and military conquest above all, and as you say, the only path to citizenship is through military service.
It is a militarily dominant society, but that doesn’t necessarily require authoritarianism as the movie portrayed.
The one thing missing from the movie I wish they had put in was that in the books, IIRC, they had mech-like suits that had to be learned how to be piloted/used, and I remember that being a decent bit of a few chapters just learning how to use their mechanical battle suits.
They did not go into battle with some basic kevlar vs giant bugs.
Do note, the society tries to dissuade people from military service and does not at all glorify it. Don’t know if you remember the interactions with Mr Dubois, the civics teacher.
That’s a fair correction. I guess authoritarianism is too far of a comparison for the book. I had read it a long time ago and remembered it pretty much straight up glorifying the military and military conquest above all, and as you say, the only path to citizenship is through military service.
It is a militarily dominant society, but that doesn’t necessarily require authoritarianism as the movie portrayed.
The one thing missing from the movie I wish they had put in was that in the books, IIRC, they had mech-like suits that had to be learned how to be piloted/used, and I remember that being a decent bit of a few chapters just learning how to use their mechanical battle suits.
They did not go into battle with some basic kevlar vs giant bugs.
Do note, the society tries to dissuade people from military service and does not at all glorify it. Don’t know if you remember the interactions with Mr Dubois, the civics teacher.