Starship Trooper’s been bandied about on the podcast and in the forums, and if you enjoyed that book then you might think about giving Armor a try. John Steakley blatantly rips off the powered armor and Bug War concepts and takes it in a new direction. The book has two intertwining tales told from two different points of view. One of these tales is about Felix, a trooper on the front lines of the Bug War and his struggle for survival against the implacable Bugs. The second is the story of a pirate named Jack Crow. The subplots don’t mesh very well and Jack’s story could be more fleshed out, but if you’re looking for more powered armor then this book should appeal to you.
I read somewhere (long enough back that I can’t recall where) that Steakley wrote Armor because Starship Troopers was almost devoid of actual combat.
You know…I read this book. I enjoyed the story of the engine but not the story of the colony. But I couldn’t help but nitpick the combat. Every singe fight ends with them using the rifles as clubs. Swords show up at the end but not in general military use and it really doesn’t make sense to me. You’d think the military would fix that