Dorsai!

This short novel is one of the classics of Military SF. It was initially published in serialized form, and you can tell because it is very episodic in form. Donal Graeme is the scion of a well-known family on the planet Dorsai, reknowned for its soldiers. He starts the book as a newly graduated cadet, but quickly rises in ability and reputation until at the end he has conquered everything. By an odd coincidence, though the novel was nominated for a Hugo for Best Novel in 1960, it lost out to Starshp Troopers by Robart A. Heinlein, which is the other great classic of Military SF. But the two books are complementary in a way. Dorsai! focuses on the role of the commander, while Starship Troopers focuses on the common soldier. I like Dorsai!, but I would have to say that Starship Troopers is the better novel. But read both of them, they are worth it, particularly if you have an interest in military SF.

I don't know why I still torture myself with older sci fi.

In theory I should really like it, and I still hold on saying "I love sci fi," but sometimes the misogyny and the self-insert idealized male are just too damn much.

In Dorsai our main character is Donal, a man of a top tier race of warriors (so he's like super buff and powerful), but he's also ~nOT LiKe oTHer GiRls~ because he's just so like incredibly smart. He doesn't think like other people so when he joins the system of soldiers for rent he quickly climbs rank through his ingenious tactics such as basically committing war crimes and being ahead of schedule.

He's always so damn smart and strong that he's never in danger, which from a storytelling point of view is just a horrible main character choice. (Oh but he's so confused by a fickel female, jeez what's he gonna do about that?)

If you've ever watched a video review dissecting one of Onision's books, reading this was a similar experience to that.

There's a illogical woman (of course) but she's of "good breeding" so our dude is intrigued by her. He almost gets wifed up by some lady but he dodges that bullet (am I right men?), and proceeds to advance his career sociopathically

And he just cruises along doing war stuff, takes a brief break to walk on air, and then becomes the commander of chief of all the planets and some dumb "twists" are revealed.

There's a lot to unpack from this book, but in short, it's not good.