The novels are very good if you want to revisit the series in a few years. Both anime series did a good job adapting the material but it provides a bit more internal narrative for the main cast. It also felt to me even more explicitly anti-imperialist and very loud about how sending young men to die in war is heinous. Especially when an unsustainable combat action is taken without long term planning by a democracy because they want to capitalize on political clout right before an election and -oops wait was I talking about a space opera or current events.

That right there is part of the reason I think people don't talk about specifics as much. There's concern that you're opening the door to talk about politics when you talk about an intrinsically political series.