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Citizen of the Galaxy

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 5,735 ratings · 210 reviews

In a distant galaxy, the atrocity of slavery was alive and well, and young Thorby was just another orphaned boy sold at auction. But his new owner, Baslim, is not the disabled beggar he appears to be: adopting Thorby as his son, he fights relentlessly as an abolitionist spy. When the authorities close in on Baslim, Thorby must ride with the Free Traders a league of merch...more

Paperback, 288 pages

Published May 17th 2005 by Pocket Books: Gallery Books (first published 1957)

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Jul 12, 2008 Katharine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

Some of my all-time favorite sci-fi novels were written by Robert Heinlein. Some of the worst, stupidest, most incoherent, hipper-than-thou sci-fi novels were also written by Robert Heinlein. So every time I check out a Heinlein from the library, it is with great trepidation.

I am happy to say that Citizen of the Galaxy is one of the first category – a good Heinlein. It is creative, likeable, possibly even inspiring. The hero, Thorby, is one of his better characters. A lot of things happen to hi...more

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Jul 11, 2007 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of science fiction

The story of a slave boy who becomes free and grows up, making his way through the Galaxy.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable science fiction book.

There isn't much character development, which is a little lame, because it is a story of a young man growing up.

However, the Heinlein's galaxy provides an interesting allegory for many human institutions such as government, free trade, education, and slavery.

The anti-slavery argument presented in this novel is more than just a condemnation of slavery as "r...more

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Jan 24, 2009 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've read a LOT of Heinlein, and this book doesn't read as much like a "typical" Heinlein book as others I've read. The main character is very serious --yes, he was a slave, but usually Heinlein books involve a certain witty dialogue that this character lacked.

That said, it was still an amazing book. We meet Thorby as he's being unloaded from a slave ship, and follow him through his life from there on. He's adopted by a begger/slave trade fighter in disguise, Baslim, who he calls Pop. From there...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Osho rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

I've read this any number of times, but since I began competitive reading at Goodreads, I haven't done much re-reading. I like Heinlein's later juvenile novels very much--the ones like this and Starman Jones, not the way-juveniles like The Star Beast. Yes, they all have the same tone, except Podkayne of Mars where Heinlein first develops the annoying faux-female narrator voice so jarring in Farnham's Freehold. Yes, you could pick up most of the secondary characters and plunk them into a differen...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Larou added it

Shelves: 2012-02, science, fiction

I have always had somewhat ambivalent feelings about Robert A. Heinlein – well, maybe not always: If I’m not mistaken I encountered him first when I was still a child, in German translation, and most likely abridged; those weren’t even paperbacks but the brochure format that was and I think still is popular in Germany for all kinds of pulp literature and which I used to devour by the dozens back in the day, and through all genres – Science Fiction, Romance, Crime, Western… I read them all.[retur...more I have always had somewhat ambivalent feelings about Robert A. Heinlein – well, maybe not always: If I’m not mistaken I encountered him first when I was still a child, in German translation, and most likely abridged; those weren’t even paperbacks but the brochure format that was and I think still is popular in Germany for all kinds of pulp literature and which I used to devour by the dozens back in the day, and through all genres – Science Fiction, Romance, Crime, Western… I read them all.[return][return]Anyway – Heinlein. As I grew up, and moved from his juveniles to his later work, my youthful enthusiasm for novels like Have Spacesuit Will Travel began to wane somewhat. Seen with a more critical eye brought on with greater maturity (or so I hope), it becomes hard to overlook that many of his political views are not exactly enlightened, that there is some weird stuff going on with gender relations, and that there is overall way too much sermonising on whatever subject happened to catch Heinlein’s fancy at the moment – Stranger in a Strange Land, to cite but one example, is pretty much one long sermon from beginning to end.[return][return]On the other hand… there just is something about Heinlein that grips you and you won’t let go, that draws you in and keeps you reading and turning pages even as you groan at yet another sermon and roll your eyes at yet another awkward fornication scene. I’m still trying to figure out what constitutes that appeal for me, but I strongly suspect that it has do with his narrative voice. I don’t think anybody is going to accuse Heinlein of writing literary fiction, and yet I have only recently seen the prevalence of voice of plot singled out as the trait that seperates literary fiction from genre literature. Based on the writings of Heinlein and some others I tend to disagree with that assessment, because while his works are very much genre, there also is a dinstinct style to them, a certain tone to their narrative voice, a unique lilt to the rhythm of their prose that are unmistakeably his.[return][return]That tone seems to go best with first person narrative (as indeed most of his novels are), and maybe that is the reason why it did not appear very pronounced in Citizen of the Galaxy, as that novel is told entirely in the third person. Which would make for a weaker Heinlein novel, except that there is hardly any of his trademark sermonising either, and it being a juvenile, no sex at all. It’s almost like his good side and his bad side were somehow interdependent on each other, and you couldn’t have one without the other. And if you tone down on one, you’ll water down the other and end up with some kind of middle-of-the-road Heinlein, which is basically what Citizen of the Galaxy is – it is not his best, but not his worst either, in fact it probably would make a good introduction for people new to Heinlein to find out whether they can stomach him at all, or even for people who otherwise dislike his works.[return][return]It is an entertaining romp, even if there is not really much happening – it’s bascially a classical Bildungsroman, with the hero wandering around, seeing places and getting to know people, all of which makes him grow as a person and finally become fully himself. There is of course an SFnal element, in that that he also encounters a variety of different societies in space and on planets - and I think this is something that makes Citizen of the Galaxy stand out among other sci-fi novels of the period, in so far as back in the day (1957, to be precise) there was not that much Science Fiction around that placed its emphasis on anthropology and sociology rather than on the hard sciences.[return][return]And a final point in which I find this novel noteworthy is in clearing up Heinlein’s attitude towards women which is a persistently recurring debate. While none of them are primary characters, there are a lot of female secondary characters around – and not a single one of them is the simpering, helpless wifey sort that would conform to the period stereotype, but without exception they are all extremely intelligent and highly competent persons. I don’t think anybody who reads Citizen of the Galaxy with an open mind will in good conscience be able to call Heinlein a misogynist. However, while there is nothing wrong with his female characters per se, the way he depicts their role in future society and in relationships appears to me to be deeply problematic – it seems even in the future, women cannot hold a position of power by themselves, but need to be married to a powerful man to achieve anything, with the male being in public view and the female using their relationship to manipulate and pull strings in the background to exert any influence. That is a very 19th century attitude, and seems strangely anachronistic for a future society. But then, they still have slavery, too, and the struggle to abolish it is Citizen of the Galaxy’s main plot point… except that there is no Hegemonic Guard to fight for female emancipation.(less)

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Apr 16, 2013 Brad Wheeler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-sff, audiobooks, hard-sf, science-fiction, sf-with-good-aliens

I have to say, I'm envious of how simple and unadorned Heinlein's writing is. His writing is not flowery or poetic or stylish, it just kind of "is." And yet, his stories move alone briskly and are full of believable characters and places. Frankly, I'd give a lot to be able to write as effortlessly as Heinlein seemed to.

So, the book itself. I liked it. The story takes place over three distinct settings in three distinct--and yet entirely human and believable--cultures. The main character, Thorby,...more I have to say, I'm envious of how simple and unadorned Heinlein's writing is. His writing is not flowery or poetic or stylish, it just kind of "is." And yet, his stories move alone briskly and are full of believable characters and places. Frankly, I'd give a lot to be able to write as effortlessly as Heinlein seemed to.

So, the book itself. I liked it. The story takes place over three distinct settings in three distinct--and yet entirely human and believable--cultures. The main character, Thorby, a slave with no memory of his past, is purchased by an old beggar who raises him as his son. The beggar is not who he seems to be, of course, and the story goes on from there. It never becomes epic and there's never any galaxy-shaking action, but the way that the beginning of the story and the lessons Thorby learns there inform the rest of the novel lead to a conclusion that follows entirely naturally from the beginning of the story. It's something more authors, myself included, could learn.

Heinlein writes believable cultures, like I mentioned, but I particularly love how he tackles the way that culture informs language, and vice versa. The Free Traders, for instance, have complex names for familial relationships because the peace is kept on their ships through strict--if informal--enforcement of family hierarchies. It's a subtle touch, and Heinlein keeps the infodumps mercifully short, but I loved it nonetheless.

My only real complaints about the novel were that it contained some typical golden-age-sf weirdness, like an emphasis on perfect memory techniques and theraputic hypnosis that seem charmingly quaint and are hard to take seriously. A few of the characters in the last act are largely straw men, which is particularly disappointing after all the life characters had in the earlier sections. The final resolution is told, rather than shown, and what should be a climactic showdown is avoided entirely.

I'm probably the last person to read this book, but if you by some chance haven't picked up a copy but enjoy classic science fiction, you'll definitely enjoy this one.(less)

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Jan 17, 2013 Doug Turnbull rated it 5 of 5 stars

Published in 1957 by Charles Scribner’s sons and copyrighted that same year by Robert A. Heinlein, Citizen of the Galaxy is the tenth of the Heinlein Juveniles and took place in a far distant future where humankind has spread widely through the Galaxy. Probably around age ten or twelve at the beginning of the story, Thorby, the main character, is a boy, who lives on a planet where despite being set far in the future, the social organization resembles that of ancient Babylon.

The story opens at a...more Published in 1957 by Charles Scribner’s sons and copyrighted that same year by Robert A. Heinlein, Citizen of the Galaxy is the tenth of the Heinlein Juveniles and took place in a far distant future where humankind has spread widely through the Galaxy. Probably around age ten or twelve at the beginning of the story, Thorby, the main character, is a boy, who lives on a planet where despite being set far in the future, the social organization resembles that of ancient Babylon.

The story opens at a slave auction where Thorby is the object of the bidding. In a scene that is both disgusting and comical, Thorby finds himself sold to an almost penniless beggar named Baslim and his new master appears to be only one step above slavery himself. The first part of the story concerns the evolution of a master-slave relationship into a father-son relationship during which Thorby discovers that Baslim the beggar is not what he seems. As time passes and Thorby grows into a teenager, Baslim gives him messages to deliver to people around the spaceport near where they live. He gradually suspects that Baslim is engaged in some sort of covert activity but doesn’t learn the exact nature of that activity until much later in the story. Baslim utilizes hypnosis to give Thorby a complex set of instructions to be used in the event that anything should happen to him. When Baslim disappears, Thorby carries out the instructions and after several suspenseful brushes with danger, finds himself aboard an outward bound starship named Sisu.

Thorby’s education continues aboard Sisu. Run by a family of interstellar traders whom he learns owed Baslim a large debt, Thorby is taken in as a repayment for that debt. The family was a member of a larger group of traders who call themselves simply the people, and who regard themselves as culturally superior to the populations of the various planets with whom they trade and to whom they refer as fraki. The ship also bristles with weapons as insurance against attacks by pirates and Thorby spends the next two years in the Sisu learning to become a first class fire control officer. During this time he also receives an excellent cultural education from an anthropologist who happens to be traveling with the ship to study their society. Eventually, Sisu meets up with a ship of the elite space guard and through a convoluted series of events, Thorby learns that like Baslim, he isn’t what he appears to be.

With a point of view first seen from the perspective of a pre-teen child, this book is a departure from the other juveniles in which the protagonists are usually several years older. We get to see Thorby grow and mature under Baslim’s guidance. Heinlein establishes that he believed in the importance of environment on human development by showing that when treated as a worthless slave during his formative years, that is what Thorby became. In a similar vein, as Baslim worked to educate and instill a sense of personal pride in him, Thorby gradually ceased to think like a slave, even though the local social structure required that he continue to act like one. The possibility and value of self-improvement is a recurrent theme throughout the Heinlein Juveniles.

In addition, slavery as an abhorrent but persistent institution is one of the main themes of this novel. Heinlein clearly recognized it, identified it in its many forms and just as clearly hated it. Slavery is there on the first page of the book as well as the last and I am convinced that Heinlein did not regard slavery as a dead institution, else why write it into a story set in a distant future? He knew that slavery existed even in his then modern world of the 1950’s, even as it still does today. While he often metaphorically referred to the communist nations as slave states, the slavery he describes in this novel is the real thing, complete with ownership papers that describe the slave as property and a tattoo on the slave to mark his place in society.

Personal and family loyalty is another theme that Heinlein addressed in this book. Thorby feels loyalty to Baslim and a need to follow his instructions long after he knew he was dead. He finds himself faced with a challenge when those instructions conflict with the new loyalty he feels for his adopted family and with his own desires. Later in the story, the issue comes up again when he discovers his true identity and is presented with a choice between resuming the role he was born to, or pursuing a course of his own making. How Thorby resolves this final conflict is the climax of the book and I will allow the reader to enjoy the discovery.

On the scientific side, sleep learning and hypnosis are used by Baslim as methods of training Thorby, and also of sending a message that uses Thorby as the unwitting messenger. Such techniques have since been largely discredited, but at the time this book was written, were considered by many to be cutting edge science. Heinlein also makes computers a primary method of navigation and fire control for Sisu, even though at the time this book was written, computers were still glorified adding machines that filled up entire buildings, were fragile and temperamental. He presciently foresaw that they would increase in power and reliability while decreasing in size. A weapon used by slavers to paralyze the occupants of a starship is another invention that Heinlein proposes. While seeming far-fetched at first glance, such weapons are currently under study by our own defense department. Finally, the Sisu utilized fusion power for its propulsion and made use of the space/time anomalies postulated by Einstein that we now call wormholes. As always, Heinlein’s science was right at the edge.

This is an outstanding book and it operates effectively on several levels. If none of the other elements I described earlier were present, as a coming of age story with only the psychological themes, it would still be a good tale. But with those themes present this is a great tale. If you like action and suspense woven into a realistic and human story, this book is for you.

(less)

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Oct 05, 2012 Francis added it · review of another edition

It just took me fifty years to finish this book.

Yes, it's true, I started this when I was about nine or ten. I had checked it out from the library and I was immediately immersed in the story of the young slave bought by a crippled beggar. But, the life of a ten year old got in the way. And, I had to play baseball, and I had to learn commerce, which I did by trading, marbles, baseball cards, stamps and comics and learned the painful but necessary lessons of childhood like never trade a puree for...more

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May 14, 2012 Smcleish rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in August 1999.

At one stage of his career, Heinlein wrote a series of novels aimed at what is now termed the "young adult" market; Citizen of the Galaxy is one of the best of these. This is partly because it has something of a message yet is still entertaining escapism.

The moral is hardly a revolutionary one; it has been pretty generally accepted throughout the twentieth century. It can be summed up as "slavery is evil", and though mainly concerned with slave...more Originally published on my blog here in August 1999.

At one stage of his career, Heinlein wrote a series of novels aimed at what is now termed the "young adult" market; Citizen of the Galaxy is one of the best of these. This is partly because it has something of a message yet is still entertaining escapism.

The moral is hardly a revolutionary one; it has been pretty generally accepted throughout the twentieth century. It can be summed up as "slavery is evil", and though mainly concerned with slavery as traditionally practised, it contains rather subtler references to extend the idea of slavery to cover any life determined by involuntary rules imposed from outside. The central character, Thorby, basically passes through several different sorts of 'slavery' - ownership by another, membership of a ritually constrained culture, the discipline imposed by the armed forces. (I am not sure that Heinlein would have considered this a form of slavery when enlistment is voluntary.)

The plot of the novel is fairly implausible. Thorby, a slave for as long as he can remember, is sold at the market on the planet Sargon VIII, part of a group of planets (the Imperium) where slavery is an important social institution. He is bought - at a knock down price - by an old beggar, Baslim, and adopted as his son. Baslim is not what he appears to be; he turns out to be a spy dedicated to eradicating slavery. When suspected by the Imperium he is killed; but Thorby escapes with the help of the Free Traders Baslim had used as couriers for his messages.

The Free Traders are basically spacegoing merchant princes, who have subordinated their entire lives to ritual designed to maximise profit and make it possible for a large community to live in the restricted environment of a spaceship. When Thorby finds this new slavery constricting, he is able to join the armed forces of the Terran Hegemony, in which Baslim had been an important officer. The identity check performed on new recruits then causes the most implausible twist in the book: Thorby is actually Thor Rudbek, heir to one of Earth's biggest corporate fortunes, presumed dead after his parents' space yacht went missing when he was a baby.

The implausibility is hidden by skilful writing; the characters are believable' and this makes it one of Heinlein's best books.(less)

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May 05, 2011 Hayley Farr rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: san-francisco-bookshelf

I am a big Heinlein fan, but at the same time I will be the first to admit that not all of his novels are inspired ground-breaking science fiction. Citizen of the Galaxy, however, falls only just shy of that distinction. It's a sometimes slow-paced other times speedy story of slavery, family (both in the literal and unofficial sense), and the meaning of the word home. The title is well chosen to describe the feeling proposed in the novel of not belonging to one people, of not being a citizen of...more

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Oct 13, 2010 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: sci fi fans, male teen readers

Shelves: books-from-1957, sci-fi

Citizen of the Galaxy is another one of Heinlein's Young Adult novels, though I found it in the Science Fiction section of my local library. Thorby is a young boy who knows neither his parents nor his age and has been a slave for as long as he can remember.

The story opens at a slave auction on the planet Jubbul, central to the Nine Worlds. Thorby is purchased by a beggar named Baslim, who raises the boy as his adopted son, frees him and turns out to be much more than a beggar.

Thorby's tale the...more

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Oct 03, 2009 Surreysmum rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1984, science-fiction

[These notes were made in 1984:]. A juvenile, but only in the sense that its hero is adolescent. This is quite a sophisticated fable about the uses of power; a nicely-structured progression from powerlessness and naiveté (Thorby as slave) through acceptance in a limited and self-sufficient society (the Traders) to awesome financial (and therefore moral) power. As in many Heinlein books, the problem is redefining the self in light of the totally new conditions, and Thorby does this successfully t...more

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Jul 09, 2009 Ori rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adolescent-phase-makers, good-yarns

I have a friend who contends that this is the greatest sci-fi book for young adults ever published. While I certainly agree that this is a fine book for that (and all) ages, particularly as it may be a useful teaching tool for certain history, social studies, and civics classes, I still think "Ender's Game" takes the cake.

The characters are well thought out and the plot is solid. I think there could be more galaxy gallivanting, maybe a few more episodes for young Thorby, but at the same time the...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Karmakosmik rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Un bel libro di formazione questo "Il Cittadino della Galassia", che sfrutta la storia del giovane schiavo Thorby, acquistato e poi liberato dal falso mendicante Pop\Baslim, per raccontare quattro diversi sistemi sociali. Dai ghetti dominati dalla tirannia di Jubbulpore al rigidissimo sistema sociale della "Sisu", fino ad arrivare alla conclusiva battaglia legale per il riconoscimento dell'eredità di Thorby,Heinlein analizza in maniera asciutta ed attenta, tutti i diversi schemi sociali nei qual...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Suzanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This was always one of my favorite Heinlein juveniles. I zipped through it in a day after reading Grumbles from the Grave. It surprised me to find it was so short; somehow I remembered it as being longer.

Despite the fact that I have always enjoyed reading this book and this time through was no exception, I found myself wincing at the following:

[Baslim] had never liked hypnosis, even for therapy; he had an almost religious concept of the dignity of the individual; hypnotizing another person did n...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Andrea rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1900s-1950s-era, science-fiction, space-adventure, spaceships

Heinlein here has moved outward from Earth, to a full intergalactic dispersal of Earth's inhabitants among multiple political groupings - from an Earth 'hegemony' to a slave trading Empire. The story follows Thorby, captured by slavers at a very young age, mistreated continually until bought by a beggar with complex secrets, who raises him to be a pillar of honesty and intellectual endeavour.

The strongest section of the book is the beginning, where we are thrown deeply into Thorby's situation. T...more

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Nov 23, 2010 Phill Coxon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Yah! Another Robert Heinlein book.

I don't know why - I just love them. Well most of them. There has been one so far I just couldn't stand (the name escapes me right now) - the only book I've ever thrown away.

Citizen of the Galaxy was great, following along one of the common themes of Heinlein's books. Young boy thrust into a situation outside of his control (in this case, he's a slave bought by a new master), develops new skills, starts on an incredible journey through space where his engineer...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, books-i-own

Highly regarded as one of the best of Heinlein’s juvies, Citizen of the Galaxy is indeed, for the most part, worthy of the praise that has been heaped upon it. I do have one qualm with this novel; it seems to lack a nemesis, or antagonist. There is quite a bit that happens – but to what end? There are no “bad guys” so it’s a bit bland at times. The slavers, and slavery, are the closest the novel ever comes to real conflict, but that is handled in such a peripheral fashion that there is never any...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Ramsey Hootman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-time-favorites

My review of this book has to be considered in the light that I haven't read it since I was a teenager - although back then I loved it a great deal and read it multiple times.

Growing up, I loved those of Heinlein's books which focused on freedom - what it means, the cost of attaining it, and what consequences and responsibilities it entails. In particular, Citizen of the Galaxy was one of those books with a lot of "cool stuff," and it allowed me to superimpose my own dreams of reaching the star...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Daniel Fox rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is the first of Heinlein's books I've come across. An intriguing set up, but with far to little focus applied to the last 7 chapters. I felt as though I had an in depth experience with the first portion of the book, and suddenly was reading the sparknotes for the later half of the novel. The book was a jarring mass of implied plot lines and then unaddressed instances. At the end of the book the only conclusions I came away with were strictly based on my own guesses and speculation at how th...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Mykaala Cage-pork rated it 2 of 5 stars

I somewhat finished reading the book Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein and I thought it was okay. I'm not saying I just loved the book and it was really awesome, but it was okay. I think it was okay because it really didn't have anything in the book to keep the reader interested for a long period of time. Also because the book's details of the conflicts or problems that occurred were kind of boring and weren't really that graphic.
The main settings of the book take place on a planet c...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Christian Clemmons rated it 3 of 5 stars

Citizen of the Galaxy is a fine book to read because it's a science fiction book that the author(Robert A. Heinlein)work really hard on and I really like that. The setting takes place in a different part of space on the planet Sargon. There we meet a slave boy from the Mary Widow ship. The boy's name is Thorby. When Thorby is auctioned off nobody will take him, until a old beggar buys him. The beggar's name is Baslim the Crippled. Thorby is brought to Baslim's house where Baslim tells Thorby tha...more

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Sep 12, 2010 Kathy added it

Shelves: children, fantasy, sci-fi, spy, young-adult, family

refered to in book of the alaskan detective, being on her bookshelf... sci fi, description sounded interesting.

Written in 1957, it reminds me of Star Wars and Gulliver's travel... set in a future of innumerable planets & galaxies, and slave trade...

the story begins when Thorby, maybe age 7ish, is being sold as a slave and purchased by a beggar, Baslim the Cripple for pittence because no one else wants him... and Baslim, obviously abhors slavery & treats Thorby with kindness and respect....more refered to in book of the alaskan detective, being on her bookshelf... sci fi, description sounded interesting.

Written in 1957, it reminds me of Star Wars and Gulliver's travel... set in a future of innumerable planets & galaxies, and slave trade...

the story begins when Thorby, maybe age 7ish, is being sold as a slave and purchased by a beggar, Baslim the Cripple for pittence because no one else wants him... and Baslim, obviously abhors slavery & treats Thorby with kindness and respect... Thorby has scars on his back from being whipped. Baslim (aka Pops) educates Thorby, teaching him many languages, and galactic mapping, and math... he teaches him to memorize immediately... Baslim is in fact a spy, a colonel in the Hegemony galactic army, tyring to gain intel on the slave trade... and though Thorby realizes he is more than a beggar, and helps him as requested, he does not understand...

When Thorby is about 15ish, Baslim is captured - taking a poison to kill himself before they could inquistion style question him... and Thorby follows his instructions to contact Captain Krausa of the free trade ship Susa, who takes him off the planet... and Thorby is adopted by the Captain until such time that the Captain can finish Baslim's request and turn him over the the Hegemony so that they could locate his family and restore him to them. On the Susa, Thorby learns much... the Free tradesman call themselves The Family - and there are many rules to regulate both familial and ship relationships... he learns them, proves himself at the computer in battle, learns about the cultures of the worlds they trade with (very Gulliverish)... and although he is happy, he isn't sure he can remain happy with all of the rules for a lifetime... Interestingly, on board is an anthropologist with whom he becomes friends, who explains to him much of how things work (hence we learn also)... and most profoundly, even the the Family is free to trade, within the ship, with their perpetuity & happiness upmost, there is little personal freedom.

Captain Krausa, in spite of his personal desire to keep Thorby as part of the family, follows Baslim's request and turns him over to the Hegemony Guard... the ship's captain served under Baslim and has great respect for him... here Thorby learns more about Baslim's calling to end slavery, and he is able to pass on information that Baslim planedted in his subconscious mind... he enlists with the guard, and serves a few years until they find his family... His parents were from Earth (Terra), and had been on a vacation/exploration of their space holdings when attacked and Thorby was captured (age 3) and turned over to slavers and his parents killed... he returns to earth, and in another Gulliverism of corporate overextension, he has a struggle to wrest his father's company from his uncle & though he wants to return to the Guard, he stays where he is, using his connections to try and trace how his company's ships & shipyards are tied to the slavers...

The story ends with his internal conversation with Baslim over what is right to do...(less)

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Nov 24, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very good science fiction for 10 - 14 year olds and for adults who like old school science fiction. The story stars with the hero, a boy, being sold as a slave in a distant planet to a beggar. A large part of the book is him growing up and escaping slavery. The setting is very familiar to anyone who has watched the Firefly series, as a kind of wild west in outer space. There are the themes of slave ships, trader ships, distant colonies, and general lawlessness of the frontier with spaceships goi...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Justin Harris rated it 1 of 5 stars

Citizen of the Galaxy, by Robert A. Heinlein, is a science fiction book that takes place in the future. It centers around the issue of slavery and the quest by a few to stop it. The main character is an orphan named Thorby who is adopted by an abolitionist. He travels through the galaxy on several ships in an effort to reach his home planet. Personally, I didn't like this book at all. It is not one of the several books I chose to read. I didn't like the subject matter, the print was too small to...more

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Jan 15, 2010 Ouranosaurus rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 31, 2011 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Well, I don't know what I was expecting from this book, but it kind of blasted my expectations out of the water. I was expecting some sort of slave story that ended with the slave leading a revolt or becoming a soldier/cop-type-guy who led an anti-slaver shoot-out. I was wrong.

There were a lot of different things going on in this story. Learning about Baslim the Beggar was interesting, especially when we found out he wasn't what he seemed. The time that the main character, Thorby, spent on the S...more

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Feb 07, 2011 Larry rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Jul 19, 2012 Eija rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: luettu-käännös

Galaksin kansalainen on kertomus Thorby pojasta ja hänen matkastaan orjuudesta kerjäläis-Baslimin ottopojaksi ja eteenpäin suomalaisten kauppa-alukselle ja edelleen kaartin sotapojaksi ja viimein Terraan sukunsa pariin. Kirja on tyypillinen poikien seikkailukirja. Tapahtumiin ei syvennytä kunnolla vaan mennään juonta eteenpäin vauhdilla ja ongelmatilanteet selvitetään nopeasti ja helposti sen enempiä niitä pureksimatta. Kauppa-aluksen vierailemien planeettojen asukkaiden ja miljöön kuvaukset jää...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Morris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Subjects covered: slavery, economics, business, the military and their relationship to the above, politics, romance, calculus and orbital mechanics, and some wierd but interesting theories of education.

Note: At the time of writing, most people did not feel that slavery was an issue in their world; but it was. Just as it was in the book's world. Just as it is in ours.

I read this as I read several great science fiction books: because our math class in 7th grade met in the room that was also the Jr...more

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About Robert A. Heinlein

Robert Anson Heinlein was an American novelist and science fiction writer. Often called "the dean of science fiction writers", he is one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of "hard science fiction".

He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality. He was the first SF writer to break into mainstre...more

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Quotes from Citizen of the Galaxy

“- I'm so busy doing what I must do that I don't have time for what I ought to do... and I never get a chance to do what I want to do!
- Son, that's universal. The way to keep that recipe from killing you is occasionally to do what you want to do anyhow.” — 9 people liked it

“Customs tell a man who he is, where he belongs, what he must do. Better illogical customs than none; men cannot live together without them.” — 8 people liked it

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