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422nd out of 2,946 books
—
12,393 voters
The Star Beast
"
Readers will hail the book... the humor is delightful!
" — Andre Norton
"This is a novel that won't go bad on you. Many of science fiction's triumphs, even from as little as ten years ago, are unreadable today; they were shoddily put together, not meant for re-use. But Heinlein is durable. I've read this story twice, so far - once in the Fantasy and Science Fiction seriali...more
"This is a novel that won't go bad on you. Many of science fiction's triumphs, even from as little as ten years ago, are unreadable today; they were shoddily put together, not meant for re-use. But Heinlein is durable. I've read this story twice, so far - once in the Fantasy and Science Fiction seriali...more
Mass Market Paperback, 253 pages
Published
December 12th 1977
by Del Rey/Ballantine Books
(first published 1954)
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Star Best landed on my bookshelf after I picked it up at a used book store for less than a dollar. I simply couldn't resist the slightly adorable, eight-legged, dinosaur-creature-thing on the cover. I regret how long it took me to actually start reading this as its highly engaging and enjoyable. I work in the legal field, so Heinlein's use of accurate legal terminology was a pleasure for me to read. I fell in love with Lummox from the first page. His (or her) personality reminded me of Lennie fr...more
This has the distiguished honor of the being the first REAL book I read. I remember I was in grade school (fourth grade? I don't remember) and did a book report over it and everything. At the time, I loved it...but re-reading it as an adult, I realize that it's not one of Heinlein's best. It's not even one of his best "young male" novels, but it's still a great way to pass an evening or two.
The run-down (non-spoilered): John Thomas has a giant, talking pet alien, named Lummox, who is always get...more
The run-down (non-spoilered): John Thomas has a giant, talking pet alien, named Lummox, who is always get...more
Oct 22, 2012
David
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who likes SciFi
Recommended to David by:
LA County Librarian
I read The Star Beast decades ago when I worked my way through the Foothill Branch of the LA County Library's science fiction section. At the time, it was one of my favorite stories and a beginning of my love for Heinlein's work. I remembered the plot in general.
Something prodded me to reread this book (and a few others) from my youth. I picked up a copy and put it in my to-read stack. I picked it up earlier this month and started working my way through it.
The book held up to it's age (and mine)...more
Something prodded me to reread this book (and a few others) from my youth. I picked up a copy and put it in my to-read stack. I picked it up earlier this month and started working my way through it.
The book held up to it's age (and mine)...more
The Star Beast was copyrighted in 1954 by Robert A. Heinlein and published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in that same year. This is the first of the juveniles to have no interior illustrations, but the cover art and title page were done by Clifford Geary. This is the eighth of the juveniles and as it was with all of the previous books, the plot and characters are unique. Set in the 22nd century, the book has two distinct story lines, lines that eventually intersect, and the point of view changes am...more
Over one hundred years before the action in this book, John Thomas Stuart XI's ancestor brought back a friendly cute alien creature from an interstellar voyage. Lummox has grown tremendously, but he still lives with the Stuart family and is currently taken care of by John Thomas. But now the neighbors are afraid Lummox, whom they see as a monster. Can John Thomas save his friend/pet?
Lummox has also come to the attention of government bureaucrats. The neighborhood story becomes interspersed with...more
Lummox has also come to the attention of government bureaucrats. The neighborhood story becomes interspersed with...more
I generally enjoy Heinlein juveniles a fair amount; this one, however, I found rather disappointing. I suppose what I was looking forward to was a nice space adventure with maybe a few aliens. No one here ever leaves the planet, and the aliens that there are -- other than Lummox -- pretty much spend the entire book having bureaucratic wrangling with Earth over Lummox's legal status, which was not exactly the excitement I had been hoping for, and it didn't help that I didn't find the legal issues...more
Heinlein. What more need be said, really?
A side note, if you will, on the subject of women in Heinlein's universe. Someone noted in a review a quote from the male lead ""very nearly as good a head on her as a man, and pretty to boot". This quote, out of the context of the novel, is quite damning...but how the male lead describes the woman, and how the woman is portrayed by Heinlien are two completely different things. This woman who is "nearly as good a head as a man" runs circles around EVERY m...more
A side note, if you will, on the subject of women in Heinlein's universe. Someone noted in a review a quote from the male lead ""very nearly as good a head on her as a man, and pretty to boot". This quote, out of the context of the novel, is quite damning...but how the male lead describes the woman, and how the woman is portrayed by Heinlien are two completely different things. This woman who is "nearly as good a head as a man" runs circles around EVERY m...more
This is one of the timeless stories Heinlein wrote for teenagers in the fifties. My fiance, dad and I all have a soft spot for the Heinlein stories in this vein.
Uneven and disappointing, for while there were interesting interactions, the inconsistency of his message with respect to non-terrestrial beings was irritating, and his social flaws more so. Yes, product of the times...heard it.
I read one review that said this book had Heinlein's first strong female character. Maybe, but when that character has "very nearly as good a head on her as a man, and pretty to boot"? Much work to do as a progressive human, Mr. Heinlein.
Asimov wasn't a fraction of the s...more
I read one review that said this book had Heinlein's first strong female character. Maybe, but when that character has "very nearly as good a head on her as a man, and pretty to boot"? Much work to do as a progressive human, Mr. Heinlein.
Asimov wasn't a fraction of the s...more
Feb 04, 2010
John
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
children-and-young-adult,
sf
It's probably been 25 years or more since the previous time I read this book, but something compelled me to pick it up again the other day. I was naturally expecting that it wouldn't be as good as I remembered, but if anything it's better! A completely fun jaunt through Heinlein's future, most of it just background to the story, which is about a small-town lad and his pet, an alien critter that had been smuggled back to Earth a hundred years back by his great great grandfather. The other charact...more
It's interesting that the last two science fiction books I've read have focused more on trials and diplomacy than action. This felt like a bridge book between Heinlein's action stories like R is for Rocket and Starship Troopers, and his later works like Stranger in a Strange Land. It's more philosophy and alien-human relation examination than a rollicking space story, although its lead characters feel like they came right out of his junior-science fiction books. A strange dichotomy. There's also...more
Jul 10, 2008
Valerie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Ian, Aaron, Karanina
Recommended to Valerie by:
Mom
I recently reread this so Ian and I could discuss it. I'm not sure if he's finished it. But I remembered how much I love Heinlein.
This is an adventure of the strangest type, whereby a creature from another world 900 light years away from Earth is living, with a boy and his family, and it is a giant dinosaur size. It talks and eats anything. Well, the beings from its home planet arrive and want her back .... or they destroy the planet.
How does Heinlein come up with these fantastical beings is beyond me? This novel is light and humorous and absolutely delightful. It's like a "boy and his dog" kind of story, with everlasting...more
How does Heinlein come up with these fantastical beings is beyond me? This novel is light and humorous and absolutely delightful. It's like a "boy and his dog" kind of story, with everlasting...more
Pet or alien queen? John Thomas inherited Lummy, an exotic space pet, from his grandfather. One fine day his pet who happens to be huge and seemly indestructible leaves her cage. The local people want her destroyed. Lummy's home planet has sent a ship to bring her home and arrives threatening earth's destruction if Lummy is not returned. This is not one of Heinlein's best. The dialog is full of huh, err and what. Even in 1954 when this book was originally published people did not start every sen...more
Listened to this book on a full cast audio CD during a long car ride. Full cast audio makes all the difference. The book, while juvenile fiction, was very engaging and humorous. Heinlein did a great job (as usual) of casting a strong female lead. I thought he made the male lead a bit too wimpy though, almost to the point of my wondering what Betty really saw in John Thomas. The starbeast, Lummie, was very sweet and endearing. The book contains politics, human as well as species rights, women's l...more
i read this ages ago but the main thing i took away from it was that heinlein can be a sexist douche.
A Robert Heinlein science fiction book written in the 1950's. It can be taken as a young adult book, but it, as usual for Heinlein, has a lot of government satire. It is the story of a family's multigenerational pet brought back from outer space. The son, current owner, finds himself and pet involved in the center of a local situation in which the law is trying to put the animal to death while also becoming the center of an intergalactic diplomatic incident. A lot of humor especially in the oper...more
Love this one too. I love the "twist" in this one.
This has been one of my favorite juveniles since I was a juvenile many moons ago. It does have a fairly intricate plot line for a book aimed at young adults. It's funny, exciting, touching, and really a terrific read. It also has the potential to be a very good movie, if they could do it properly and not abort the Heinleinian features as Hollywood did with Puppet Masters and Starship Troopers.
The great aspect of Heinlein's books is that even the ones aimed at the YA market can still captivate a...more
The great aspect of Heinlein's books is that even the ones aimed at the YA market can still captivate a...more
Jan 10, 2009
Philip
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
the-book-thing,
fiction
Good clean fun.
This book has been sat on my to read shelf for a while now. I picked it up last year sometime completely by chance. Nobody I know had cited it as one one of Heinlein's better novels and I had no particular expectations about it. Consequently, it never seemed to reach the top of my to read pile but then I heard that it's scheduled for inclusion in the SF Masterworks series. Time to think again about this book. It is not often that this series puts a foot wrong and the only other Heinlein book in...more
I learned that Heinlein needed this book to grow.
I didn't mind the dated technology, though it was a little frustrating for the characters to not have any portable communications devices, even written in 1954.
I didn't even mind Heinlein's characters, too much anyways. The only one that struck me as over the top was the mother. Way to annoying, and very stereotypical. I had always thought that Heinlein was past the annoying female character, but I guess this book was before he met Ginny.
I didn't mind the dated technology, though it was a little frustrating for the characters to not have any portable communications devices, even written in 1954.
I didn't even mind Heinlein's characters, too much anyways. The only one that struck me as over the top was the mother. Way to annoying, and very stereotypical. I had always thought that Heinlein was past the annoying female character, but I guess this book was before he met Ginny.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The Star Beast is one of Heinlein's better books from the happier days when he wrote good science fiction for young adults. The highlight of this book for me was not John Thomas, Betty, or even Lummox, but Henry Kiku and his shrewd manipulations at the Department of Spatial Affairs. The problem with reading a children's book for the first time when an adult is that you don't have the happy remembrances of how you loved the story as a child - you are left to try to connect with characters who wer...more
A nice boy and his dog story - but who is the boy and who is the dog?
Heinlein weaves a rich tale full of (mostly) well rounded characters and isnt afraid to throw some weird aliens in there - at least in this story as facilitators and co-stars.
I like that is doesnt have the human bias of some of the pulpier stuff of the time - IE E.E. "Doc" Smith, who I loved, but he certainly had a human bias.
This isnt my favorite Heinlein, but it was still quite good.
Heinlein weaves a rich tale full of (mostly) well rounded characters and isnt afraid to throw some weird aliens in there - at least in this story as facilitators and co-stars.
I like that is doesnt have the human bias of some of the pulpier stuff of the time - IE E.E. "Doc" Smith, who I loved, but he certainly had a human bias.
This isnt my favorite Heinlein, but it was still quite good.
So one of my friends made me read this book after I stated that I hated Heinlein. Which I do. But that is based primarily on his later works where his semi-crazy (although not off the charts nuts like some other sci-fi authors) politics gets in the way. But just as my friend said, this book isn't like that (note that she is also making me read "Have Spacesuit Will Travel", so that is coming soon). It is a simple (although not _too_ simple, there are some things going on in the background that I...more
I got this at a garage sale because of the author. It was a bit outdated as far as how the characters related to each other, although Heinlein's books are like that.
Interesting idea at the end about whether the star beast was the pet of the human, or the other way around.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this one unless you are a Heinlein fan. But I've read worse.....
Interesting idea at the end about whether the star beast was the pet of the human, or the other way around.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this one unless you are a Heinlein fan. But I've read worse.....
I recently found this 1977 edition of this classic Heinlein novel in a used bookstore in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo. I first read the book when I was about 13 years old and am thoroughly enjoying it again. It is a wonderful story and perfectly embodies what science-fiction was before the genre was destroyed by the same altruistic, anti-reason and anti-human ideas that have poisoned every other type of literature. I highly recommend this book.
A classic Heinlein juvenile, one of the few with a strong female character. The full-cast audio version is extremely well done.
It's not a traditional YA novel. There's a diplomatic crisis and a courtroom drama in the novel. There's not really any action, but there's a lot of excellent character interaction, especially the YA leads, Betty and John Thomas with "The Star Beast" named Lummox.
Many of the characters aren't as fleshed out as they could be (e.g., John Thomas's mother), but I love the...more
It's not a traditional YA novel. There's a diplomatic crisis and a courtroom drama in the novel. There's not really any action, but there's a lot of excellent character interaction, especially the YA leads, Betty and John Thomas with "The Star Beast" named Lummox.
Many of the characters aren't as fleshed out as they could be (e.g., John Thomas's mother), but I love the...more
This book was really long.There were really small words and a lot of pages.This book was very interesting and had a lot of information.I liked how this book had two stories that were going on at once and they came together at the end.The ending was different than what I had thought it would be like but it was still very good.
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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
More about Robert A. Heinlein...
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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“The commonest weakness of our race is our ability to rationalize our most selfish purposes.”
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Feb 22, 2012 12:40pm