Another Heinlein Juvenile

Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I read this book in middle school, along with Rocket Ship Galileo. It's a good one. It's a convincing story about the first explorers to visit other stars and evaluate the planets they find for human colonization. To make this possible Heinlein makes a couple of really unlikely predictions:

1. There are Torch Ships which can accelerate constantly until they nearly match the speed of light.

2. Some identical twins and triplets are not only telepathic with each other, but they can communicate instantaneously across distances of light years.

Of course, in what passes for science fiction these days these predictions aren't that bold. They practically make this a hard science novel.

Heinlein does a wonderful job of world building here, as he does in all of his juveniles. The story is compelling, the characters are memorable, and everything just seems real.

Some other reviewers complained about Heinlein's treatment of female characters in this book. I don't myself. He makes it clear that the women on the starship are very capable and willing to put their lives on the line to save others, but the captain of the starship won't give a woman a risky job if a man can do it. Under the circumstances in the story this makes sense.

I think this story holds up better than many of Heinlein's works for adults, and that anyone who enjoys the current crop of Young Adult S.F., no matter what his age, should find plenty to enjoy here.



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