2008-07-08 Superlative Science-Fiction.

I read this book when I was about 10. One of the first I bought myself. Soon afterwards I was mystified to discover it had gone missing. I was even more mystified when it turned up amongst my pile of Christmas presents the following December.

Still, I digress.

This is one of Heinlein's most accessible books. Read it as a child, come back to it as an adult. Unlike a lot of Heinlein's more famous works it isn't tacky, doesn't advocate the promiscuous, hippy lifestyle or glorify war and right-wing fantasies (Friday, Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers all spring to mind).

Instead it's a touching story about a young slave boy, Thorby. The book starts with an auction: Thorby is rescued from servitude at the heart of the Sargon's Empire by an old beggar, Pop Baslim. When Baslim is killed by the Sargon's security forces Thorby is forced to seek help from the Free Traders and escape offworld. Heinlein's attempt to describe the peculiarly restrictive lifestyle of the Free Traders is excellent, and you really find yourself drawn into it. But just when Thorby has found acceptance he is forced to choose between his new, adoptive family, or to go further in his quest to discover who he is, and who his parents were. The third phase of the book then begins with Thorby's induction into Earth's Hegemonic Guard, and it ends with Thorby wresting his father's business empire from the hands of his treacherous Uncle, and discovering the fate of his parents.

All three phases of the book are brilliantly realised, and I found life aboard the Free Trader Sisu to be particularly compelling. In addition, Heinlein manages to keep his latent misogyny under control throughout the book, which is a plus.

If you enjoy this, you'll also enjoy Heinlein's The Green Hills of Earth.