In the Far Future, young Thorby is sold in a slave market to an old beggar who is more than he seems to be; and Thorby takes part in many adventures as he climbs the ladders of power and learns the truth of his own identity. A suspenseful tale of adventure, coming-of-age and interstellar conflict by science fiction’s Grand Master.“Not only America’s premier writer of speculative fiction, but the … fiction, but the greatest writer of such fiction in the world.”
– Stephen King
“There is no other writer whose work has exhilarated me as often and to such an extent as Heinlein.”
– Dean Koontz
“One of the most influential writers in American Literature.”
– The New York Times Book Review
“Heinlein wears imagination as though it were his private suit of clothes.”
– The New York Times
“Heinlein… has the ability to see technologies just around the bend. That, combined with his outstanding skill as a writer and engineer-inventor, produces books that are often years ahead of their time.”
– The Philadelphia Inquirer
“One of the grand masters of science fiction.”
– The Wall Street Journal
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988), often called the Science Fiction Grand Master, was the author of such ground-breaking novels as STARSHIP TROOPERS, RED PLANET, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND and THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS. He is generally considered the greatest and most influential science fiction writer of the twentieth century. In addition to being a bestselling author, Heinlein’s novels won 4 Hugo awards, 3 “retro Hugo” awards, and the first “Grand Master Award” from the Science Fiction Writers of America.
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One of the top few absolute best by Heinlein. Extraordinarily timelessly relevant messages about freedom, citizenship, duty, responsibility, and self honesty.
Heinlein here shows once again he is a master of science fiction that reads like character-driven literature. My only criticism of this book was that it is too short.
This book is among Heinlein’s best. A’s Thorby Baslim leaves his beginnings in slavery to travel the Galaxy he discovers life changing situations. This book is one you will enjoy rereading.
Spoiler: I have been a Heinlein fan for all of my life.
That said, the story of Thorby is somewhat typical of the Heinlein juveniles. It starts with Thorby as a young boy getting acquired by a beggar on a planet in a universe populated by a variety of different variants on human. Then moves on to how he managed to get onto a starship and, in the process of finding freedom discovers who he really is. This is not the best of Heinlein but is a well thought-out story and is written in his usual casual style without the preachiness of his works toward the end of his life. This is a very good introduction for a young person who understands that, having been written in the late 1950s, it is the story that counts and not the scientific accuracy.
I first read this in my teens, I’m in my seventies now and it’s still good.
One of Heinlein’s finest as both a Sci-Fi thriller and as a sound philosophy of for living.
I read this book many years ago. It is, in my opinion, not one of Heinleins best, but any book by Heinlein is better than the vast majority of other books on the market. The fact that is was authored by Robert A. Heinlein is enough reason to recommend it.
This book confused me for years. It was so well built and the entire plot was building so nicely, then I looked at how little was left and thought “how can he tie all this up?”
Well, he didn’t, there is no real ending, which could seem like a letdown.
However I learned years after that Heinlein was very ill during the final stages of the writing and just had to pretty much let it go. His agent took it to market anyway.
For a variety of reasons it is therefore by no means his best work but if I remember it still after a quarter of a century or more it cannot have been too bad 😉
One of Heinlein’s early juveniles; It’s still readable today for its original story. It’s a coming of age tale. Thorby is orphaned very young by slavers who sell him to a citizen of a distant planet. His new master is not who he seems to be. Adventures ensue.
I was 13 when I first read this book. Heinlein presented his philosophy of life in this, and his other Juveniles. He wanted American boys, and girls to be; independent, leery of authority, educated, and he expected them to earn their way in life. He coined the phrase, ‘There are no free lunches’. Fifty years later, I still appreciate that powerful education from one of Science Fiction’s true Masters.
Of all his ‘teen lead’ adventure books, this is my favorite. Just read the damned thing, and then wonder why no one’s made the movie.
This was one of my favorite books that I read growing up. Many books, when you go back an read them again, as an adult, don’t seem to hold up to the passage of time. Citizen of the Galaxy, however, is a book that does stand that proverbial passage of time. Let’s be clear, it’s not great literature. What it is is a a book to escape with while on the beach or in the mountains on a camping trip.
His best “juvenile”!