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22 reviews for:
The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel About Parallel Universes
David Weber, Robert A. Heinlein
3.74 AVERAGE
22 reviews for:
The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel About Parallel Universes
David Weber, Robert A. Heinlein
3.74 AVERAGE
I tried. I really did. But later Heinlein was difficult enough... This one takes you to Barsoom... A series of books I really did not enjoy. The rampant misogyny constantly took me out of the story, no matter how badass some of the things the women did was. I love the idea of this being a parallel universe to The Number of the Beast ... I wish more authors would try this out, where the book starts the same and moves on to a different parallel world...
But I really just can't get into this one...
But I really just can't get into this one...
There's an excellent reason why Heinlein didn't publish this during his lifetime. It's basically a fan-fiction piece. You have a bunch of poly-math geniuses (let's just call them Mary Sue, Larry Sue, Sally Stu, and Gary Stu) who take their multi-verse travelling car/space-ship off to visit the lands of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, and E. E. Doc Smith with short side-trips elsewhere. Everywhere they go they have adventures where they're never in any appreciable danger but they see how they can fix the troubles of the universe they're in and proceed to do so without any thought for the consequences. There's a loose framing story about some sinister aliens hiding amongst us but it really never gets much traction or goes anywhere meaningful.
Not a good first Heinlein book, but this wasn’t my first Heinlein rodeo. It did take a while for me to finally commit to listening to it though. It was slow to start, but I finally got into it after adjusting to the different actors for different chapters (Zeb vs DT etc). I also was initially turned off by the emphasis of traditional gender roles, but quickly remembered that Heinlein has a tendency to be very tongue in cheek.
His sense of humor is prominent throughout the book. It was quite long, but you have to remember that it wasn’t very edited since it was a post-humus release.
The premise of navigating the different worlds was fascinating. I also really enjoyed Heinlein’s challenging of taboos like general nudity and other such things. Provocative in the best way.
His sense of humor is prominent throughout the book. It was quite long, but you have to remember that it wasn’t very edited since it was a post-humus release.
The premise of navigating the different worlds was fascinating. I also really enjoyed Heinlein’s challenging of taboos like general nudity and other such things. Provocative in the best way.
I didn't even know this book existed until a few years ago. Of course, I read "The Number of the Beast", this novel's sister story- a "parallel novel about parallel universes". And, since I still credit Heinlein with starting me on reading science fiction, I had to read this one, too.
"The Number of the Beast" is about four very Heinlein-esque characters- free-thinking, establishment-defying, highly intelligent- who are ambushed at a party by what they come to call "Black Hats", alien beings who think Zeb knows a scientific breakthrough that the aliens want kept secret. They escape in the Gay Deceiver, Zeb's spaceship which they outfit with a device that allows them to travel through alternate universes. "Pursuit of the Pankera" starts exactly the same, but as soon as they travel to the first of the alternate realities, the stories diverge. "Number", which was published in 1980, is much more in line with Heinlein's late work- social commentary, a message to convey, with political overtones. "Pankera", which was never published while Heinlein was alive, is more like his earlier stories- firmly scifi, good v. evil, us v. them.
What did I think? Well, I remember enjoying "Number" to a point, but never feeling it was a favorite. "Pankera" didn't really change that. I still had a hard time getting invested in the characters, there was a lot of suspension of disbelief (even for Heinlein) that got in the way, and it was just rather slow reading. Too much explaining of the "science" and mathematics of space travel and the reality-jumping mechanism, which seemed jammed in there to prove how smart each one of the characters was- even the wimmin, fergodsake! And while Heinlein's insistence that his female characters have brains as well as beauty (though they all had their damsel in distress moments, too), I found this one to pound that a little too hard. On top of that, there is the very dated feel of the book, which can't be helped. This one, from what was pieced together in discovering the manuscript bits, was written in 1977, so it's kind of like watching an old TV series- you can't help but be amused at some of the props and situations that look so old-fashioned to today's eyes. Overall, this one just didn't hold up well for me, but as I said, "Number of the Beast" was never a standout story for me, either.
If you are a diehard Heinlein fan, you probably will want to look this one up, just for completeness. Others might find it a bit dated and old school feeling.
"The Number of the Beast" is about four very Heinlein-esque characters- free-thinking, establishment-defying, highly intelligent- who are ambushed at a party by what they come to call "Black Hats", alien beings who think Zeb knows a scientific breakthrough that the aliens want kept secret. They escape in the Gay Deceiver, Zeb's spaceship which they outfit with a device that allows them to travel through alternate universes. "Pursuit of the Pankera" starts exactly the same, but as soon as they travel to the first of the alternate realities, the stories diverge. "Number", which was published in 1980, is much more in line with Heinlein's late work- social commentary, a message to convey, with political overtones. "Pankera", which was never published while Heinlein was alive, is more like his earlier stories- firmly scifi, good v. evil, us v. them.
What did I think? Well, I remember enjoying "Number" to a point, but never feeling it was a favorite. "Pankera" didn't really change that. I still had a hard time getting invested in the characters, there was a lot of suspension of disbelief (even for Heinlein) that got in the way, and it was just rather slow reading. Too much explaining of the "science" and mathematics of space travel and the reality-jumping mechanism, which seemed jammed in there to prove how smart each one of the characters was- even the wimmin, fergodsake! And while Heinlein's insistence that his female characters have brains as well as beauty (though they all had their damsel in distress moments, too), I found this one to pound that a little too hard. On top of that, there is the very dated feel of the book, which can't be helped. This one, from what was pieced together in discovering the manuscript bits, was written in 1977, so it's kind of like watching an old TV series- you can't help but be amused at some of the props and situations that look so old-fashioned to today's eyes. Overall, this one just didn't hold up well for me, but as I said, "Number of the Beast" was never a standout story for me, either.
If you are a diehard Heinlein fan, you probably will want to look this one up, just for completeness. Others might find it a bit dated and old school feeling.
This probably should have stayed unpublished. Meandering, baffling plot that ultimately leads nowhere. I feel like the first 1/4 and the last 1/20th were fleshed out and the middle is a joke he wrote to get it over with. Oh well.
My review
I read this years ago before it was The Pursuit of The Pankera - enjoyed it more this time although I do like to speed read over the heavy technology. Heinlein was a master of sounding like a genius - maybe he was? I was good at math but could never have dreamed up all the math and science (?) he writes into this story. I didn’t want it to end - and I wish RAH could have gone with Lafe and had his own youth restored, so he could have authored another several dozen books.
I love that he brings well known characters from his other works into new (?) stories.
Time Enough to choose another book to read
I read this years ago before it was The Pursuit of The Pankera - enjoyed it more this time although I do like to speed read over the heavy technology. Heinlein was a master of sounding like a genius - maybe he was? I was good at math but could never have dreamed up all the math and science (?) he writes into this story. I didn’t want it to end - and I wish RAH could have gone with Lafe and had his own youth restored, so he could have authored another several dozen books.
I love that he brings well known characters from his other works into new (?) stories.
Time Enough to choose another book to read
nice twist on a classic
always wondered what a Doc Smith / RAH collaboration would look like. this may be as close as we get. I need to reread Number of the Beast.
always wondered what a Doc Smith / RAH collaboration would look like. this may be as close as we get. I need to reread Number of the Beast.
I'm very glad I participated in the Kickstarter campaign to get this book published; I hope it does well commercially.
I've been a Heinlein fan for decades. He is one of the few authors that I re-read, or buy the books (thank you public library system, for keeping me out of bankruptcy!)
I don't know why RAH wrote, or published, "The Number of the Beast" the way he did, but "The Pursuit of the Pankera" is a better novel. If you liked "The Number of the Beast", you'll love "The Pursuit of the Pankera".
I've been a Heinlein fan for decades. He is one of the few authors that I re-read, or buy the books (thank you public library system, for keeping me out of bankruptcy!)
I don't know why RAH wrote, or published, "The Number of the Beast" the way he did, but "The Pursuit of the Pankera" is a better novel. If you liked "The Number of the Beast", you'll love "The Pursuit of the Pankera".
Does What It Says
The Pursuit of the Pankera lives up to the promises laid down in the first 15ish chapters of The Number of the Beast. It's not necessarily *better*... but it does what it says on the tin.
Like the earlier published version of the novel, the characters are ludicrous, the dialogue laughable, and the pacing dodgy. Pankera does maintain its narrative throughline better than Beast, but at the cost of making its lead characters all pretty cringe in the final act. It's easy to see why Heinlein changed it, but Beast's final act is incoherent and unsatisfying.
The Pursuit of the Pankera lives up to the promises laid down in the first 15ish chapters of The Number of the Beast. It's not necessarily *better*... but it does what it says on the tin.
Like the earlier published version of the novel, the characters are ludicrous, the dialogue laughable, and the pacing dodgy. Pankera does maintain its narrative throughline better than Beast, but at the cost of making its lead characters all pretty cringe in the final act. It's easy to see why Heinlein changed it, but Beast's final act is incoherent and unsatisfying.
This is the Other side of the Number of the Beast
This is the Other side of the Number of the Beast those Stories only hinted at an mentioned later in Time enough for love, Bob Expanded them, or perhaps these were how he intended them originally an an editor disused him, we will never know unless he left notes that will be published as well later on speaking about the process he went through while he wrote this wonderful take.
This is the Other side of the Number of the Beast those Stories only hinted at an mentioned later in Time enough for love, Bob Expanded them, or perhaps these were how he intended them originally an an editor disused him, we will never know unless he left notes that will be published as well later on speaking about the process he went through while he wrote this wonderful take.