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zosiablue's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I read this was because it was in an episode of Black Mirror I liked and I wanted to see how it connected. It didn't, really, except they both are futuristic and take place in space.
That's OK! It's a classic and I'm mostly glad I read it. The plot was better than the delivery; Earth sends their prisoners to the moon and the moon prisoners revolt and start a war to get free. The best character is a nearly-human computer so brilliantly drawn that I felt every little blip of his fate.
But the misogyny was hard to swallow. Also the contradictory politics and cringy libertarianism. And so much of it was space opera action, which is exciting if you want it (I didn't want it). Regardless, I'm going to be thinking about that computer for a long time.
That's OK! It's a classic and I'm mostly glad I read it. The plot was better than the delivery; Earth sends their prisoners to the moon and the moon prisoners revolt and start a war to get free. The best character is a nearly-human computer so brilliantly drawn that I felt every little blip of his fate.
But the misogyny was hard to swallow. Also the contradictory politics and cringy libertarianism. And so much of it was space opera action, which is exciting if you want it (I didn't want it). Regardless, I'm going to be thinking about that computer for a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Classism, and Genocide
Moderate: War, Racial slurs, Rape, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
wispy_reviews's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
This review is written on my second reading of this book; reading it again was immensely helpful with processing the ideas present, but it sure doesn’t speed up the book at all.
Heinlein loves to preach his own socio-political ideas in the form of science fiction stories, this is no exception and it is very dry for a great majority of it.
I would have preferred more focus on the element(s) of artificial intelligence, which started strong but waned in favor of the political rhetoric.
And, of course, you can’t have classic Sci-Fi without Baked-in misogyny. I swear, women in this book contribute nothing; Heinlein can pedestalize them as much as he wants, preach how wonderful and important and smart they are, but none of these women CONTRIBUTE anything to the political/war plot. Any time they participate it feels like they exist to be corrected by the men in the room.
It’s not the worst book I’ve ever read, and has some surprisingly good jokes and character dialogue, but is bogged down by long stretches of nothing happening.
Heinlein loves to preach his own socio-political ideas in the form of science fiction stories, this is no exception and it is very dry for a great majority of it.
I would have preferred more focus on the element(s) of artificial intelligence, which started strong but waned in favor of the political rhetoric.
And, of course, you can’t have classic Sci-Fi without Baked-in misogyny. I swear, women in this book contribute nothing; Heinlein can pedestalize them as much as he wants, preach how wonderful and important and smart they are, but none of these women CONTRIBUTE anything to the political/war plot. Any time they participate it feels like they exist to be corrected by the men in the room.
It’s not the worst book I’ve ever read, and has some surprisingly good jokes and character dialogue, but is bogged down by long stretches of nothing happening.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Pedophilia, Gun violence, and Racial slurs
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