#12 The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein
Castor and Pollux Stone have big plans to make big money. But in order to complete these plans, they need a spaceship, and the chance to
fly it. Only their father doesn't quite see it their way, and would prefer that the underage twins finish their educations on earth. They soon strike a compromise. The twins can go to space, but not alone. The whole family is joining them from Mars, to the asteroids.
The Rolling Stones is admittedly a strange choice for someone's second Heinlein book (my first was The Moon is a Harsh Mistress). When I saw that my library had the Full Cast Audio version, I knew I needed to give it a try. Admittedly, my experience was not initially positive. I found the bickering among the Stone family to be a little annoying. I also had some issues with the voice actor who played Buster. Fortunately, once everyone gets into space, I found myself liking the book more and more.
The Rolling Stones is a comedy/adventure story filled with a large cast of quirky characters (making it perfect for the audiobook format). It's hard not to fall in love with the dysfunctional Stone family. Like many readers, my favorite character was Hazel Stone, a tough minded, fast-talking grandmother with at times questionable morals. I was floored when I realized that Hazel Stone also appeared in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but as the much younger Hazel Mead. Fans of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress will appreciate getting to see how Luna has grown from it's early days.
There are a few other things about this book that really stuck out to me. One is the humor. Although it occasionally falls flat, there were plenty of times when I just had to laugh out loud (once you get to incident with the flat cats, you'll see where I'm coming from). Given that this book was written for children, I was a little surprised at the girth of hard science. Heinlein painstakingly describes the effort the ship has to go through to bring the characters from one place to another. This made me really think about the apparent ease at which ships are able to zip from one planet to another in sci-fi movies without any thought of their individual orbits or gravities. Although this book was written in the 1950s, there weren't too many instances where the story or situations felt dated. When it comes to gender roles, there are a few remarks that make you aware that the story was written in a much different time, but it appears that Heinlein's portrayal of female characters (at least in this novel) was probably quite progressive for the time.
The Rolling Stones may not be as groundbreaking or engrossing as The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but it's a lot of fun to read and likely to appeal to a wide variety of ages. Full Cast Audio's production is top notch as always. I'm quite happy I stuck with this and gave the book a chance.
Rating: four stars
Length: the print version is 256 pages
Source: Readfield Community Library
Similar book: For other fun sci-fi novels, try Alien Secrets by Annette Curtis Klause, and Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman ( my review)
Other books I've read by this author: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress ( my review)
Next up I will be reviewing All Just Glass by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
xposted totemporaryworlds , bookish , and goodreads
fly it. Only their father doesn't quite see it their way, and would prefer that the underage twins finish their educations on earth. They soon strike a compromise. The twins can go to space, but not alone. The whole family is joining them from Mars, to the asteroids.
The Rolling Stones is admittedly a strange choice for someone's second Heinlein book (my first was The Moon is a Harsh Mistress). When I saw that my library had the Full Cast Audio version, I knew I needed to give it a try. Admittedly, my experience was not initially positive. I found the bickering among the Stone family to be a little annoying. I also had some issues with the voice actor who played Buster. Fortunately, once everyone gets into space, I found myself liking the book more and more.
The Rolling Stones is a comedy/adventure story filled with a large cast of quirky characters (making it perfect for the audiobook format). It's hard not to fall in love with the dysfunctional Stone family. Like many readers, my favorite character was Hazel Stone, a tough minded, fast-talking grandmother with at times questionable morals. I was floored when I realized that Hazel Stone also appeared in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but as the much younger Hazel Mead. Fans of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress will appreciate getting to see how Luna has grown from it's early days.
There are a few other things about this book that really stuck out to me. One is the humor. Although it occasionally falls flat, there were plenty of times when I just had to laugh out loud (once you get to incident with the flat cats, you'll see where I'm coming from). Given that this book was written for children, I was a little surprised at the girth of hard science. Heinlein painstakingly describes the effort the ship has to go through to bring the characters from one place to another. This made me really think about the apparent ease at which ships are able to zip from one planet to another in sci-fi movies without any thought of their individual orbits or gravities. Although this book was written in the 1950s, there weren't too many instances where the story or situations felt dated. When it comes to gender roles, there are a few remarks that make you aware that the story was written in a much different time, but it appears that Heinlein's portrayal of female characters (at least in this novel) was probably quite progressive for the time.
The Rolling Stones may not be as groundbreaking or engrossing as The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but it's a lot of fun to read and likely to appeal to a wide variety of ages. Full Cast Audio's production is top notch as always. I'm quite happy I stuck with this and gave the book a chance.
Rating: four stars
Length: the print version is 256 pages
Source: Readfield Community Library
Similar book: For other fun sci-fi novels, try Alien Secrets by Annette Curtis Klause, and Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman ( my review)
Other books I've read by this author: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress ( my review)
Next up I will be reviewing All Just Glass by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
xposted totemporaryworlds , bookish , and goodreads