Citizen of the Galaxy (Hardcover)

I usually list _Tunnel in the Sky_ as my favorite of Heinlein's young-adult novels of the 1950s, and I still think it belongs at the top of the list. But this one is very close.

As I'm sure you know already, it's the tale of a young fellow named Thorby, a slave on the planet Sargon who comes under the protection of one Baslim the Cripple. A sort of outer-space version of Kipling's _Kim_, the novel traces Thorby's life and development through several changes of venue -- and ends on Earth, where Thorby finds out who he really is and takes on some heavy, adult-sized responsibilities.

It's a very well handled coming-of-age novel, and it expresses Heinlein's own remarkable take on maturity very nearly as well as _Tunnel_ (in some ways arguably better). And like _Tunnel_, it devotes _just a little_ space, toward the end, to preaching against straw men. (Here, it's a couple of custard-headed pacifists whose sole literary function is to mouth inane slogans that Heinlein wants to show up as irresponsible nonsense. There was _loads_ of such stuff in _Starship Troopers_ but in this one it's kept to a minimum.)

It also shares part of its 'skeleton' with _Stranger in a Strange Land_ (on which Heinlein was also working at about the same time, still under its provisional title 'A Martian Named Smith'). Why, there's even a climactic courtroom battle, with Thorby represented by a crusty lawyer not terribly unlike Jubal Harshaw. (In general lawyers don't come off well in Heinlein's novels; in the final analysis the sharklike Garsch is no exception, although Harshaw fares somewhat better.)

At any rate, the anthropological insights come fast and furious here (aided in part by a character who may remind you of Margaret Mead). One nice touch is revealed in Thorby's time with the Traders; like every other people in history, they call themselves 'the People' and everybody else subhuman ('fraki').

No s-e-x, though. At this time Heinlein was still publishing under the watchful eye of Alice Dalgliesh and Thorby's interactions with the opposite camp are as chaste as melting snow.

I credit Heinlein with three absolutely magisterial works -- _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, _Double Star_, and _The Door into Summer_. This one belongs to the second tier of near-magisterial material, well worth reading and rereading despite a few warts.

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Heinlein's extensive firsthand knowledge of military science and shipboard routine serves him in good stead once again in this fascinating juvenile. He is somewhat less entertaining when trying to discuss big business dealings in the second half of the novel, but there is still a sufficiently subversive element to keep us interested in Thorby's fate. And while Thorby grows up quite a bit during the course of the story, this is still a boys' book. Numerous girls get thrown in Thorby's path at various stages, but he remains wholly oblivious, focused as he is own his own problems. And as is typical of Heinlein, these young women are not just hapless victims - some of them exercise real power within their respective realms. So young women interested in social sci-fi may find this book entertaining as well.

Heinlein's heroes are often super-smart under-achievers who find themselves thrown into new environments where they doesn't understand the rules, and Thorby is no exception. Here the process is repeated several times, and we spend more pages adjusting to the next new social situation than we do studying scientific principles, so devotees of hard science may find this one rather light fare. But for those who love to look at alternate social structures, and try to understand the logic underlying each, this book is an entertaining exercise in cultural relativity, and easily ranks among the best of Heinlein's juveniles.

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