by Robert A. Heinlein, David Baker
Note: Even though this is Book 8 in the series, it works perfectly fine as a stand alone novel. John Thomas Stuart has a very large pet, Lummox. He’s a gentle beast with eight legs, a very thick hide, and a taste for roses and steel. Lummox has been in the Stuart family for generations but has recen...
I'm one of those who feels that--with a few exceptions such as The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress--that Heinlein's "juveniles" written for teen boys are if not better novels, then better "reads" than his post-Stranger in a Strange Land books. And this is among the strongest--and funniest--of his juveniles...
Not the usual science fiction, this deals more with diplomacy and politics. Good character interactions and manipulations make this a very enjoyable read.
This book has been sat on my to read shelf for a while now. I picked it up last year sometime completely by chance. Nobody I know had cited it as one one of Heinlein's better novels and I had no particular expectations about it. Consequently, it never seemed to reach the top of my to read pile but t...
I liked the alien interpreter, who complains that the person who taught him English intentionally gave him stock similes that were not acceptable in polite society. For example, he says, "As cold as" --- though, since it's a children's book, we aren't told what conventionally cold things are not acc...