Best Robert Heinlein novel?

[Marcus15]

I liked "Orphans of the Sky"
It's been years since I read it so I really can't say it is his best but it is definitely one of my favorites

 

[Urlik]

I liked "Orphans of the Sky"
It's been years since I read it so I really can't say it is his best but it is definitely one of my favorites

same here.
I seem to have mislaid a lot of my favourite RAH books, so I haven't been able to read Orphans, NotB, ST or TUPoJH

 

[Beamer]

My favorite Heinlein novel would have to be "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" but I like so many of his books the rest kind of change possitions at any moment. Some of the others high on my list though are Glory Road, Methuselah's Children, and Friday. And I grew up on his juvenile books which I still love to read. Tunnel in the Sky, Starship Troopers, The Star Beast, and Rocket Ship Galileo were favorites of mine as I was growing up.

 

[Connavar]

I read Rocket Ship Galileo for the first few days ago. It was somewhat too much teen adventure sf at first but when the rocket shot away to the moon the story got so much better. Hard SF,twists,action wise. I didnt see the people they met on the moon coming. Shouldnt have been a surprise in a book writen in 1947 though hehe...

 

[J-Sun]

This is a tough one. Heinlein's best book, IMO, almost certainly has to be The Past Through Tomorrow (though that's sort of cheating as it's a sort of rearranged, expanded omnibus/collection), but best novel opens up a lot of competitors. His best work at novel length is likely in his juveniles and picking which would be hard. I might give the nod to Starman Jones just because it was the first I read and it is very good but it's probably not actually the very best of them. Among non-juvenile novels, Double Star is superb but probably didn't have the impact of things like Stranger In a Strange Land or even The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Still, barring re-reads and re-thinks, of his non-juvenile novels, I'll go with Double Star. Interestingly, while it has an adult protagonist and deals with "later stage" issues, it was written in the midst of his juveniles and is no less a depiction of character transformation than they are.

 

[j d worthington]

While I don't think it is the best of his novels, I'm glad to see someone else mention Double Star -- a sadly underrated and often forgotten book, and one of my personal favorites....

 

[Beamer]

I enjoyed Double Star too, but your right it was one of his lesser known books. But while it was enjoyable it was not amoung my favorites by him but another of his juviniles that came to mind that I loved growing up was Starman Jones.

 

[Fried Egg]

I just popped into a free-cycle book shop and they had about ten Heinlein novels and, as I've never read any of his work, I picked up two at random: "Stranger in a strange land" and "The Day after tomorrow". After reading this thread, it seems that "Stranger..." comes highly recommended. I didnt' see anyone mention "The day after tomorrow" though...anybody read that?

 

[j d worthington]

Quite a long time ago, yes. It is also known as Sixth Column, and was based on a story by John W. Campbell. As I recall, Heinlein wasn't entirely happy with this one, and I found it to have some very interesting ideas and moments, but overall it was rather dull... Still, give it a shot. It's quite short, and you may like it....


Sixth Column - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Fried Egg]

Rather dull, eh? Oh well, I'll give it a read anyway since I've gone and bought it now...

 

[Fried Egg]

I just went back and picked up "Glory Road" and "Star Beast". They didn't have "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" unfortunately...

 

[Connavar]

Do they have any of his juvies ? The ones i have read so far will show you an author im almost sure you want to keep reading.

He can combine smart sf with adventure.

Glory Road isnt that his only fantasy book ?

 

[j d worthington]

Welllll... Glory Road isn't strictly fantasy, nor is it strictly science fiction. It has a good many elements of both. And no, it wasn't the only such he wrote. Waldo & Magic, Inc. is a book made up of two fantasy novellas, while most of the things in The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (a.k.a 6XH) would also classify to some degree.... For that matter, a fair amount of what happens in The Number of the Beast could well classify, while Job: A Comedy of Justice, certainly does....

 

[KESpires]

Glad someone mentioned Job. I like that book very much. And it is most definitely a fantasy

 

[Connavar]

Welllll... Glory Road isn't strictly fantasy, nor is it strictly science fiction. It has a good many elements of both. And no, it wasn't the only such he wrote. Waldo & Magic, Inc. is a book made up of two fantasy novellas, while most of the things in The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (a.k.a 6XH) would also classify to some degree.... For that matter, a fair amount of what happens in The Number of the Beast could well classify, while Job: A Comedy of Justice, certainly does....

As a fan of RAH i knew all of that. He has a collection only fantasy stories even. I have read everything about his works that how i knew about GR.

Glory Road are the only actual novel and not novellas about something that isnt strictly SF and more of fantasy too. Science Fantasy ? I dont know i havent read but i have read what its about and how its seen as one of few fantasy works of RAH.

Sure his late sf books might have elements but they are seen as SF books.

 

[j d worthington]

Not Job. That one lacks all criteria to be viewed as anything other than fantasy -- especially as it is modeled on Cabell's Jurgen, which is one of the classics of the genre....

 

[Connavar]

Not Job. That one lacks all criteria to be viewed as anything other than fantasy -- especially as it is modeled on Cabell's Jurgen, which is one of the classics of the genre....

Which is interesting since i didnt know that about Job.

Maybe its an underrated book of his when its not mentioned as a fantasy book of RAH.

 

[j d worthington]

Which is interesting since i didnt know that about Job.

Maybe its an underrated book of his when its not mentioned as a fantasy book of RAH.

Perhaps... but if so, that's a fairly recent development. I know that here it was a best-seller for a fairly decent amount of time, and I've seen plenty of comment on it over the years... but I've not kept up with such things much, so perhaps it has fallen out of favor a bit... but I wouldn't know.

 

[KESpires]

It is definitely a good one.

 

[Pyan]

Agreed, definitely a very good book - and I ddn't even think that there could be any suggestion it wasn't fantasy - presumably anyone thinking it was SF gave up half way through...