Orphans of the Sky
The Future History Series
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Narrated by:
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Graham Halstead
About this listen
Lost in space.
Hugh had been taught that, according to the ancient sacred writings, the Ship was on a voyage to faraway Centaurus. But he also understood this was just allegory for a voyage to spiritual perfection. Indeed, how could the Ship move, since its miles and miles of metal corridors were all there was of creation? Science knew that the Ship was all the universe, and as long as the sacred Converter was fed, the lights would continue to glow, the air would flow, and the Creator's Plan would be fulfilled.
Of course, there were the muties, grotesquely deformed parodies of humans, who lurked in the upper reaches of the Ship, where gravity was weaker. Were they evil incarnate, or merely a divine check on the population, keeping humanity from expanding past the capacity of the Ship to support?
Then Hugh was captured by the muties and met their leader (or leaders) - Joe-Jim, with two heads on one body - and learned the true nature of the Ship and its mission between the stars. But could he make his people believe him before it was too late? Could he make them believe that he must be allowed to fly the Ship?
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Cobras are technologically-enhanced warriors bred to fight an alien menace no ordinary human can withstand. At the center of action, on the Cobra world of Aventine, is the legendary Moreau clan. While the Cobras are necessary in times of war, in times of peace, they are often reviled by those they have saved. Now, the Cobras have resisted a second invasion of the alien Troft forces, forcing the Troft to a stalemate - even converting some thoughtful Troft into uneasy allies against their kin.
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What?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 07-09-15
By: Timothy Zahn
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Refugee
- By: Piers Anthony
- Narrated by: Basil Sands
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Though he was later accused of every crime and sexual perversion in the galaxy, Hope Hubris began as an innocent. Because he defended his older sister against the violent lusts of a wealthy scion, Hope and his peasant family were forced to flee Callisto, one of the moons of Jupiter. Pursued by the bloodthirsty scions across the airless desert, they barely escaped with their lives. The illegal space bubble was overcrowded with refugees, all hoping to reach Jupiter for asylum.
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I fell in love with reading
- By Jeremy Neish on 09-28-17
By: Piers Anthony
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Crown of Slaves
- By: David Weber, Eric Flint
- Narrated by: Peter Larkin
- Length: 19 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The Star Kingdom's ally Erewhon is growing increasingly restive in the alliance because the new High Ridge regime ignores its needs. Add to that the longstanding problem of a slave labor planet controlled by hostile Mesans in Erewhon's stellar back yard, a problem which High Ridge also ignores.
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poorly done
- By Kyle on 04-17-10
By: David Weber, and others
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Beholder's Eye
- Web Shifters, Book 1
- By: Julie E. Czerneda
- Narrated by: Luci Christian Bell
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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They are the last survivors of their race, beings who live on and communicate through energy, who are capable of assuming the shape of any other species. When their youngest member is assigned to a world considered safe to explore, she is captured by the natives. To escape, she must violate the most important rule of her kind, and reveal the existence of her species to a fellow prisoner - a human being. Now her race is in danger of extinction, for even if the human does not betray her, the Enemy who has long searched for her people may finally discover their location.
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Julie E. Czerneda on Audible=WIN
- By Marniac on 08-06-12
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Gateways
- Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl
- By: Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, and others
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It isn’t easy to get a group of bestselling SF authors to write new stories for an anthology, but that’s what Elizabeth Anne Hull has done in this powerhouse book. With original, captivating tales by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Larry Niven, Vernor Vinge, Gene Wolfe, and others, Gateways is a SF event that will be a must-buy for SF readers of all tastes, from the traditional to the cutting edge; from the darkly serious to the laugh-out-loud funny.
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Spectacular.
- By Steve Reid on 08-21-15
By: Greg Bear, and others
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Mutineer
- Kris Longknife, Book 1
- By: Mike Shepherd
- Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Kris Longknife is a daughter of privilege, born to money and power. Her father is the prime minister of her home planet, her mother the consummate politician's wife. She's been raised only to be beautiful and marry well. But the heritage of the military Longknifes courses through Kris' blood - and, against her parents' objections, she enlists in the Marines.
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Harsh reviews seem undeserved to me
- By Jeffery on 09-29-10
By: Mike Shepherd
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The Spark
- By: David Drake
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the time of the Ancients the universe was united - but that was so far in the past that not even memory remains, only the broken artifacts that a few Makers can reshape into their original uses. What survives is shattered into enclaves - some tiny, some ruined, some wild. Into the gaps between settlements, and onto the road that connects all human reality and the reality that is not human and may never have been human, have crept monsters.
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Very enjoyable
- By Stewart on 11-14-17
By: David Drake
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The Skylark of Space
- Skylark Series #1
- By: E. E. "Doc" Smith
- Narrated by: Reed McColm
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Brilliant government scientist Richard Seaton discovers a remarkable faster-than-light fuel that will power his interstellar spaceship, The Skylark. His ruthless rival, Marc DuQuesne, and the sinister World Steel Corporation will do anything to get their hands on the fuel. They kidnap Seaton's fiancée and friends, unleashing a furious pursuit and igniting a burning desire for revenge that will propel The Skylark across the galaxy and back.
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Space Operas - Good Story telling!
- By Madge on 01-27-10
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Perdition
- Dred Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Ann Aguirre
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The prison ship Perdition, a floating city where the Conglomerate's most dangerous criminals are confined for life, orbits endlessly around a barren asteroid. Life inside is even more bleak. Hailed as the Dread Queen, inmate Dresdemona "Dred" Devos controls one of Perdition's six territories, bordered on both sides by would-be kings eager to challenge her claim. Keeping them at bay requires constant vigilance, as well as a steady influx of new recruits to replace the fallen.
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Liked it - But Was Kind of Bored With This One
- By Joki on 11-03-13
By: Ann Aguirre
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At Any Price & Rolling Hot
- Hammer's Slammers Series
- By: David Drake
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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This two-story compiliation, read by Stefan Rudnicki, offers two stories from David Drake's popular Hammer's Slammers series. In At Any Price, Col. Alois Hammer's indomitable Slammers are called in to support human colonists against a native uprising in this novel-length adventure. But even though the natives' off-world weapons are no match for the Slammers, their ability to teleport gives them a frightening advantage! In Rolling Hot, the battle-crazed troop of recruits and vets, led by Captain Ranson, must cover 300 miles of hostile enemy territory.
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Not a cohesive story or stories
- By Jeffery on 01-19-21
By: David Drake
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Great book, distracting narration
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Time Enough for Love is the capstone and crowning achievement of Heinlein's famous Future History series. Lazarus Long is so in love with life that he simply refuses to die. Born in the early 1900s, he lives through multiple centuries, his love for time ultimately causing him to become his own ancestor. Time Enough for Loveis his lovingly detailed account of his journey through a vast and magnificent timescape of centuries and worlds. Using the voice of Lazarus, Heinlein expounds his own philosophies, including his radical ideas on sexual freedom.
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Age changes perspective
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One minute, down-and-out actor Lorenzo Smythe is, as usual, in a bar, drinking away his troubles while watching his career circle the drain. Then a space pilot buys him a drink, and the next thing Smythe knows, he’s shanghaied to Mars. Smythe suddenly finds himself agreeing to the most difficult role of his career: impersonating an important politician who has been kidnapped. Peace with the Martians is at stake, and failure to pull off the act could result in interplanetary war.
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Hugo Award Well Deserved. A+
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After the fall of the American Ayatollahs as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land and chronicled in Revolt in 2100, the United States of America at last fulfills the promise inherent in its first Revolution: for the first time in human history there is a nation with Liberty and Justice for All. No one may seize or harm the person or property of another, or invade his privacy, or force him to do his bidding. Americans are fiercely proud of their re-won liberties and the blood it cost them; nothing could make them forswear those truths they hold self-evident. Nothing except the promise of immortality…
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A delight to revisit a science fiction classic
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Time for the Stars
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Travel to other planets is now a reality, and with overpopulation stretching the resources of Earth, the necessity of finding habitable worlds is growing ever more urgent. There’s a problem though—because the spaceships are slower than light, any communication between the exploring ships and Earth would take years.
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My First Heinlein
- By DJM on 01-27-11
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Beyond This Horizon
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Hamilton Felix, the result of generations of genetic selection, finds his life as the ultimate man boring - until a gang of revolutionaries tries to enlist him in their cause.
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Women will forgive anything
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First came the news that a flying saucer had landed in Iowa. Then came the announcement that the whole thing was a hoax. End of story. Case closed. Except that two agents of the most secret intelligence agency in the US government were on the scene and disappeared without reporting in. And four more agents who were sent in also disappeared. So the head of the agency and his two top agents went in and managed to get out with their discovery
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Great book, distracting narration
- By Jon on 04-25-22
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Time Enough for Love
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Age changes perspective
- By Candis on 08-27-16
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Double Star
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Hugo Award Well Deserved. A+
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A delight to revisit a science fiction classic
- By Anne on 02-16-13
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Travel to other planets is now a reality, and with overpopulation stretching the resources of Earth, the necessity of finding habitable worlds is growing ever more urgent. There’s a problem though—because the spaceships are slower than light, any communication between the exploring ships and Earth would take years.
Tom and Pat are identical twin teenagers. As twins they’ve always been close, so close that it seemed like they could read each other’s minds.
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My First Heinlein
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Hamilton Felix, the result of generations of genetic selection, finds his life as the ultimate man boring - until a gang of revolutionaries tries to enlist him in their cause.
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Women will forgive anything
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-01-12
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The Rolling Stones
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One of Heinlein's best-loved works, The Rolling Stones follows the rollicking adventures of the Stone family as they tour the solar system. It doesn't seem likely for twins to have the same middle name. Even so, it's clear that Castor and Pollux Stone both have "Trouble" written in that spot on their birth certificates. Of course, anyone who's met their grandmother Hazel would know they came by it honestly.
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Good story well told
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Glory Road
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. C. “Scar” Gordon was on the French Riviera recovering from a tour of combat in Southeast Asia, but he hadn’t given up his habit of scanning the personals in the newspaper. One ad in particular leapt out at him: "Are you a coward? This is not for you. We badly need a brave man. He must be 23 to 25 years old, in perfect health, at least six feet tall, weigh about 190 pounds, fluent English with some French, proficient with all weapons, some knowledge of engineering and mathematics essential...."
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Heinlein's great story, a glorious spin by Pinchot
- By BRKyle on 09-19-12
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Citizen of the Galaxy
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In a distant galaxy of colonized planets, the atrocity of slavery is alive and well. Young Thorby was just another bedraggled orphan boy sold at auction, but his new owner, Baslim, is not the disabled beggar he appears to be. Adopting Thorby as his son, Baslim fights relentlessly as an abolitionist spy. When the authorities close in on Baslim, Thorby must find his own way in a hostile galaxy. Joining with the Free Traders, a league of merchant princes, Thorby must find the courage to live by his wits and fight his way up from society's lowest rung.
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Good nostalgia; pretty good YA sci-fi
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Starman Jones
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Max Jones, a practical, hard-working young man, found his escape in his beloved astronomy books. When reality comes crashing in and his troubled home life forces him out on the road, Max finds himself adrift in a downtrodden land - until an unexpected, ultimate adventure carries him away as a stowaway aboard an intergalactic spaceship.
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A typical Heinlein Juvenile
- By Got My Book on 08-22-08
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Revolt in 2100
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- Unabridged
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After the fall of the American Ayatollahs (as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land) there is a Second American Revolution; for the first time in human history there is a land with Liberty and Justice for All.
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Heinlein's Future History
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Between Planets
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Don Harvey is a citizen of the Interplanetary Federation - yet no single planet can claim him as its own. His mother was born on Venus and his father on Earth, and Don himself was born on a spaceship in trajectory between planets. When his parents abruptly summon him away from school on Earth to join them on Mars, he has no idea he's about to be plunged into deadly interplanetary intrigue. But the ship Don is traveling on is unexpectedly diverted to Venus, where the colony has launched a revolution against Earth's control.
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Like a breath of fresh air
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I Will Fear No Evil
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As startling and provocative as his famous Stranger in a Strange Land, here is Heinlein’s grand masterpiece about a man supremely talented, immensely old, and obscenely wealthy who discovers that money can buy everything.
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Disappointing Heinlein
- By Randall on 03-02-12
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Red Planet
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
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Jim Marlowe and his strange-looking Martian friend, Willis, are allowed to travel only so far. But one day Willis unwittingly tunes in to a treacherous plot that threatens all the colonists on Mars, and it sets Jim off on a terrifying adventure that could save - or destroy - them all.
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RED PLANET--- by Robert A. Heinlein
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Farmer in the Sky
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
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Farmer In The Sky is a 1953 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about a teenage boy who emigrates with his family to Jupiter's moon Ganymede, which is in the process of being terraformed. A condensed version of the novel was published in serial form in 1950 in Boys' Life magazine (August, September, October, November), under the title "Satellite Scout".
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Back to the future.
- By Ray DiFazio on 11-13-16
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The Number of the Beast
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The wickedest, most wonderful science fiction story ever created in our - or any - time. Anything can begin at a party in California - and everything does in this bold masterwork by a grand master of science fiction. When four supremely sensual and unspeakably cerebral humans - two male, two female - find themselves under attack from aliens who want their awesome quantum breakthrough, they take to the skies - and zoom into the cosmos on a rocket roller-coaster ride of adventure, danger, ecstasy, and peril.
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One Aching Pain Short of Heaven
- By ... on 08-12-12
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Assignment in Eternity
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Robert A. Heinlein is widely and justly regarded as the greatest practitioner of the art of science fiction who has ever lived. Here are two of his greatest short novels: Gulf, in which the greatest super-spy of them all is revealed as the leader of a league of supermen and women who can’t quite decide what to do with the rest of us. And Lost Legacy, in which it is proved that we are all members of that league - or would be, if we but had eyes to see.
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You'll like it because you can think...
- By Trip Williams on 06-05-12
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The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In what is considered one of Heinlein's most hair-raising, thought-provoking, and outrageous adventures, the master of modern science fiction tells the strange story of an even stranger world. It is 21st-century Luna, a harsh penal colony where a revolt is plotted between a bashful computer and a ragtag collection of maverick humans, a revolt that goes beautifully until the inevitable happens. But that's the problem with the inevitable: it always happens.
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Heinlein's Masterpiece
- By Peter on 12-04-06
What listeners say about Orphans of the Sky
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Larry
- 04-06-20
One of the early stories, and good enough.
A good enough story, but not one of Hienlien's masterpieces written during, and after the mid fifties.
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3 people found this helpful
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- JLJ
- 10-05-21
80 years old and still great
Written in 1941, this story is still a great piece of futuristic science fiction. I first read this in 1975, and it was a treat to revisit.
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- StephenH
- 01-07-23
Scary in it's prescience
Something of sci-fi thriller, a story of a spaceship where the inhabitants don't realize the nature of their existence. Orphans has an interesting but familiar premise: what happens to society when it loses (or ignores) knowledge and basic subsistence is the immediate goal. I would have liked the story to have been fleshed out a bit more, perhaps more on the ship's past and the ending feels abrupt, as if Heinlein decided to simply write "The End" to conclude his novel
Orphans is brilliant in another way, however. Heinlein's exploration of human nature is troubling, emphasizing what people will sink to when their point of view is constrained by their environment. He's prescient in describing the current phenomenon of people rejecting facts, even those "in their face," when the facts don't agree with their preconceived notions and what they want to believe (flat earth society, "stolen" elections, etc.). Despite being one of the older Heinlein works that I've read, it feels the least dated
The narrator is good, voicing actions and different characters in appropriate ways. His job is made easier by the story lacking virtually any spoken female lines.
Recommended
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- R. King
- 03-22-22
A self-aware relic of the older space adventures
The story has the scientific background of a Flash Gordon serial, but the social aspects of a generation ship are interesting, if guided by the 1930's.
The book was very well presented by Graham Halstead.
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- O. Haskell
- 09-12-22
Nice easy science fiction from before space flight
It's interesting to hear what the writers thought things were possibly going to be like in the future. Making up the science as they went along. I love hearing their novice ideas, and how incredibly close they guess sometimes.
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- Brian Otterson
- 01-03-23
Definitive but dated
An idea groundbreaker in its time, a believable society, good science and understandable motivations.
And uh, ahem.. far from feminist at the very end.
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- Marshall
- 08-08-21
Heinlein can be dated, but themes!
Robert A. Heinlein's _Orphans of the Sky_ receives 4 stars from me. The story is excellent, but Heinlein's use of women is dated.
This is an audible recording with Graham Halstead narrating. Halstead's voice sounds young which made me think that the age of the characters are teens to late teens to 20s. I don't remember their ages being said, so I'm unsure. However, he distinquished his voices well enough that it sounded like dialogue. He has a couple of "old" voices, that sound very old. He was not required to do many female voices and only short times, but they were fine. He read the book well and interpreted it nicely.
The book: This is kind of a sad Wow! Wow! This book is working with important themes: Racism, class differences, Power and Control, Religion. Which was strongest? Which was the most developed? I'm not sure. Heinlein doesn't overtly discuss the themes, they emerge from the book. So let's go with which one's I enjoyed the most. I enjoyed: religion--Heinlein addresses how religion is used to control the masses. Even when faced with the truth, one character doesn't refuse to believe, oh he believes the truth. But he uses the religion to control the situation more. Racism: there are two kinds of humans not he ship, the humans and the mutants. They hate each other and are fighting constantly. Will they get over their differences? You'll have to read.
What I didn't like: Heinlein, Heinlein, Heinlein. This is great book for men or male teens--not for women. Well, great might be too much. It's a book that is macho at times. For example, they often refer to their wives as "our women". Even more disturbing is the naming of the women. It seems that once they are married they have to change their name (but they have only one name). The husband names the wife. In one scene, that narrator says that the guy hasn't had a chance to name his new wife, so she's called the one without a name. Seriously. Look, I realize that this is a different world than our world, but Heinlein is in control of that and he could have stronger, smarter women. Women in this society are not really considered. (Well there is the knife maker, she's kind of powerful, but we see her one time.)
Recommend: If you like sci-fi and can read understanding how some book misuse women and you can address the wrongness of that, I think it is a good read. I do not recommend this for teens without supervision.
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- SHIFTER
- 12-13-20
Sexist but interesting
Classic 60s science fiction. With an overtly sexist slant whenever any of the cattle like females are discussed. I found that aspect distracting. But I love interstellar colony ship stories and found this take on a multi generational journey unique and fun.
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- ToujoursMoi
- 12-02-20
Orphans of the Sky
Excellent reading of Heinlein and his futuristic vision. This could be compared to current politics.
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- Billee-Jo Rogers
- 02-04-21
Dated but compelling.
The reduction of work to little more than pets was shocking to me as a modern reader. I remember Heinlein as being rather more forward looking in his treatment of women. Perhaps I have misremembered. The story is interesting in its exploration of the consequences of generational space travel and exploration, and cognitive dissonance, as well as science and religion. There's a bit more telling than showing that makes this story weak, feeling like the ending was rushed.
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