Books Read

[dsrtao]

 The Pursuit of the Pankera, Robert A. Heinlein & some cast of posthumous reconstructors.

I am surprised.

I know The Number of the Beast all too well, having read it as a teenager and then three or four times more, trying to figure out what was going on -- once after Gharlane of Eddore's explanation of it as a text by counter-example. This book is identical for some number of chapters, perhaps 20 or 25%, and then diverges.

I think this book is better than TNOTB. But it's still late-period Heinlein, and steals elements from other of his books. Very minor spoilers start here.

The mish-mash of every character speaking in the same patterns and vocabulary remains, The endless fights over command are reduced; the tedious debate over formal courtesies are amplified. The middle is much, much better. The ending is completely different -- i.e. it has an ending, rather than an InterWorldCon -- but feels overly copied from The Puppet Masters. There's a huge tonal shift at about 90% through the book.  .

Comments

[cvirtue]

It sounds like it's not worth the time to read?

[ironyoxide]

For the past 30 years now, on and off, we've been seeing the stuff Heinlein put in a drawer because he himself thought it wasn't good enough. I tend to trust his judgement on this.

[dsrtao]

It depends on you. I think that it is better than the previously published TNOTB. If this book had been published in place of TNOTB -- preferably with a really good editor, which is not at all likely back then, and didn't happen here -- I think that it would generally be considered a good story that pandered to some fandoms and flubbed the landing.

Overall, it won't make anyone dislike Heinlein more than they already do.

[autopope]

I haven't read PotP, but going by the reviews this one got put in the drawer/hacked to pieces and reassembled (badly) as TNotB because of copyright issues. Specifically, it plays a lot with E. E. 'Doc' Smith's Lensman universe and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom -- and although Heinlein could probably have obtained permission for the former, the latter rights were bouncing around Hollywood like an unexploded movie option hand grenade.