Customer Reviews

Between Planets

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Between Planets (1951) is the fifth SF novel in the Juvenile series, following Farmer in the Sky. Like most of the author's SF, it is set within the Future History universe. Much of the story occurs on Venus, which is the home of an alien species and many disgruntled humans.

In this novel, Don Harvey is a boy of several worlds. His father was born on Earth and his mother was a Venusian colonist. His papers declare him a citizen of the Federation.

Don is attending school on a ranch in New Mexico. While out riding his pony Lazy, he gets a mobile call from the headmaster. He has received a radiogram from his mother, so he immediately returns to the ranch.

The message informs him that passage has been booked for his flight to Mars, where his parents are investigating the remains of the First Empire. Don is puzzled, but the headmaster tells him that his parents are probably worried about the threat of war. They don't want him to stay in the warzone.

In this story, Don calls Dr. Dudley Jefferson -- a friend of the family -- after reaching New Chicago and is invited over to the apartment. When he arrives, Dr. Jefferson makes polite talk, but asks him about a package sent to him at the ranch. Don hasn't received it, but the package is mentioned more than once during the evening.

Dr. Jefferson takes him out to an expensive nightclub, which opens Don's eyes in more than one way. But he is puzzled by the presence of someone that he had seen earlier that day. A man sitting in the club looks like a security policeman who had stared at Don when he was conversing with a Venusian dragon.

The security police later confront Don and Dr. Jefferson. Don knows nothing and security lets him catch his flight. Then he is told that Dr. Jefferson had died of heart failure. In a sense, everyone dies of heart failure.

Don encounters the dragon -- Sir Isaac Newton -- once again on his flight up to the space station Circum-Terra. Don has a pleasant talk with the dragon and interprets for him when his voder fails. Then he discovers that Circum-Terra has been captured by Venusian forces, so he now has the choice of returning to Earth, going to Venus, or being blown to atoms.

Don decides to go to Venus. After all, he does have Venusian citizenship. Maybe he can catch another ship to Mars somehow or the other.

This tale is about a displaced person during a major war. With the conflict between Venus and Earth going on, he has to support himself on Venus without any relations or resources. He gets a job washing dishes for the Two Worlds Dining Room. Eventually he finds himself in the military.

This edition has an Introduction by William H. Patterson and an afterword by Travis S. Taylor. Any fan of the author will enjoy these notes about the story and the man who wrote it. Take it from Taylor, the author really knew the science and technology of his period. You also might find out a bit about the Martians and Venusians in the tale.

This work is a classical story by a Grandmaster of Science Fiction. While it was originally written for young adults, it was still enjoyable for an old man like myself to read again after five decades. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Heinlein fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of alien planets, armed combat, and a tiny bit of romance. For those who have not previously read this series, the initial volume is The Rocketship Galileo.

-Arthur W. Jordin

A strong, unified plot - the entire book is about Don Harvey's quest to reach his parents on Mars. A believable politics of the future. A sympathetic but not at all perfect hero and some good minor characters. An atmospheric vision of Venus as it should have been, a world of swamps inhabited by a few human colonies and a race of intelligent (and friendly!) dinosuaroid that communicate by whistling. What more could you ask?

Say 'yes' to one and let the other one ride? Did you ever have to finally decide?"

BETWEEN PLANETS (1951) predates this Loving Spoonfuls hit by many years but the questions asked are very much on young Don Harvey's mind. As the book opens he is enjoying an early morning ride near his New Mexico boarding school but his ride is cut short when he is summoned back to school. His parents have sent an urgent message for him to return immediately home to Mars. Don is surprised to say the least, he was after all just weeks from graduation. His second surprise came when he realized that the talk of war between earth and her colony worlds was not just idle talk, and that due to his family situation could be considered a citizen of each side. His loyalties were called into question by his headmaster and tested when he realized that his best friend could soon be fighting on the other side.

Don considered this situation as he began his long journey home. His problems increased when he discovered that he had become a 'person of interest' to the police who were convinced that he had something they wanted badly enough to kill for. As his journey continued he found himself stranded, penniless, on Venus. All along the way Don was forced to question and requestion his own loyalties until he finally had to make up his mind.

This is a very typical RAH juvenile novel. The hero is thrust into a situation where he holds the power to change the course of history. Also typical of RAH's work of this time is a rather unrealistic idea of the conditions of Mars and Venus, a firm belief that alien races will be both advanced and benevolent, and that females take a purely supportive role. It is also, like most of RAH's work, an enjoyable and exciting read that will force the reader to re-examine their own long cherished truths.

This would be a good place for someone unfamiliar to RAH's work to begin but is a special treat for fans. Here we see Venus dragons, and fragile Martians who will return in later works. One of RAH's favorite themes, that military service separates the men from the boys is also explored.

Don Harvey lives a wonderful life. He lives on a school ranch in New Mexico while his scientist parents are on Mars. Don's life is well-ordered until he receives a message from his parents. The message tells Don to return to Mars, and passage is already booked.

Soon Don enters a world of extended confusion as the secret police begin pursuing him, first in New Chicago, then into space and finally to Venus. Why do the secret police want Don? Don's problems occur against a turbulent background of rebellion as Venusian colonists attempt to throw off the oppressive yoke of control from earth.

Heinlein skirted disaster with this book. The book is nicely plotted and written, but has a lot of detail. Though the detail is just enough to help a reader follow the story, the detail was just short of being confusing. However, Heinlein is a master of concise writing, and his mastery shows in this novel. The detail is enough to let you know that Heinlein knew what he was doing, but small enough to let you keep track of it. The detail and the story were crammed into less than 200 pages; a remarkable feat.

This story is dated both technically and astronomically. Venus is far different from the way Heinlein describes it, as we know now. Technology has achieved far more than Heinlein's novel describes, and the war that created New Chicago never happened. However, Heinlein's wrote this story so matter-of-factly that he makes you believe the background and the story. Heinlein always impresses me by how casual his stories appear, regardless of how sophisticated the material and how bizarre the backgrounds.

"Between Planets" is a nicely written and easy to read story that will draw you in and hold you to the end. You will believe that Venusian dragons and moveovers could actually exist. You will believe that there could yet be a Don Harvey, and you will wish this novel was longer.

Enjoy!

Between Planets is yet another suberb Heinlein classic, one that doesn't leave you hanging in the middle as much as some of his works. The technological ideas are a little outdated, of course, but the storyline itself is masterful. Heinlein had a perfect grasp as to what motivates humans to make the decisions that they do in times of crisis.

A definite recommended read for all Heinlein fans, in my opinion.

This book, is just great! I think that Heinlein did a very good job on this book. In this book you will follow Don Harvey from New Mexico, to Venus and eventually to Mars. It melds a sense of adventure with a bit of mystery. Embark on an fun-filled voyage with Don Harvey and his associates. This book is a must-read for all Science Fiction fans as well as Fantasy readers.

I've read some of Heinlein's other short stories - Puppet Masters, Double Star, etc - and enjoyed them, but I can;t say that I enjoyed this one as much. It's not a bad story, mind you, but for me, it just didn't make me feel or think as his other stories. It's about a teenage boy who's of mixed descent (Earth and Venus) and doesn't really explore much into the past or explore weighty matters. It was more of a 'light' reading, not as deep or thought-provoking as most other his other work. If you're a Heinlein fan, it won;'t hurt to check this story out, but if you're new, I recommend 'The Past through Tomorrow', 'The Moon is a Harsh mistress', or 'Stranger in a Strange Land'.

I should preface this review by noting that I have a long-standing love affair with Heinlein's works. I started off on his juvies (like "Between Planets") when I was about eight, and graduated to his more serious work (eg. "Starship Troopers," "Stranger in a Strange Land," "Time Enough for Love," etc.) in my teens. So yes, I certainly harbor a great deal of affection for this book due to fond childhood memories. On the other hand, I'm still capable of being objective enough about it to feel fully justified with a five-star review.

Simply put, this is a fun, fast-paced little novel aimed at juveniles, which nevertheless has some outstanding themes subtly running through it. Absolutely, as many reviewers pointed out, "Between Planets" is quite dated, since it was written in the 1950s. But even though I knew Venus was uninhabitable when I read it as a kid in the '80s, I still managed to enjoy it thoroughly. For one thing, I learned at a young age to check when a book was written, and I was always able to separate my frame of reference from the author's. For another...well, it's science fiction (or speculative fiction if you prefer). You don't expect it to be perfect because you know it couldn't happen in the first place. Update the setting, the slang, and the technology and YOU STILL HAVE A COMPELLING STORY!

See, that's one of Heinlein's greatest strengths - even though he was a "hard sf" writer, he always understood that the readers cared far more about compelling characters and a strong plot than the "gee whiz" science. So he grabs Don Harvey just a couple of weeks before graduation, scrambles his life around, and (here's the important part, to me at any rate) lets him choose his own life path; which aspect of his background he finds most important. He has great adventures along the way, but Don becomes an excellent role model for any child or teen; he's intelligent, athletic, and self-reliant, but he never becomes an "uber-mensch." Rather, he's exactly the sort of role model most children lack. Heinlein makes it cool to be smart, and makes it cool to question authority; he even makes it cool to be a Boy Scout! These are traits that are sorely lacking in today's youth. All in all, great fun for readers of any age!

Between Planets was one of the first Heinlein books I read, when I was ten or eleven years old. I never counted how many times I've re-read it since, but if it's over fifty or a hundred times, at least half of them as an adult, it wouldn't surprise me. This is Heinlein writing adventure with the best of the classics -- Robert Louis Stevenson, Daniel Defoe, and Stephen Crane included. When Heinlein wrote it in the 1950's, his description of the planet Venus as capable of sustaining both human life and an intelligent race of dragons was not impossible. That we have since learned that there are no other planets in our solar system which are friendly to life as we know it is unimportant -- we'll someday find planets in other solar systems that are, and Heinlein wrote about that possibility in other of his books such as Starman Jones. But what makes Between Planets so memorable is the portrait Heinlein painted of the planet earth as politically repressed: where you can't make a phone call without a government agency like today's National Security Agency listening; where you can't go to an airport (it's a spaceport in Heinlein's future) without being X-rayed and body searched; where politically incorrect books are sold only by "bookleggers" (we're not there yet but keep your eyes open). And most importantly, where other planets can fight for independence from a world government on earth where a federal officer interrogating you can inform you that your request for a lawyer is about a hundred years too late to be meaningful. Read this book for the tight action writing, the coming of age story, the politics, the descriptions of meeting with non-human races who can be friendlier than our own kind at times. And give it to your kids to read. They're the ones who are going to have to live in the future Heinlein warned us about.

Reviewed by J. Neil Schulman

Just for the record, before I launch into this, I have absolutely no problem with Heinlein's depiction of whether there was life on Venus (or Mars) or whether people could safety live on either. I don't know if Heinlein actually believed that back then (as a lot of folks did, we're talking the days before satellites, kids) or he just figured the cardinal rule of fun writing: don't let science get in the way of a good story. And he sure doesn't, Heinlein draws us into a pure SF adventure story that rockets around the solar system, as seen through the eyes of one Don Harvey, who really only wants to get back to Mars to see his parents. In the process he gets accosted by an irate Earth government (and Heinlein's depiction of an almost authoritarian Earth was probably a social comment that went way above the heads of his target audience . . . but then this is the guy who thought Starship Troopers was a childrens book), winds up on Venus and gets involved in the revolution (Viva!). It's mostly nonstop action and the settings are fun, if you can suspend your disbelief and take yourself back to a time where it was possible that there was life on Venus and we might one day wind up there, and I don't see why you can't, you'll find yourself enjoying this despite everything. Harvey is hilariously stubborn when it comes to just about everything, the aliens are interesting in a nonscience way, plot twists abound, and a grand time is had by all. Sure, Heinlein sticks in some of his usual "the army makes a man out of you and it's the only good life" stuff that eventually became the central concept of Starship Troopers (not that I didn't enjoy that book, mind you), by and by, this is optimistic endearing science fiction with some pointed messages but nothing too deep or heavy. It's just an enjoyably fun way to spend two hundred pages.