What do you think?
Rate this book
Between Planets
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. What's more, Earth troops have landed on Venus and are looking for him. Flat broke and homeless, Don will have to muster all his resources to stay alive.
A riveting coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of a war between planets, this classic Heinlein novel crackles with action, adventure, politics, wit, and brilliant speculation about the world to come.
©1951 Robert A. Heinlein (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
A riveting coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of a war between planets, this classic Heinlein novel crackles with action, adventure, politics, wit, and brilliant speculation about the world to come.
©1951 Robert A. Heinlein (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
6 pages, Audible Audio
First published January 1, 1951
133 people are currently reading
1976 people want to read
About the author
Robert A. Heinlein
1,059 books10.5k followersRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction, and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction. His published works, both fiction and non-fiction, express admiration for competence and emphasize the value of critical thinking. His plots often posed provocative situations which challenged conventional social mores. His work continues to have an influence on the science-fiction genre, and on modern culture more generally.
Heinlein became one of the first American science-fiction writers to break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s. He was one of the best-selling science-fiction novelists for many decades, and he, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke are often considered the "Big Three" of English-language science fiction authors. Notable Heinlein works include Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers (which helped mold the space marine and mecha archetypes) and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. His work sometimes had controversial aspects, such as plural marriage in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, militarism in Starship Troopers and technologically competent women characters who were formidable, yet often stereotypically feminine—such as Friday.
Heinlein used his science fiction as a way to explore provocative social and political ideas and to speculate how progress in science and engineering might shape the future of politics, race, religion, and sex. Within the framework of his science-fiction stories, Heinlein repeatedly addressed certain social themes: the importance of individual liberty and self-reliance, the nature of sexual relationships, the obligation individuals owe to their societies, the influence of organized religion on culture and government, and the tendency of society to repress nonconformist thought. He also speculated on the influence of space travel on human cultural practices.
Heinlein was named the first Science Fiction Writers Grand Master in 1974. Four of his novels won Hugo Awards. In addition, fifty years after publication, seven of his works were awarded "Retro Hugos"—awards given retrospectively for works that were published before the Hugo Awards came into existence. In his fiction, Heinlein coined terms that have become part of the English language, including grok, waldo and speculative fiction, as well as popularizing existing terms like "TANSTAAFL", "pay it forward", and "space marine". He also anticipated mechanical computer-aided design with "Drafting Dan" and described a modern version of a waterbed in his novel Beyond This Horizon.
Also wrote under Pen names: Anson McDonald, Lyle Monroe, Caleb Saunders, John Riverside and Simon York.
Heinlein became one of the first American science-fiction writers to break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s. He was one of the best-selling science-fiction novelists for many decades, and he, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke are often considered the "Big Three" of English-language science fiction authors. Notable Heinlein works include Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers (which helped mold the space marine and mecha archetypes) and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. His work sometimes had controversial aspects, such as plural marriage in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, militarism in Starship Troopers and technologically competent women characters who were formidable, yet often stereotypically feminine—such as Friday.
Heinlein used his science fiction as a way to explore provocative social and political ideas and to speculate how progress in science and engineering might shape the future of politics, race, religion, and sex. Within the framework of his science-fiction stories, Heinlein repeatedly addressed certain social themes: the importance of individual liberty and self-reliance, the nature of sexual relationships, the obligation individuals owe to their societies, the influence of organized religion on culture and government, and the tendency of society to repress nonconformist thought. He also speculated on the influence of space travel on human cultural practices.
Heinlein was named the first Science Fiction Writers Grand Master in 1974. Four of his novels won Hugo Awards. In addition, fifty years after publication, seven of his works were awarded "Retro Hugos"—awards given retrospectively for works that were published before the Hugo Awards came into existence. In his fiction, Heinlein coined terms that have become part of the English language, including grok, waldo and speculative fiction, as well as popularizing existing terms like "TANSTAAFL", "pay it forward", and "space marine". He also anticipated mechanical computer-aided design with "Drafting Dan" and described a modern version of a waterbed in his novel Beyond This Horizon.
Also wrote under Pen names: Anson McDonald, Lyle Monroe, Caleb Saunders, John Riverside and Simon York.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 292 reviews
September 21, 2023
Complicated and imaginative, very good.
*** 2023 reread -
Heinlein juveniles are so much fun.
I recall that I very much liked this back in HS and then for whatever reason I have never reread this in 40 years. I did remember some scenes and of the story in summary, but this was a very enjoyable visit with crazy old Uncle Bob.
As the story begins, Earth is a totalitarian nightmare with severely suppressed civil rights. Like other SF works during this time period (first published in 1951) the recent events of war and reconstruction have colored the perspective of our writer and dehumanizing authoritarian shenanigans are described.
We find our protagonist with a unique legal status: he is a citizen of the solar system - The Federation - as he was actually born in space, the child of a mother from Venus and a father from Earth. His scientist parents are now on Mars and our hero has been given a package to deliver to his folks when all hell breaks lose as Venus declares independence from Earth and the Federation. His trip to Mars is hijacked and we then spend time fighting alongside Venusian guerrillas against the absentee landlords.
Fans of Heinlein, and I am one, will make comparisons to his later masterpiece The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (first published in 1966) as that book described a revolution on the Moon against the tyrants on Earth. This was written for young adults and lacks some of the maturity of the later book, but the portrayal of independent minds and of the desire for freedom, as much as possible, is front and center.
A very good book for the Scribner’s crowd but also an important work for Heinlein because if focuses on many of the political and philosophical themes he will explore in greater detail in many of his books following this one.
*** 2023 reread -
Heinlein juveniles are so much fun.
I recall that I very much liked this back in HS and then for whatever reason I have never reread this in 40 years. I did remember some scenes and of the story in summary, but this was a very enjoyable visit with crazy old Uncle Bob.
As the story begins, Earth is a totalitarian nightmare with severely suppressed civil rights. Like other SF works during this time period (first published in 1951) the recent events of war and reconstruction have colored the perspective of our writer and dehumanizing authoritarian shenanigans are described.
We find our protagonist with a unique legal status: he is a citizen of the solar system - The Federation - as he was actually born in space, the child of a mother from Venus and a father from Earth. His scientist parents are now on Mars and our hero has been given a package to deliver to his folks when all hell breaks lose as Venus declares independence from Earth and the Federation. His trip to Mars is hijacked and we then spend time fighting alongside Venusian guerrillas against the absentee landlords.
Fans of Heinlein, and I am one, will make comparisons to his later masterpiece The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (first published in 1966) as that book described a revolution on the Moon against the tyrants on Earth. This was written for young adults and lacks some of the maturity of the later book, but the portrayal of independent minds and of the desire for freedom, as much as possible, is front and center.
A very good book for the Scribner’s crowd but also an important work for Heinlein because if focuses on many of the political and philosophical themes he will explore in greater detail in many of his books following this one.
May 30, 2021
Between Planets
By: Robert A. Heinlein
Narrated by: Andrew Eiden
Don was born in free fall. Not on Earth, or Mars, or Venus. He's mom was born on Venus and his dad from Earth. When the book starts, Don starts on Earth at a school but he has lived on Venus before. He gets a message to get to Mars now! There's a war coming. Venus and the Federation (Earth) were about go at it. The message said to stop and say goodbye to his uncle first. He doesn't have an uncle but his parents have a friend so he assumes it means him.
This is where things get crazy! He gives a ring to Don to bring to his parents. Now, everyone is after him! The war starts and he can't get to Mars but he makes it to Venus. On the way he meets a dragon and saved his life. Comes to find out he is someone very important. He speaks dragon from living on Venus before.
It's an exciting and fun book! A rebellion, friendships, honor, and it has plenty of action! Loved it! Read it as a kid and enjoyed it again now that I'm old!
By: Robert A. Heinlein
Narrated by: Andrew Eiden
Don was born in free fall. Not on Earth, or Mars, or Venus. He's mom was born on Venus and his dad from Earth. When the book starts, Don starts on Earth at a school but he has lived on Venus before. He gets a message to get to Mars now! There's a war coming. Venus and the Federation (Earth) were about go at it. The message said to stop and say goodbye to his uncle first. He doesn't have an uncle but his parents have a friend so he assumes it means him.
This is where things get crazy! He gives a ring to Don to bring to his parents. Now, everyone is after him! The war starts and he can't get to Mars but he makes it to Venus. On the way he meets a dragon and saved his life. Comes to find out he is someone very important. He speaks dragon from living on Venus before.
It's an exciting and fun book! A rebellion, friendships, honor, and it has plenty of action! Loved it! Read it as a kid and enjoyed it again now that I'm old!
June 16, 2020
A surprisingly gripping space adventure even though dated to a degree. Heinlein pens a tale centred round a young man just leaving college and getting caught up in a universal conspiracy and a planetary rebellion on Venus. Written in 1951, it does have a sentient race of dragons on Venus, yet still manages to be a pretty cool 'boys-own' style adventure. In typical Heinlein futurist style, he perfectly imagines the physics of a 'stealth' aircraft, 10 years before the science was even being investigated! 5 out of 12.
January 18, 2009
Short Summary first: War is about to break out between Venus and Earth. Don Harvey, the young protagonist, is called home by his parents to mars, which is neutral. His ship is taken over by the Venus rebels and he ends up there.
One good part of this book is it basically talks about being a refugee. Don was born in space, quite rare even in this imaginary future. By law, he is a citzen of both Venus and Earth. So he ends up up Venus; because of the war, his Earth currency is not good. He has no money, job or friends (at first, at least). Really quite a predicament. Don is a typical young Heinlein hero but his transition from naive high school student to adult is well handled.
One really cool aspect of this book is the race of intelligent Venusians called "dragons" by human--which they do resemble. The book is worth reading alone just for them--they are one of Heinlein's best alien creations.
I really wish that more adults would read Heinlein's "juveniles". They are really quite good--as good as much adults sf today. If you read some of the later Heinlein and did not like him, I urge you to try his earlier work, which is much, much better.
One good part of this book is it basically talks about being a refugee. Don was born in space, quite rare even in this imaginary future. By law, he is a citzen of both Venus and Earth. So he ends up up Venus; because of the war, his Earth currency is not good. He has no money, job or friends (at first, at least). Really quite a predicament. Don is a typical young Heinlein hero but his transition from naive high school student to adult is well handled.
One really cool aspect of this book is the race of intelligent Venusians called "dragons" by human--which they do resemble. The book is worth reading alone just for them--they are one of Heinlein's best alien creations.
I really wish that more adults would read Heinlein's "juveniles". They are really quite good--as good as much adults sf today. If you read some of the later Heinlein and did not like him, I urge you to try his earlier work, which is much, much better.
February 12, 2009
I learned something very important from this book:
1.) If you read every book that an author has written in chronological order;
2.) While working 12-16 hour days in a factory that makes swimming pool liners and covers;
3.) Indeed, most of that reading is accomplished during your breaks and lunches;
4.) And in addition, you are having daily discussions with your father who wants to know why a smart guy like you with a B.A. in English is working at a factory that won't even still be there in ten years. (I Googled it -- Cantar Polyair Youngstown. They still have a factory, and if I had stayed I would be operating an industrial sewing machine by now, instead of being a fabric puller. Maybe I'd even have my forklift license.)
What I learned is that you won't make friends with your coworkers. The no-friends thing especially works well if you initiate conversations that go somewhat like this: "Have you ever read Robert Heinlein? No? Wow, you should, because he is really really good. I could lend you this book when I'm done wit it. Then maybe we could talk about it. Oh you can't read? Whoa there partner, I misheard you, sorry. Yes, I like to read pornography too. No, I don't have any to lend you, sorry. No, I'm only making $5.40 an hour. Well I've only worked here two months, what do you expect?"
It's a guarantee -- people don't trust you if you read too much at work. And initiating unwelcome conversations about those books sure saves a lot of useless water-cooler talk. I have embraced this philosophy, and people have mostly shunned me. It gives me a lot more reading time.
The only downside in particular to Between Planets is that I hardly remember reading it at all. I must have been pretty distracted then. I'm looking at the cover, and it apparently has a dragon in it. And it looks like a cool dragon, so I'm guessing the book would fit nicely in the "liked it" category. Three stars it is!
1.) If you read every book that an author has written in chronological order;
2.) While working 12-16 hour days in a factory that makes swimming pool liners and covers;
3.) Indeed, most of that reading is accomplished during your breaks and lunches;
4.) And in addition, you are having daily discussions with your father who wants to know why a smart guy like you with a B.A. in English is working at a factory that won't even still be there in ten years. (I Googled it -- Cantar Polyair Youngstown. They still have a factory, and if I had stayed I would be operating an industrial sewing machine by now, instead of being a fabric puller. Maybe I'd even have my forklift license.)
What I learned is that you won't make friends with your coworkers. The no-friends thing especially works well if you initiate conversations that go somewhat like this: "Have you ever read Robert Heinlein? No? Wow, you should, because he is really really good. I could lend you this book when I'm done wit it. Then maybe we could talk about it. Oh you can't read? Whoa there partner, I misheard you, sorry. Yes, I like to read pornography too. No, I don't have any to lend you, sorry. No, I'm only making $5.40 an hour. Well I've only worked here two months, what do you expect?"
It's a guarantee -- people don't trust you if you read too much at work. And initiating unwelcome conversations about those books sure saves a lot of useless water-cooler talk. I have embraced this philosophy, and people have mostly shunned me. It gives me a lot more reading time.
The only downside in particular to Between Planets is that I hardly remember reading it at all. I must have been pretty distracted then. I'm looking at the cover, and it apparently has a dragon in it. And it looks like a cool dragon, so I'm guessing the book would fit nicely in the "liked it" category. Three stars it is!
October 5, 2025
3 Stars for Between Planets (audiobook) by Robert A. Heinlein read by Andrew Eiden.
It’s kind of hard to believe that this sci-fi novel is almost seventy five years old. It’s still a fun adventure and coming of age story. There’s a race of dragons on Venus that are battling Earth for their own independence. And a young man who happens to be on Venus is trying escape to Mars to keep from being caught by the Earth troops.
It’s kind of hard to believe that this sci-fi novel is almost seventy five years old. It’s still a fun adventure and coming of age story. There’s a race of dragons on Venus that are battling Earth for their own independence. And a young man who happens to be on Venus is trying escape to Mars to keep from being caught by the Earth troops.
December 4, 2024
This was quite the wonderful juvenile story from one of the most well-known scifi authors.
Don has lived quite the sheltered life in a Ranch School on Earth while his parents (his dad being from Earth, his mother from Venus and he himself having been born in space) live on Mars.
One day, he is told to leave everything behind and hurry home - apparently, war is about to break out between Earth's Federation and the inhabitants of Venus and anyone wanting to break free from what appears to be quite the draconic Terran rule.
However, the flight (in both senses of the word) goes very wrong. I was very much reminded of some Jews trying, too late, to get out of Germany / Europe at one point. Luckily, Don is a smart, kind, and self-reliant youth. Nevertheless, the challenges are quite significant.
This had everything I like so much about Heinlein stories. He critically examines war: the way we remember it / are taught about past wars in school, the way we are drawn into them at any present point in time, the way things can escalate and be repeated over and over again. Quite timely right now (more than in previous years, I mean).
Moreover, Don was wholly unprepared but he was nobody's fool or doormat and did the best he could, improving existing knowledge and skills. Him being a good person didn't hurt. Neither did that there was quite some action what with Don being changed by various elements throughout the story and him having to puzzle out what they wanted with him.
And then there were the scifi elements such as the dragons, which were quirky and rather cute. :D
Definitely one of my favorite of the juveniles (the ones I read so far at least).
Don has lived quite the sheltered life in a Ranch School on Earth while his parents (his dad being from Earth, his mother from Venus and he himself having been born in space) live on Mars.
One day, he is told to leave everything behind and hurry home - apparently, war is about to break out between Earth's Federation and the inhabitants of Venus and anyone wanting to break free from what appears to be quite the draconic Terran rule.
However, the flight (in both senses of the word) goes very wrong. I was very much reminded of some Jews trying, too late, to get out of Germany / Europe at one point. Luckily, Don is a smart, kind, and self-reliant youth. Nevertheless, the challenges are quite significant.
This had everything I like so much about Heinlein stories. He critically examines war: the way we remember it / are taught about past wars in school, the way we are drawn into them at any present point in time, the way things can escalate and be repeated over and over again. Quite timely right now (more than in previous years, I mean).
Moreover, Don was wholly unprepared but he was nobody's fool or doormat and did the best he could, improving existing knowledge and skills. Him being a good person didn't hurt. Neither did that there was quite some action what with Don being changed by various elements throughout the story and him having to puzzle out what they wanted with him.
And then there were the scifi elements such as the dragons, which were quirky and rather cute. :D
Definitely one of my favorite of the juveniles (the ones I read so far at least).
April 22, 2021
"Man needs freedom, but few men are so strong as to be happy with complete freedom."
Mixed feelings. ⠀
⠀
There's this thing when I've read enough books by the same author (3⭐, 4⭐ or 5⭐ books), I really can't help but compare the one I just finished with the ones I liked the most. Hell, I don't even know if it's a good rating method but that's what I do. Does it make sense to you? See, this was a gripping space adventure for me, better than Space Cadet (3⭐), but not better than Startship Troopers (4⭐) or Farmer in the Sky (4⭐). Let's just say Between Planets it's a 3.5⭐ and get on with it already. Sorry for sharing my rating problems.⠀
⠀
Heinlein's inventiveness was certainly ahead of his time. The year was 1951 and there he was talking about mobile phones, self-driving cars and stealth tech. Having read some of his late novels I noticed some backward references like Venusberg and Tycho City, and some other themes that he also develops in other of his books like citizenship, conspiracy and individual freedom. ⠀
⠀
Don Harvey is a fine young boy who needs to deliver a message to his parents on Mars but get caught in the middle of a war of independence between the Republic of Venus and the mighty Earth Federation. One of the few books I've read where Earth is the bad boy. Because he was born in space, with one parent from Venus and the other from Earth, he needs to decide where his loyalties lie. An entertaining and complex juvenile novel about a boy whose courage will decide the future of planetary freedom. ⠀
⠀
Side note: Mr. Darrell K. Sweet got it wrong! Venerian dragons have eight eyes, not six 🙄⠀
Mixed feelings. ⠀
⠀
There's this thing when I've read enough books by the same author (3⭐, 4⭐ or 5⭐ books), I really can't help but compare the one I just finished with the ones I liked the most. Hell, I don't even know if it's a good rating method but that's what I do. Does it make sense to you? See, this was a gripping space adventure for me, better than Space Cadet (3⭐), but not better than Startship Troopers (4⭐) or Farmer in the Sky (4⭐). Let's just say Between Planets it's a 3.5⭐ and get on with it already. Sorry for sharing my rating problems.⠀
⠀
Heinlein's inventiveness was certainly ahead of his time. The year was 1951 and there he was talking about mobile phones, self-driving cars and stealth tech. Having read some of his late novels I noticed some backward references like Venusberg and Tycho City, and some other themes that he also develops in other of his books like citizenship, conspiracy and individual freedom. ⠀
⠀
Don Harvey is a fine young boy who needs to deliver a message to his parents on Mars but get caught in the middle of a war of independence between the Republic of Venus and the mighty Earth Federation. One of the few books I've read where Earth is the bad boy. Because he was born in space, with one parent from Venus and the other from Earth, he needs to decide where his loyalties lie. An entertaining and complex juvenile novel about a boy whose courage will decide the future of planetary freedom. ⠀
⠀
Side note: Mr. Darrell K. Sweet got it wrong! Venerian dragons have eight eyes, not six 🙄⠀
August 5, 2017
I am addicted to listening to Heinlein juveniles. There, I said it.
February 22, 2015
With every book from the past written about the future, you want to see if its predictions about technological development are accurate. Heinlein anticipates mobile phones, driverless cars, molecular gastronomy (the protagonist, Don eats a pudding that is hot and cold at the same time), skypeing, nuclear proliferation, satellite TV, but credit cards, computers, and the internet do not exist.
Heinlein also looks to the past: the plot involves a battle of the planets with Earth invading its rebellious colony, Venus, much as Britain did with America, whereas someone's refusal to sit next to a “dirty Venerian” (Venus dweller) harks back to the Third Reich, although the Venus colonials respect for the indigenous dragons seems to be analogous to the first Euro-settlers arriving in the US and forging bonds with the Indians, broken by the unfortunate incidents with the smallpox blankets and the genocide. Don, born of mixed parentage, is asked to prove his loyalty to Earth when the war starts, reminding me of America's treatment of its ethnic Japanese population during WW2.
The details of the world(s) are well documented, Don compares the speed of the rocket ship to the helicopter he usually takes, as we do with, say, high speed trains and rural bus services; the postal service, with its retro-futuristic pneumatic tubes, is still slow, clerks are still rude and lose your booking details, people have derogatory nicknames for each other: Earth dwellers are groundhogs, humans from Venus are fog-eaters.
The book would now be classed as YA – its 17 or 18 year old hero, who says things “gruffly” or “hotly”, is sent from his boarding school to the big city, then on a rocket ship from Earth to Venus; he encounters secret police, gets a menial job, witnesses a violent invasion, escapes a Gestapo-style interrogation, joins a guerilla army, and then becomes the honoured guest of a dragon, and finally, co-saviour of the colony planets, all the while acting independently without adult supervision. These tales of derring-do must have been jolly exciting to 1950 teens. Heinlein doesn't anticipate changes in language: people are still “chumps” or addressed as “Mac”, and although he touches on vegetarianism by showing Don's disgust when he finds out that he's eating a cute Venerian mammal, Heinlein doesn't foresee second wave feminism: women are shrill, hysterical, or ogle-worthy dumb blondes, or love interests without agency (“Isobel was the whither-thou-goest sort; she wouldn't hold him back.”)
The blurb on the back says that book explores what happens when politics affects people’s lives and liberties, but it seemed the other way about to me – the book is an independent hero's effect on a political situation: it's made quite clear that it's Don's ingenuity, stubbornness and moral courage that helps save the day.
Heinlein also looks to the past: the plot involves a battle of the planets with Earth invading its rebellious colony, Venus, much as Britain did with America, whereas someone's refusal to sit next to a “dirty Venerian” (Venus dweller) harks back to the Third Reich, although the Venus colonials respect for the indigenous dragons seems to be analogous to the first Euro-settlers arriving in the US and forging bonds with the Indians, broken by the unfortunate incidents with the smallpox blankets and the genocide. Don, born of mixed parentage, is asked to prove his loyalty to Earth when the war starts, reminding me of America's treatment of its ethnic Japanese population during WW2.
The details of the world(s) are well documented, Don compares the speed of the rocket ship to the helicopter he usually takes, as we do with, say, high speed trains and rural bus services; the postal service, with its retro-futuristic pneumatic tubes, is still slow, clerks are still rude and lose your booking details, people have derogatory nicknames for each other: Earth dwellers are groundhogs, humans from Venus are fog-eaters.
The book would now be classed as YA – its 17 or 18 year old hero, who says things “gruffly” or “hotly”, is sent from his boarding school to the big city, then on a rocket ship from Earth to Venus; he encounters secret police, gets a menial job, witnesses a violent invasion, escapes a Gestapo-style interrogation, joins a guerilla army, and then becomes the honoured guest of a dragon, and finally, co-saviour of the colony planets, all the while acting independently without adult supervision. These tales of derring-do must have been jolly exciting to 1950 teens. Heinlein doesn't anticipate changes in language: people are still “chumps” or addressed as “Mac”, and although he touches on vegetarianism by showing Don's disgust when he finds out that he's eating a cute Venerian mammal, Heinlein doesn't foresee second wave feminism: women are shrill, hysterical, or ogle-worthy dumb blondes, or love interests without agency (“Isobel was the whither-thou-goest sort; she wouldn't hold him back.”)
The blurb on the back says that book explores what happens when politics affects people’s lives and liberties, but it seemed the other way about to me – the book is an independent hero's effect on a political situation: it's made quite clear that it's Don's ingenuity, stubbornness and moral courage that helps save the day.
June 14, 2011
For me, this was a 5 star read. I wasnt annoyed by anything in the story until the very end, when the author used technology to take over the starring role. That part was very pulpy, but up to that point it was the best kind of sci-fi. That being a story about people, that just happens to take place in a sci-fi ennvironment.
Our young hero is off on an adventure that crosses three planets. He becomes a soldier and a man, though not in the knowledge of a woman way, just the way of gutting enemy combatants in their sleep, and his outlook on life. Gotta love - or not - them 1951 sensibilities.
Still this one was easy to read, I never felt like it was gettig to be a chore, and I recomennd it to anyone who cares to listen at my bookstore.
Our young hero is off on an adventure that crosses three planets. He becomes a soldier and a man, though not in the knowledge of a woman way, just the way of gutting enemy combatants in their sleep, and his outlook on life. Gotta love - or not - them 1951 sensibilities.
Still this one was easy to read, I never felt like it was gettig to be a chore, and I recomennd it to anyone who cares to listen at my bookstore.
November 8, 2015
One of my favorite juvenile Heinlein novels. While in school on Earth, Don receives a message to immediately leave school to join his parents on Mars where they are station to do some sort of research as a war is brewing between Earth and the new "republic of Venus". Don's trip is interrupted due to a war declaration.
This was one of the first SF novels I ever read. (I started with Heinlein and van Vogt who are polar opposites in every way but both having been editor Campbell Jr. stable mates.)
Though classified as a juvenile, "Between Planets" can be enjoyed by a reader of any age. A Heinlein juvenile, unlike many others written during this period, was that Heinlein never talked down to his young readers. He never underestimated a young (boy's mostly) capability of understanding concepts of science and social behaviour. In this novel, he touches on the importance of making judgement and decisions based on your honest opinions. Not to be pushed around by others who claim authority over you. Never to second guess your own true values.
I was stuck by the early use of the phrase to "pay it forward": "The banker reached into the folds of his gown, pulled out a single credit note. "But eat first — a full belly steadies the judgment. Do me the honor of accepting this as our welcome to the newcomer." His pride said no; his stomach said YES! Don took it and said, "Uh, thanks! That's awfully kind of you. I'll pay it back, first chance. Instead, pay it forward to some other brother who needs it." This quote from the book was featured in a Wikepedia article on the phrase.
The novel is also a story about identity. Don was not born on Earth, Mars or Venus. He was born in transit "between planets" of the union of an Earthborn father and a Venusian colonist mother. He is a self proclaimed citizen of the solar system.
One of Heinlein's best juveniles.
This was one of the first SF novels I ever read. (I started with Heinlein and van Vogt who are polar opposites in every way but both having been editor Campbell Jr. stable mates.)
Though classified as a juvenile, "Between Planets" can be enjoyed by a reader of any age. A Heinlein juvenile, unlike many others written during this period, was that Heinlein never talked down to his young readers. He never underestimated a young (boy's mostly) capability of understanding concepts of science and social behaviour. In this novel, he touches on the importance of making judgement and decisions based on your honest opinions. Not to be pushed around by others who claim authority over you. Never to second guess your own true values.
I was stuck by the early use of the phrase to "pay it forward": "The banker reached into the folds of his gown, pulled out a single credit note. "But eat first — a full belly steadies the judgment. Do me the honor of accepting this as our welcome to the newcomer." His pride said no; his stomach said YES! Don took it and said, "Uh, thanks! That's awfully kind of you. I'll pay it back, first chance. Instead, pay it forward to some other brother who needs it." This quote from the book was featured in a Wikepedia article on the phrase.
The novel is also a story about identity. Don was not born on Earth, Mars or Venus. He was born in transit "between planets" of the union of an Earthborn father and a Venusian colonist mother. He is a self proclaimed citizen of the solar system.
One of Heinlein's best juveniles.
April 26, 2019
This was a very good, somewhat unusual Robert Heinlein book that I had not read before.
I stared reading Heinlein in my teens, books that I found in libraries or second hand bookshops, so I read them out of order and randomly. Later, as an adult coming back to them I found they were all set in a continuous 'world' and had a time line. I had never figured that out before.
Also, I found, he wrote 'adult' and 'juvenile' strands. Now while I am still somewhat skeptical about this, Between Planets is classed as a 'Juvenile'. I can't quite see why although the leading man, Don is in school when it starts he is certainly a full adult by the end. There does not seem to be any more sex or violence here than in - for example - Methusalah's Children (which is to say; none) so I don't get it.
Anyway, it is a great story and a good adventure. Don is at School on a ranch of some kind in the USA, when his parents pull him out early and tell him to join them on Mars ASAP. He is given a package to take to them by an old family friend who then is arrested before Don can get on the space shuttle. War between Earth and Venus, with Don very firmly caught in between as, having been born interspace, he is technically a citizen of the Interplanetary Federation, which is in the process of tearing itself apart. Where does he belong?
This is a dashing, fast paced adventure, it is well written absorbing, anything BUT predictable and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It also has, inadvertently, much of relevance for modern day dilemmas as the ISIS terrorist organisation is dissolving and the children of those citizens who abandoned their countries to join it are now in a similar no-mans land of law that Don found himself in.
Anyhow, aside from that random political observation, it is a great book that I recommend to Classic Sci-Fi lovers.
I stared reading Heinlein in my teens, books that I found in libraries or second hand bookshops, so I read them out of order and randomly. Later, as an adult coming back to them I found they were all set in a continuous 'world' and had a time line. I had never figured that out before.
Also, I found, he wrote 'adult' and 'juvenile' strands. Now while I am still somewhat skeptical about this, Between Planets is classed as a 'Juvenile'. I can't quite see why although the leading man, Don is in school when it starts he is certainly a full adult by the end. There does not seem to be any more sex or violence here than in - for example - Methusalah's Children (which is to say; none) so I don't get it.
Anyway, it is a great story and a good adventure. Don is at School on a ranch of some kind in the USA, when his parents pull him out early and tell him to join them on Mars ASAP. He is given a package to take to them by an old family friend who then is arrested before Don can get on the space shuttle. War between Earth and Venus, with Don very firmly caught in between as, having been born interspace, he is technically a citizen of the Interplanetary Federation, which is in the process of tearing itself apart. Where does he belong?
This is a dashing, fast paced adventure, it is well written absorbing, anything BUT predictable and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It also has, inadvertently, much of relevance for modern day dilemmas as the ISIS terrorist organisation is dissolving and the children of those citizens who abandoned their countries to join it are now in a similar no-mans land of law that Don found himself in.
Anyhow, aside from that random political observation, it is a great book that I recommend to Classic Sci-Fi lovers.
May 21, 2023
I've read this and Red Planet Mars, quite a few times both as a teenager and quite a lot later as an adult. In my opinion Heinlein was the smartest of the 1950's adventure driven sci-fi writers who had a keen grasp for both science and technology, history and how people behave. His stories, even simple ones like this, contain much more grounded and realistic settings and events than his contemporaries.
I think I've read most of the so-called "juvenile series" as a teenager, whose imagination was captured by the Moon landings as a pre-teen (my parents claimed that rented our first colour TV so I could see the moon in colour; I would have been 6) and get all sorts of fiction and fact books (spaceship design art books from 2001 and The British Interplanetary society member etc) between 6 and 10 years old before becoming more of a purchaser in teens and later.
The book is of its time of course. Women don't play a major part in the story and workplaces and schools seem to be single gender places. The story itself is basically political and shows how a fair minded young adult becomes a member of the resistance due to the actions of an autocratic colonial power. It has a front then background spy and science/technology story. As a short novel it lacks detail and essentially cuts-out the nasty details of resistance fighting. It also includes one of the first uses of Stealth technology concepts in popular media.
it remains afavourity regardless of its flaws.
I think I've read most of the so-called "juvenile series" as a teenager, whose imagination was captured by the Moon landings as a pre-teen (my parents claimed that rented our first colour TV so I could see the moon in colour; I would have been 6) and get all sorts of fiction and fact books (spaceship design art books from 2001 and The British Interplanetary society member etc) between 6 and 10 years old before becoming more of a purchaser in teens and later.
The book is of its time of course. Women don't play a major part in the story and workplaces and schools seem to be single gender places. The story itself is basically political and shows how a fair minded young adult becomes a member of the resistance due to the actions of an autocratic colonial power. It has a front then background spy and science/technology story. As a short novel it lacks detail and essentially cuts-out the nasty details of resistance fighting. It also includes one of the first uses of Stealth technology concepts in popular media.
it remains afavourity regardless of its flaws.
September 22, 2025
Heinlein's story of a young adult finishing school on Earth before heading home to Mars, only to find himself stranded by a war between Earth and Venus, has always been a favorite. I'm writing this after reading it in 2014 with the kids, and surprisingly this is probably their least favorite of the Heinlein that I've introduced them to.
January 16, 2026
This is Heinlein’s fifth juvenile. I read it as a part of the buddy reads for January 2026 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group. The book was first published in 1951. While formally a juvenile, it raises some quite adult questions.
Don Harvey considers himself a citizen of the [Solar] System. His father had been born on Earth; his mother was a second-generation Venus colonial. But neither planet was truly their home; they had met and married on Luna and had pursued their researches in planetology in many sectors of the solar system. Therefore, when at his high school in New Mexico, others talk about growing tensions and even a possible war between Earth and Venus, he dismisses it as an unsubstantiated rumor. However, his parents communicated to him that he should leave the school right now (in the middle of the term) and join them on Mars. Before leaving, Don should pay a visit to an old family friend (whom Don doesn’t know and doesn’t care). That friend, Dr. Dudley Jefferson [I guess the surname's allusion is intentional], informs Don that he sent him a very important parcel at his school address, and it is paramount to deliver it to his father. Their meeting is interrupted by security forces that arrest them. Later, Harvey is released and informed that the Doctor died of heart failure. Meanwhile, he gets the parcel, inside is a transparent plastic ring, so Don supposes that the needed info is in the cover paper, but security confiscates it, leaving the ring to him.
When he gets to the space station to transfer to a ship to Mars, the station is captured by Venusian rebels. There is a rough link to the earlier juvenile, Space Cadet, where stations over Earth have nuclear bombs to drop if there is any danger of war between Earthmen. His station is similar, “Don’t you realize that the war is already over? Man, this place isn’t just a traffic depot; it’s the main guided-missile control station. They can bomb every last city on Earth from here, like ducks on a pond!”
Under the adventure story, RAH covered several messages, from anti-racism (in attitudes toward Venusian Dragons as well as Chinese on Venus) to his position that true democracy should use coercion such as conscription, which is the main theme of Starship Troopers (1960). The early discussions that a war cannot start because it is irrational read quite differently in Ukraine in 2025 after the Russian invasion. A solid installment, maybe not the best but a nice quick read.
Don Harvey considers himself a citizen of the [Solar] System. His father had been born on Earth; his mother was a second-generation Venus colonial. But neither planet was truly their home; they had met and married on Luna and had pursued their researches in planetology in many sectors of the solar system. Therefore, when at his high school in New Mexico, others talk about growing tensions and even a possible war between Earth and Venus, he dismisses it as an unsubstantiated rumor. However, his parents communicated to him that he should leave the school right now (in the middle of the term) and join them on Mars. Before leaving, Don should pay a visit to an old family friend (whom Don doesn’t know and doesn’t care). That friend, Dr. Dudley Jefferson [I guess the surname's allusion is intentional], informs Don that he sent him a very important parcel at his school address, and it is paramount to deliver it to his father. Their meeting is interrupted by security forces that arrest them. Later, Harvey is released and informed that the Doctor died of heart failure. Meanwhile, he gets the parcel, inside is a transparent plastic ring, so Don supposes that the needed info is in the cover paper, but security confiscates it, leaving the ring to him.
When he gets to the space station to transfer to a ship to Mars, the station is captured by Venusian rebels. There is a rough link to the earlier juvenile, Space Cadet, where stations over Earth have nuclear bombs to drop if there is any danger of war between Earthmen. His station is similar, “Don’t you realize that the war is already over? Man, this place isn’t just a traffic depot; it’s the main guided-missile control station. They can bomb every last city on Earth from here, like ducks on a pond!”
Under the adventure story, RAH covered several messages, from anti-racism (in attitudes toward Venusian Dragons as well as Chinese on Venus) to his position that true democracy should use coercion such as conscription, which is the main theme of Starship Troopers (1960). The early discussions that a war cannot start because it is irrational read quite differently in Ukraine in 2025 after the Russian invasion. A solid installment, maybe not the best but a nice quick read.
March 3, 2024
Robert Heinlein was doing YA sci-fi decades before YA was a thing, and this 1951 novel is regarded to be one of his better works. As it happens, this was the first Heinlein book I ever attempted to read, but despite being 13 (a.k.a. the target demographic), I didn’t finish it – mainly because I was only just getting into sci-fi novels and my expectations had been set by Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, which is totally unfair, I know, but did I mention I was 13?
The premise is a good one – the human colony on Venus stage a rebellion against the Earth-based Federation, which makes life complex for teenager Don Harvey, who lives on Earth but has dual citizenship thanks to his parents being from both planets. With war looming, his parents instruct him to join them on Mars, but Don’s journey gets complicated fast as events unfold and he finds himself under suspicion of being a spy – especially after an old family friend asks him to deliver a package to his parents.
The story itself is okay and goes in a direction I didn’t quite expect, although – like a lot of Heinlein – it hasn’t aged too well in terms of science (i.e. Venus having a breathable atmosphere) and cultural stereotypes (i.e. the bit about Chinese immigrants on Venus). And for my money, at least, Don Harvey is one of Heinlein’s typical “rugged American individualism” characters that I find a bit annoying, although his naïve ideologies do get a walloping by reality. Anyway, I can see why 13-year-old me didn’t get into it. 53-year-old me thought it was all right, but I’m getting to the point where I’m thinking I’ve read enough of Heinlein for the time being.
The premise is a good one – the human colony on Venus stage a rebellion against the Earth-based Federation, which makes life complex for teenager Don Harvey, who lives on Earth but has dual citizenship thanks to his parents being from both planets. With war looming, his parents instruct him to join them on Mars, but Don’s journey gets complicated fast as events unfold and he finds himself under suspicion of being a spy – especially after an old family friend asks him to deliver a package to his parents.
The story itself is okay and goes in a direction I didn’t quite expect, although – like a lot of Heinlein – it hasn’t aged too well in terms of science (i.e. Venus having a breathable atmosphere) and cultural stereotypes (i.e. the bit about Chinese immigrants on Venus). And for my money, at least, Don Harvey is one of Heinlein’s typical “rugged American individualism” characters that I find a bit annoying, although his naïve ideologies do get a walloping by reality. Anyway, I can see why 13-year-old me didn’t get into it. 53-year-old me thought it was all right, but I’m getting to the point where I’m thinking I’ve read enough of Heinlein for the time being.
November 22, 2012
I do love Robert Heinlein, I know I probably shouldn't but I don't care. About 10 years ago I read nearly everything by him that I could find, this one had escaped me so was very pleased to come across it in the second hand shop. This is one of his "juvenile" fictions, thus there is much less bottom pinching and kissing than one would expect from Heinlein, but despite the main character being a teenage boy I really really liked it. (As an aside Starship Troopers was the last Juvenile book that he wrote but the publishers refused to publish it because it was too controversial and after that he didn't write any more intended for a younger audience). It was written in 1951 and is good classic sci-fi. Man had spread out into the solar system and colonised the planets. Mars and Venus were both habitable, and both had intelligent life. The Venusians, were large scaly reptiles that had lots of eye stalks and tentacles and were called "dragons". There was an evil totalitarian state and revolutionaries fighting in the jungles of Venus. For all that it was a juvenile book it came across as intelligently written, even if the style was a little simplistic at times. It reminded me of how much I do enjoy Heinlein and made me want to go back and re-read Friday as it's the one of his I read first and remember the least.
April 18, 2021
This was fun and quick, but ultimately not memorable (I know I’ve read it before, yet nothing sparked memory as I re-read it).
(I published a longer review on my website.)
January 5, 2014
Here’s the latest of my rereads of Heinlein’s works.
After Farmer in the Sky Robert then published a decidedly more adult novel, The Puppet Masters. However, he was still with a Scribner’s contract to publish one juvenile novel a year, and so returned to the world of young adult SF with this novel.
Things in Heinlein’s own world had moved on a little since his last sojourn to his future Solar System, and this change is partly reflected in this novel. Though a juvenile novel, and one of a series designed for Scouts (a predominantly male teen audience), Heinlein had found a voice through his Destination Moon movie scriptwriting and The Puppet Masters. It is possible that Heinlein was starting to outgrow such a setup.
The background to Between Planets is a more sophisticated one. Having travelled to Venus, Mars and Ganymede in previous juveniles and examined the importance of freedom and pioneering characteristics, Between Planets sets up a situation where the main protagonist is between different territories. His loyalties are less black-and-white than in previous novels, because his conscience is also transitory.
Like Red Planet, Between Planets is a tale of colonial revolt. Such a situation was to some degree forewarned in Farmer in the Sky, when Bill Lermer was involved in a discussion that suggested that the continued human expansion and colonisation of the Solar System would eventually lead to war. (Chapter 18, pages 154-155.) As William H Patterson points out in his Introduction to Between Planets, “This time he (Heinlein) would turn Space Cadet inside out, he decided: Instead of a young man deliberately preparing for war, this story would be about a young man surprised and overtaken by war.”
Here, in Between Planets, we see the culmination of that ‘progress’, with an independent colony (Venus) demanding liberation from the original home planet, each world accusing the other of taking advantage of their status. Of course, not all of this is entirely relevant (at first) to our hero of Between Planets, Don Harvey. Don begins the novel at school on Earth. On his recall to Mars, Don (with a father from Earth and a mother from Venus) finds himself in the middle to a deteriorating situation between the two planets. Whilst visiting a family friend before lift-off, Don is arrested. He is eventually released, but his family friend, Professor Jefferson, dies of heart failure whilst under arrest.
Don then travels to an Earth orbiting space station en-transit to Mars. Whilst there, a raid by Venusian colonists takes over the station. Many travellers are returned to Earth, whilst Don claims Venusian citizenship in the hope that from Venus he can then travel to his parents on Mars.
Once on Venus, Don finds that, due to the current interplanetary fracas, his Earth-money is worth nothing. Communication with his parents is impossible. He is forced to get a job and try and earn the credit needed to pay for passage to Mars. When the Federation of Earth invades Venus, Don finds himself as an enlisted guerrilla fighter for the Venusians, but with a bigger part to play in events than he realised.
On finishing this book, my first thoughts were that this was the most exciting YA Heinlein novel I’ve read so far. It’s an entertaining combination of espionage and thriller, with a Space-Age setting. Whilst some of its information is now sadly out of date (farewell, jungle-swamp Venus!) I was able to still read this without losing my sense of disbelief.
The book itself is a strange concoction of old-world imagery combined with future-age optimism, even from the hindsight of 2013. We have this from the first page, when Don is out riding a pony in New Mexico whilst managing communication with what we would now call a mobile phone. The receipt of a ‘radiogram’ could now be seen as an email.
This combination of things the reader recognises with things they don’t runs throughout the novel. It is perhaps to be expected with a novel over 60 years old. In the 1950’s, as now, the purpose of Science Fiction was often seen by many at that time to predict the future, and as we know now some ideas work, whereas others don’t.
What I did find interesting was relating parts of this to Heinlein’s own background, and his movement in the series to more adult concerns. Between Planets shows a world where the teen-hero is clearly growing older. Whilst Don is initially rather naïve, he finds that he has to grow up fast and get a grip on bigger issues. The school part may be based on his Naval training; as a sign of his growing maturity, Professor Jefferson takes Don to a night club (and possibly strip joint?) on his visit to New Chicago. By the end he is clearly an adult.
Heinlein’s view on a World Authority is also interesting here as well. Like in Red Planet and Space Cadet, worldly governments (or at least the Interplanetary Bureau of Investigation) don’t seem to be working that well – regimented, even dictatorial, they seem to employ methods that are not the ideal – arresting people to be tortured and such like. “Any government that gets to be too big and too successful gets to be a nuisance”(page 154), one of the characters say. Perhaps the message here is one often given as a result of WW2, that it is up to the people of the future like Don, as part of the new order, to put things right. Space is truly the new frontier, and as such should be unshackled by previous terrestrial confines.
We also get those Heinlein-esque touches that are becoming recognisable as I read the series again. Professor Jefferson is another older mentor character that seems to fit the Jubal Halshaw/Lazarus Long template we will see again later. It is here that we are introduced to the key Heinlein idea of ‘paying it forward’ that will become a standard in later years. Between Planets also has an alien character with nearly as much charisma as Red Planet’s Willis, that of Venusian dragon Sir Isaac Newton (who will briefly reappear in The Number of the Beast.) One of the spaceships is named Glory Road, a title to reappear as a novel title a decade later.
If any criticism can be made of Between Planets, it is perhaps that most of the ideas here are not new, even in the 1950’s. But the execution of the tale, the plotting and the ideas throughout are what we would now count as typical Heinlein. Although the ending of the novel does rather depend upon one major invention, in most other ways Between Planets is a complete world away from the slam-bang space-operatics of early SF writers like Edmond Hamilton or E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith. Whilst we’re not talking stylistic and literary acrobatics such as in Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man (1951-52) or Algis Budrys’s Rogue Moon (1960), we are reading here solidly written, engaging and entertaining tales, storytelling in as straightforward a manner as possible but with enough depth to go beyond the impossibilities of pulp SF.
Between Planets is a book that is more complex than I remembered it to be, yet entertaining enough for the teenage reader. It shows a writer developing his craft further and clearly on an upward trajectory. We are now at the point where Heinlein’s skills in storycraft are reaching universally recognised status. As we enter an era seen as one of SF’s greatest, Between Planets shows that Heinlein deserves to be seen as one of the most entertaining and inspiring SF authors of that time.
After Farmer in the Sky Robert then published a decidedly more adult novel, The Puppet Masters. However, he was still with a Scribner’s contract to publish one juvenile novel a year, and so returned to the world of young adult SF with this novel.
Things in Heinlein’s own world had moved on a little since his last sojourn to his future Solar System, and this change is partly reflected in this novel. Though a juvenile novel, and one of a series designed for Scouts (a predominantly male teen audience), Heinlein had found a voice through his Destination Moon movie scriptwriting and The Puppet Masters. It is possible that Heinlein was starting to outgrow such a setup.
The background to Between Planets is a more sophisticated one. Having travelled to Venus, Mars and Ganymede in previous juveniles and examined the importance of freedom and pioneering characteristics, Between Planets sets up a situation where the main protagonist is between different territories. His loyalties are less black-and-white than in previous novels, because his conscience is also transitory.
Like Red Planet, Between Planets is a tale of colonial revolt. Such a situation was to some degree forewarned in Farmer in the Sky, when Bill Lermer was involved in a discussion that suggested that the continued human expansion and colonisation of the Solar System would eventually lead to war. (Chapter 18, pages 154-155.) As William H Patterson points out in his Introduction to Between Planets, “This time he (Heinlein) would turn Space Cadet inside out, he decided: Instead of a young man deliberately preparing for war, this story would be about a young man surprised and overtaken by war.”
Here, in Between Planets, we see the culmination of that ‘progress’, with an independent colony (Venus) demanding liberation from the original home planet, each world accusing the other of taking advantage of their status. Of course, not all of this is entirely relevant (at first) to our hero of Between Planets, Don Harvey. Don begins the novel at school on Earth. On his recall to Mars, Don (with a father from Earth and a mother from Venus) finds himself in the middle to a deteriorating situation between the two planets. Whilst visiting a family friend before lift-off, Don is arrested. He is eventually released, but his family friend, Professor Jefferson, dies of heart failure whilst under arrest.
Don then travels to an Earth orbiting space station en-transit to Mars. Whilst there, a raid by Venusian colonists takes over the station. Many travellers are returned to Earth, whilst Don claims Venusian citizenship in the hope that from Venus he can then travel to his parents on Mars.
Once on Venus, Don finds that, due to the current interplanetary fracas, his Earth-money is worth nothing. Communication with his parents is impossible. He is forced to get a job and try and earn the credit needed to pay for passage to Mars. When the Federation of Earth invades Venus, Don finds himself as an enlisted guerrilla fighter for the Venusians, but with a bigger part to play in events than he realised.
On finishing this book, my first thoughts were that this was the most exciting YA Heinlein novel I’ve read so far. It’s an entertaining combination of espionage and thriller, with a Space-Age setting. Whilst some of its information is now sadly out of date (farewell, jungle-swamp Venus!) I was able to still read this without losing my sense of disbelief.
The book itself is a strange concoction of old-world imagery combined with future-age optimism, even from the hindsight of 2013. We have this from the first page, when Don is out riding a pony in New Mexico whilst managing communication with what we would now call a mobile phone. The receipt of a ‘radiogram’ could now be seen as an email.
This combination of things the reader recognises with things they don’t runs throughout the novel. It is perhaps to be expected with a novel over 60 years old. In the 1950’s, as now, the purpose of Science Fiction was often seen by many at that time to predict the future, and as we know now some ideas work, whereas others don’t.
What I did find interesting was relating parts of this to Heinlein’s own background, and his movement in the series to more adult concerns. Between Planets shows a world where the teen-hero is clearly growing older. Whilst Don is initially rather naïve, he finds that he has to grow up fast and get a grip on bigger issues. The school part may be based on his Naval training; as a sign of his growing maturity, Professor Jefferson takes Don to a night club (and possibly strip joint?) on his visit to New Chicago. By the end he is clearly an adult.
Heinlein’s view on a World Authority is also interesting here as well. Like in Red Planet and Space Cadet, worldly governments (or at least the Interplanetary Bureau of Investigation) don’t seem to be working that well – regimented, even dictatorial, they seem to employ methods that are not the ideal – arresting people to be tortured and such like. “Any government that gets to be too big and too successful gets to be a nuisance”(page 154), one of the characters say. Perhaps the message here is one often given as a result of WW2, that it is up to the people of the future like Don, as part of the new order, to put things right. Space is truly the new frontier, and as such should be unshackled by previous terrestrial confines.
We also get those Heinlein-esque touches that are becoming recognisable as I read the series again. Professor Jefferson is another older mentor character that seems to fit the Jubal Halshaw/Lazarus Long template we will see again later. It is here that we are introduced to the key Heinlein idea of ‘paying it forward’ that will become a standard in later years. Between Planets also has an alien character with nearly as much charisma as Red Planet’s Willis, that of Venusian dragon Sir Isaac Newton (who will briefly reappear in The Number of the Beast.) One of the spaceships is named Glory Road, a title to reappear as a novel title a decade later.
If any criticism can be made of Between Planets, it is perhaps that most of the ideas here are not new, even in the 1950’s. But the execution of the tale, the plotting and the ideas throughout are what we would now count as typical Heinlein. Although the ending of the novel does rather depend upon one major invention, in most other ways Between Planets is a complete world away from the slam-bang space-operatics of early SF writers like Edmond Hamilton or E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith. Whilst we’re not talking stylistic and literary acrobatics such as in Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man (1951-52) or Algis Budrys’s Rogue Moon (1960), we are reading here solidly written, engaging and entertaining tales, storytelling in as straightforward a manner as possible but with enough depth to go beyond the impossibilities of pulp SF.
Between Planets is a book that is more complex than I remembered it to be, yet entertaining enough for the teenage reader. It shows a writer developing his craft further and clearly on an upward trajectory. We are now at the point where Heinlein’s skills in storycraft are reaching universally recognised status. As we enter an era seen as one of SF’s greatest, Between Planets shows that Heinlein deserves to be seen as one of the most entertaining and inspiring SF authors of that time.
July 7, 2021
I got interested in Heinlein back in the early 1980s because there were several of his books in our school library. I was very much into SF and doing quite a lot of reading at that point. This was the first one I read and it was enough to make me want to read more. The school also lent me Red Planet, Starman Jones, Citizen Of The Galaxy, Have Spacesuit - Will Travel, and one or two more that I don't now recall. It struck me at the time that those particular books, besides seeming a little old fashioned (because they were written in the 1950s), seemed to be written for a juvenile audience. There was no indication of that in the hardback editions I read, but I was proved correct in that assumption when I saw paperback editions of them up for sale on ebay. All the great SF books I borrowed from libraries or bought and lent to people who didn't give them back were bought again about 15 years ago. This one especially takes pride of place in my heart and my memory and my bookshelf.
Many years later I read a lot more Heinlein. The Puppet Masters, To Sail Beyond The Sunset, Stranger In A Strange Land, Time Enough For Love, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.... Then one day I read Dune and I went on a great Frank Herbert bender that I never really came back from.
Many years later I read a lot more Heinlein. The Puppet Masters, To Sail Beyond The Sunset, Stranger In A Strange Land, Time Enough For Love, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.... Then one day I read Dune and I went on a great Frank Herbert bender that I never really came back from.
January 24, 2025
Best Heinlein book I've read so far. The characters were interesting and likeable, the pacing was great, and thankfully it didn't take any weird turns like some of Heinlein's other books.
Also, the audiobook was really good.
Really, a perfect book. I would recommend this one to any of my friends who want to check out the author I've been constantly reading and talking about lately.
Also, the audiobook was really good.
Really, a perfect book. I would recommend this one to any of my friends who want to check out the author I've been constantly reading and talking about lately.
June 21, 2021
A wonderful story by one of the great masters.
June 8, 2025
Continuing my re-read of the Heinlein juveniles. I liked this one much better than the last one. A fun adventure story that I’m sure middle school me loved. While it’s pretty clear it was written in 1951, it hold up much better than Red Planet.
October 19, 2008
Ok, so I am probably going to sound like a broken reord when it comes to Heinlein but he is just such a good writer. Even people who don't like the sciencey part ot science fiction will find something to like about his books. Becasue what he is best at is writing people. How they interact with others and react to situations. The fact that the characters do this generally in space is just a bonus as far as i am concerned.
Anyway, this book is about a young man who is going to school on earth. He is supposed to head to Mars to be with his parents becasue a war is going to break out between Earth and Venus and since he can claim citizenship on both planets, he is caught in the middle. On his way to Mars though, his ship is comandeered by the Venus Federation and he is taken to Venus instead. Oh, and this whole time, he apparently is carrying a secret message that was supposed to be delivered to his parents that will change the course of human history forever and both Earth and Venus want it... badly.
Anyway, this book is about a young man who is going to school on earth. He is supposed to head to Mars to be with his parents becasue a war is going to break out between Earth and Venus and since he can claim citizenship on both planets, he is caught in the middle. On his way to Mars though, his ship is comandeered by the Venus Federation and he is taken to Venus instead. Oh, and this whole time, he apparently is carrying a secret message that was supposed to be delivered to his parents that will change the course of human history forever and both Earth and Venus want it... badly.
November 13, 2018
Don Harvey was born between planets (in space) of a mother from Venus and an Earth father. As such, he doesn't really have solid citizenship anywhere. His parents now live on Mars, doing scientific research, and he's going to school on an Earth ranch.
He gets a note from his parents to come home and to visit a friend on the way out. Things go downhill from there and everyone seems to be gunning for him. Things get really hairy after that, but I won't spoil it for you.
It's vintage Heinlein from his children's books era (older children) and is still fun for me to read several decades after my childhood.
He gets a note from his parents to come home and to visit a friend on the way out. Things go downhill from there and everyone seems to be gunning for him. Things get really hairy after that, but I won't spoil it for you.
It's vintage Heinlein from his children's books era (older children) and is still fun for me to read several decades after my childhood.
December 3, 2017
I thought this book was really dumb. This is probably the book I disagree with my father most over. Normally I let my opinion of a book settle before judging, & if I keep thinking of it years later then that's a great book. I only keep thinking of this book as "that bad book my father liked for some reason"
March 20, 2018
I enjoyed the first 90% of this book. Classic Heinlein juvenile. Good pace. Good characters. Of course, the science is outdated, but, I don’t care about that. I am in it for the stories.
Then, it ended very suddenly. I felt like Heinlein ran up against a deadline or a page limit and just ended the book. He wrapped it up, but, after all the set up, I wanted more ending than was provided.
Then, it ended very suddenly. I felt like Heinlein ran up against a deadline or a page limit and just ended the book. He wrapped it up, but, after all the set up, I wanted more ending than was provided.
February 24, 2022
Much better than I remembered. This probably still counts as one of Heinlein’s juvenile novels, but it’s a good read for adults as well. Heinlein makes some interesting observations about how governmental secrecy and the lack of transparency lead to tyranny.
June 22, 2008
another great by a master storyteller
Displaying 1 - 30 of 292 reviews