gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Serenity - Jayne Shiny)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2006-05-06 12:29 pm
Entry tags:

Book review: Red Thunder.

This is the best Robert Heinlein I've read in a long time. Sure, the cover say it was written by John Varley, but who are you going to trust? Me, or some giant publishing house?

(speaking of which, yesterday I had a coworker convinced I was from Rhodesia. I should have been a con man.)

Anyway, Red Thunder is an excellent book, and yes, I'm not going to stop with the Heinlein comparisons. We get extremely smart young people, crusty old astronauts, a bit of jingoism, the all-American "hey kids, let's go to Mars!" sense of wonder, and even the Grand Master's patented Romance accelerator. All wrapped around a fun plot, interesting characters (I include places and things in that, by the way), and very solid writing.

I don't think I'm giving too much away by pointing out that the actual flight of the Red Thunder is almost an afterthought. This is a novel about engineering and invention.

The Admiral would be proud. I give it five penguins.

Yes, I am fully aware of the sequel. It is on my list to buy either before or at Baycon.

[identity profile] aurictech.livejournal.com 2006-05-06 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
yesterday I had a coworker convinced I was from Rhodesia

That would make you an African-American, would it not? ;-)

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2006-05-07 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Yup!

I had my contributor's copy of Interstellar Wars with me, and when he asked, I told him I wrote part of it. He didn't believe that I could write a book. So I told him a story. :)