Orphans of the Sky

The women exist only so that they can be beaten by their menfolk. They have faces so that they can be broken, and teeth so that they can be knocked out. It seems like the Ship has no draft animals to abuse, so women must fill that void. I assume that they are unnecessary to procreation, though, because taking them along on the great escape was a definite afterthought. Babies must come from the mass converter.

If this book plopped by accident into an Ursula LeGuin universe the moon colonized by the escapees would be well known to the Hainish as a tragic awful mess and dire warning. However, I think Heinlein expect us to consider the ending a victory. LeGuin's Ship would have been a lot stranger and more interesting, too.

Considered to be the classic generation starship story, I enjoyed this novel a lot. It takes a concept from physics - that one cannot move faster than the speed of light - and applies it to travel. If one wanted to travel to another star, it would take many human lifetimes. One way to bridge that distance is the generation starship. There's just one problem - after a period of time, people would forget Earth and any experience of living on a planet.

Heinlein wonderfully explores the rediscovery of scientific concepts in a neo-feudal society. I also enjoyed how he created a new greeting - "Good eating!" - that everyone uses to greet each other. The story is also a wonderful exploration of the conflict between dogma and true scientific show more curiosity.

Heinlein's one major weakness here is his female characters. There is only one female character I recall with any meaningful agency. Other female characters are treated with disregard. show less

This may not be the first generation starship tale, but it's probably the first where the passengers have forgotten that they're in a ship and that its corridors and rooms are not the universe.

This novel combines the story of Galileo with political intrigue and military conquest, all aboard a starship that has lapsed into feudalism after a mutiny in the crew long ago. After the mutiny, people forgot not only their mission to travel to Far Centaurus but that there was a universe outside the ship's hull. Books are still around, but physics and astronomy are treated like elaborate allegories by the "scientists" and not realities. Barbaric muties roam the upper decks, and cannibalism is not unknown, infantcide a common practice.

Scientist show more novitiate Hugh Hoyland plays the Galileo role. He is captured by two-headed mutant Joe-Jim and, when he's not playing checkers with either of the twins, has the run of their library and the benefit of their intellects. It's from that unlikely source that Hoyland learns the truth about the ship and the world outside.

And he begins to form a plan to complete the mission.

First published in 1941 as two short stories, "Universe" and "Common Sense", this story still entertains with its heroism, intrigue, and action. They are, chronologically, also the last short stories in Heinlein's Future History. show less

This novel is about a generation ship traveling to another star--one where they've forgotten they're even on a ship. Due to an early mutiny, the ship is divided, with barbarian mutants still rampaging centuries later. Scientist Hugh Hoyland rediscovers the truth and sets out to restore the original mission--helped byJoe-Jim the two-headed mutant, also a memorable character. Yes, this was written in 1941, and social aspects date this even more than the scientific--how Heinlein treated women characters for instance. But if you can ignore that, the book is a quick, absorbing read, fast-paced, action packed and witty. And not just action-packed. This is basically a generation-ship retelling of Galileo and the Copernican Revolution, and the show more battle between orthodoxy and science, told in an entertaining and thought-provoking way. show less

This early Heinlein tale of a generation ship is quite interesting given that it was published in 1941. The ship has suffered a disaster as a result of a mutiny many generations ago. The mutiny resulted in death of 90% of the ship's population. The subsequent struggle for survival has produced a bifurcated population. The first group is an illiterate peasant society with barely literate technocrats maintaining the crucial power systems and sages keeping a very distorted history alive. Parts of the history that are not understandable have morphed into a sort of religion. The population seems to have become mentally degenerate with some of the peasants barely able to speak. The second population group consists of mutated humans who dwell show more in the upper levels of the ship and are feared and hunted by the first group.

This story is very harsh with lots of weapons, violence and betrayals. There is cannabalism and infanticide. But it also features the awe on the part of the protagonist at seeing the stars for the first time and beginning to understand that there is something outside of the Ship and the the Trip is an actually journey to a destination and not a metaphor for the end of life.

The rating would have been much higher had it not been for how Heinlein treats the women in this story. Only three women are mentioned, only two of those three are given names and none of them have any dialogue or agency. The women are treated as chattel and brutalized by the men. That treatment makes this book one that I will not read again. show less

For the most part its hard to believe this was written in 1941. In most ways, this reads as much more 'modern' than numerous SF novels written decades afterwards. This is a story about a generation ship - huge starships that take generations to cross the gulf between space and reach their destination. except something went wrong on this one and it has been adrift for hundreds of years, with the ships crew and passengers losing knowledge of their past and reverting to a primitive form of tribal civilization.

This kind of idea has become a common trope in Science Fiction, being used by countless authors since, which shows just how much depth and power Heinlein's original idea had on the genre. The story is about a small group of passengers show more who break away from the stifling conventions of their tribe and discover the truth about the world they live in. It is generally entertaining, with the main flaw for me being the treatment of women in the book. One can understand that Heinlein is showing a primitive culture which treats women as chattel, but for the purpose of the story, Heinlein seems to treat them no better. They are utterly characterless and almost ridiculous is their helplessness and brainlessness. The ending seems to suggest that for Heinlein the main function they serve is as breeders of the human race. So this was a rather annoying aspect of what is otherwise a groundbreaking SF classic. show less

I whizzed through Bob Heinlein's stitch up of two short stories written way back in 1941, Orphans in the Sky a major influence on the generation starship genre. Its certainly fast moving and with fascinating ideas,a bit of a Boy's Own sort of tale,but I wasnt at all keen.I had issues with the casual brutality and violence,the attitude to females,(feminists would want RAH boiled in oil after reading this book! lol),the mostly very unlikable characters,and also the preposterous ease in which an ignorant young man somehow manages to launch a space shuttle and navigates it to a planet and nonchalantly lands it ! Even RAH has to make a sort of excuse for him,breaking into the story to admit that it would be highly unlikely indeed,but that show more the boy was just a lucky lad! Sorry,just barely credible,and not my cup of tea. show less