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Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Heinlein
This is an odd book. I know I must have read it before because of where it was on my bookshelves, but I remembered absolutely nothing about it. Usually when I reread a book I haven't read in ages I remember bits of it, at least vaguely, but with this one there's nothing at all.
The other odd thing about it is that it doesn't quite read like Heinlein. Actually it reads to me, especially in the beginning, as if an editor had taken him aside and said "Hey, Andre Norton's selling really well just now - think you could knock out something in that sort of style, Bob?". In fact, if I'd been given this book and told Norton had written it, I might not quite believe it, but I might credit that she'd been a co-author.
Anyway, the plot! Thorby is sold as a slave on the planet of Jubbul. His new owner is a beggar named Baslim the Cripple, who treats him as a son rather than a slave, but after a while it becomes clear that Baslim is more than he seems. And then Baslim dies and Thorby must go into space to try to carry out his adoptive father's last wish...
Rob thought that this book seemed like the beginning of a trilogy, and I can see what he means in a way, as the protagonist goes through a lot of experiences, meets a lot of different groups of people, and learns a lot of useful skills, but then the book ends as he reaches a point where he can use all this to try to combat the slave trade that his adoptive father loathed so much. I can see why the books ends where it does - Thorby has reached the end of his mental Odyssey and has accepted his role in the fight, even though it isn't the one he really wanted - but I can see too, where a sequel or two might have worked if the author had felt inclined to write them.
Growing Up Again by Catriona McCall
The best way I can describe this is as a sort of chick lit time travel story I suppose.
Janie has a row with her husband, goes to sleep - and wakes up in her parents' house as her fourteen year-old self.
The book follows Janie as she tries to work out what has happened and what to do about it. It's an OK read, but annoying in places and never more so than at the very end - when Janie is sent back again, thus negating pretty much everything she's done in the whole book. Also hugely irritating is the reason that she was sent back in the first place - in order to have a child with the right man. Meh.
This is an odd book. I know I must have read it before because of where it was on my bookshelves, but I remembered absolutely nothing about it. Usually when I reread a book I haven't read in ages I remember bits of it, at least vaguely, but with this one there's nothing at all.
The other odd thing about it is that it doesn't quite read like Heinlein. Actually it reads to me, especially in the beginning, as if an editor had taken him aside and said "Hey, Andre Norton's selling really well just now - think you could knock out something in that sort of style, Bob?". In fact, if I'd been given this book and told Norton had written it, I might not quite believe it, but I might credit that she'd been a co-author.
Anyway, the plot! Thorby is sold as a slave on the planet of Jubbul. His new owner is a beggar named Baslim the Cripple, who treats him as a son rather than a slave, but after a while it becomes clear that Baslim is more than he seems. And then Baslim dies and Thorby must go into space to try to carry out his adoptive father's last wish...
Rob thought that this book seemed like the beginning of a trilogy, and I can see what he means in a way, as the protagonist goes through a lot of experiences, meets a lot of different groups of people, and learns a lot of useful skills, but then the book ends as he reaches a point where he can use all this to try to combat the slave trade that his adoptive father loathed so much. I can see why the books ends where it does - Thorby has reached the end of his mental Odyssey and has accepted his role in the fight, even though it isn't the one he really wanted - but I can see too, where a sequel or two might have worked if the author had felt inclined to write them.
Growing Up Again by Catriona McCall
The best way I can describe this is as a sort of chick lit time travel story I suppose.
Janie has a row with her husband, goes to sleep - and wakes up in her parents' house as her fourteen year-old self.
The book follows Janie as she tries to work out what has happened and what to do about it. It's an OK read, but annoying in places and never more so than at the very end - when Janie is sent back again, thus negating pretty much everything she's done in the whole book. Also hugely irritating is the reason that she was sent back in the first place - in order to have a child with the right man. Meh.
disappointed
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