The first thing that you need to know would be that this book was written for children. I knew that before reading, but I still had high expectations for it. I was not that impressed with this one, and I can thank the last 1/3 of the book for that.The novel started out really strong. Anything space related is interesting for me, especially the moon. Like I said, this book is for children, so normally the author would introduce characters of the same age as the targeted audience. Lately that hasn't been a huge problem for me, and that isn't really the reason why I didn't like this that much.The main reason would be that the transition was way too fast and the pacing was lost around 60-75% of the novel. 3/5 stars. Most people would probably find this boring, but the novel is way too short for you not to give it a try. While it was not mind-blowing in my experience, and it will probably never be part of my top read books, I still believe that you should give this a try for a quick adequate read.---Spoilers beyond this----The first half of the book was about the three young guys who had plans of going to the moon. When they met their uncle by accident, they finally got what they wished for. They got their parents' consent and were finally allowed to go to the moon. The part of them meeting their uncle, and the persuading part were both very long, but all of a sudden the next chapter says that they're ready for take-off. I honestly hate novels with bad transitions, and unfortunately this falls under the bad ones. There were a lot of redeeming qualities, but unfortunately this is a low three-stars for me. I'm going to continue on with the series for sure, but I might just listen to the rest instead of reading them.Last point, I didn't expect the Nazis to be there. While the idea was unique, I didn't find it enjoyable. It seemed too unrealistic to happen for me, and that's why I didn't like it that much.
This is one of my favorites among the juveniles. It is often the Heinlein novel that I suggest to someone new to him. One trait I've noticed several times is that Heinlein will take something that sounds like a parody of bad sci fi and then make it completely and totally possible. Very early in his life in a letter, rather than in fiction, he talked about the implausible mapping of human culture onto aliens as a form of laziness in writing and then parenthetically says, "Some day, I should write a novel about a Martian named 'Smith'." With no hint of irony or self-parody, this of course becomes his most famous and probably most-loved novel.Similarly, Rocket Ship Galileo has Space Nazis. Space Nazis! Not just in some vague, metaphorical sense. I mean "New Reich" swastika wearers found in space. And it is done completely plausibly and makes for a great yarn.The novel has all the normal treats of a Heinlein juvenile. We have earnest, young characters committed to take the world by the tail and shake it. They team up with a gruff older guy and take the world, or perhaps I should say moon, and the Space Nazis by storm.2013: The kids loved this one. Though this ended up being the third Heinlein I read with them, it had been the one I had originally intended to be first, thinking it a perfect introduction. It was a perfect continuation.2015: This has become only the second re-read with kids. They barely remember it, and have no idea what is to happen. With the notably exception of The Star Beast, they seem to have mostly forgotten the first Heinlein we read. It came off extremely well with the kids. It is funny to me that at 9 and 7, they're starting to find the juveniles a little too thin. They want deeper stories with richer characters. They've found some of that in Heinlein's later work already, and are craving more. Our family reading may soon need to stretch beyond Heinlein.
What do You think about Rocket Ship Galileo (2004)?
FIRST HIGHSCHOOL GEEK: Okay guys, welcome to the Moon!SECOND HIGHSCHOOL GEEK: Explain again how we got here?FIRST HIGHSCHOOL GEEK: Wallace and Gromit showed us how to build a moon rocket in our basement. The rest was easy.THIRD HIGHSCHOOL GEEK: Who?NAZI IN SPACESUIT: Guten Abend, meine Herren! Ve are all on ze same side, nicht wahr?FIRST HIGHSCHOOL GEEK: Sorry Fritz, there's been a change of plan. [Shoots him]NAZI IN SPACESUIT: Schweinhund! Aaargh!SECOND HIGHSCHOOL GEEK: I thought that in space, no one could hear you scream?FIRST HIGHSCHOOL GEEK: Don't be silly, Sigourney Weaver hasn't been born yet.THIRD HIGHSCHOOL GEEK: Who?
—Manny
Approaching this story with no foreknowledge of its content, I quickly learned it is solidly a Heinlein Juvenile, one of those stories aimed squarely at the post-war youth of 1947’s middle class readers. Later research informed me that it is Heinlein’s first such book, and provides some of the template seen in the rest. A threesome of graduating high-school chums team up with an uncle, who happens to be a talented rocket scientist, to escalate their backyard rocket-design club into a mission to launch the world’s first moon visit. It’s interesting to see some of the predictions Heinlein optimistically made for the politics and scientific developments of his near-future tale: a substantial United Nations keeping the world peaceful, and a booming (sorry) private rocketry industry proving cargo & passenger service worldwide. Economically, the same optimism seen in the Detroit auto industry’s roaring 1950’s applies to Heinlein’s fictional atomics and rocketry industries. After piloting their four-man nuclear-powered backyard rocket to the moon, they are ambushed there by a secret garrison of Nazi holdovers, who have eluded the fate of the rest of the Reich, and are planning a Lunar counterstrike. The remainder of the story continues to fulfill adventure fantasies for its adolescent audience, with our protagonists triumphant in the end. It’s interesting to see how early the theme of technology outpacing the wisdom to use it appears, and the worries of nuclear holocaust begin to appear in the bellwether genre.
—SciFi Kindle
This was Robert A. Heinlein's first full-length novel. It's one of his "juveniles," which is another way of saying it's rollicking "golly gee whiz"-style adventure that could have just as well been published in Boy's Life magazine as in hardcover by Scribner's.Three high school seniors on the cusp of graduation get the opportunity of a lifetime when one of their uncles, Dr. Cargraves, a nuclear physicist, is so impressed with their scientifically minded tinkering that he offers to take them with him to the moon for a little expedition.The premise may seem silly, but Heinlein does a good job of making the characters seem serious, and he sticks to accepted science of the mid-'40s when described space flight and rocketry.The trio of 18 year-old boys and Dr. Cargraves establish a base on the moon (an airtight Quonset hut), and claim it for the United Nations. They'll soon discover, however, that a bunch of dirty Nazis -- in hiding since the end of World War II -- have already established a base on the moon, from which they plan to mount atomic attacks against the earth.The climactic action (and the revelation about prehistoric inhabitants of the moon) is probably the silliest section of the book, but overall I really enjoyed Rocket Ship Galileo. It still instilled a sense of wonder and excitment in me, even though it was published more than 60 years ago.On a side note, this is the first audiobook I've listened to in a long, long time, and I enjoyed Spider Robinson's narration. He's more nasal than most voice artists, but he tells the story very well, and his boyish, adenoidal twang added something to the "gee whiz" aspect of the story.
—Adam
