Alberto Monteiro wrote:
How is The Number of the Beast? I read an excerpt from the book
way back before it was published (in Omni) and was hot to read
the book after that but for one reason or the other never
picked it up.
If you didn't like "Cat" you probably won't like "Number". OTOH,
it makes reference to many classical sf (and fantasy) stories, so
maybe if you like those other stories you will like it.
Tons and tons of SF and Fantasy references and tropes. I think that I
probably only caught a small percentage of them when I read that.
I certainly would steer you away from Number until you've read more of
Heinlein's other stuff: All four of Heinlein's last books (Time Enough
for Love, The Number of the Beast, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and
To Sail Beyond the Sunset) act as something of a single "capstone" work
culminating together something of a final epilogue (or rather,
epilogues) for Heinlein's massive "Future History", which he basically
admits in "Cat" ends up as very much a somewhat quaint "Future History
of the Past" by the time he's done, and embarking on a meta-journey that
is both respectful to his (and other SF/Fantasy) earlier writings and
yet a playful jab at them as well.
If you don't like (heavy) meta-fiction or the many-worlds interpretation
of quantum mechanics you definitely should avoid the last three. I found
them sometimes silly fun.
As for Heinlein's politics, he certainly leaned somewhat to the
libertarian side, but I think he was more complex than that (for
instance, the mixture of the "socialist" influences that he had) and I
certainly feel that a strength of his was in playing with political
extremes in his works and hiding his own actual political beliefs below
trying to make his character's beliefs "realistically" their own. At
best, his works make you think and question your place in society. So
certainly the political ideals in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress are
flawed, but it is hard not to admire their "spirit".
--
--Max Battcher--
http://worldmaker.net
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