Despite some entertaining ideas about how other universes and cultures might differ from ours, this was overall a rather annoying book, steeped as one might expect in the sexist attitudes that feature so often in this author's books. If the genders were swapped, and this was about a young woman hero on an adventure with a mysterious man and his female attendant, would it seem ok for the young woman to spank the man when he is acting like a 'spoiled brat'? I'm sure a lot of women would be tempted sometimes, but even ordinary men would be affronted by such notions, let alone centuries-old ageless emperors. The bit at the beginning where Oscar is not Oscar yet, and is simply a young man who has narrowly survived Vietnam reminded me of several other writers'books where they explore what life was like for young man during the Vietnam War era, And the bits about other worlds where physical laws and social systems vary reminded me a bit of some of the worlds Philip K. Dick and JG Ballard came up with. So, if you can tolerate the sexism, you might find elements of this book that make it worth reading. Oscar, the hero, reminds me of other male heroes in cheap novels marketed originally to an all-male audience (The Executioner, The Destroyer, James Bond, etc.), so one might consider this book a sci-fi version of those sorts of dime-store adventure novels. ( )

I continue the self-flagellating task of rereading the less notable works of Robert Heinlein, an author who was important to me in my teens, as he was to every serious fan of science fiction in the mid-20th century. This one's a sword-and-sorcery fantasy, dressed up at the end with sufficient revelations to qualify it as SF, however dubiously.

In an amusing review at Tor.com, Alan Brown points out that getting to the adventure part of the book seems interminable: In a book of less than 300 pages, it starts with "33 pages of Oscar [the hero] complaining about his life" and "31 pages of Oscar preparing for his quest" before wrapping up at the end with over 60 pages of what you might call post-adventurum depression. To that I might add that probably a quarter of the book, if you were to total it, consists of various characters, but mostly our under-25 hero, spouting off about taxes, liberty (narrowly defined), patriotism, sexual mores, and manners in the there-can-be-no-disagreement voice of the 56-year-old author.

Now, the adventure parts are very entertaining. And the characters are vivid, even though they conform, from start to end, to the very limited palette of stock characters that Heinlein kept in his toolbox. (And as with most of Heinlein's books, including his most famous, your ability to stomach his ideas about the differing natures of the two human species, homo vir and homo femina, probably depends on your age.) But like Alan Brown, as an older reader I find I lack the patience I had when I was younger. I'm less willing to put up with narrative slack, less willing to be lectured, and less willing to put myself uncomplainingly in the hands of an author whose great powers of imagination did not extend to include points of view greatly different from his own.

If you are a less easily irritated reader, there is a lot in this book you'll find fun. (For me, the best part was the surprise final guardian of the treasure: he goes unnamed in the book, but it's pretty clear who he is, and although his presence is never explained, it's so wild and unexpected that I was laughing aloud in delight.) But for the issues that I found annoying, I wouldn't recommend it. In fact, I increasingly wonder whether Heinlein's limitations are simply so great from a modern perspective that he can no longer effectively speak to today's readers. There is simply so much else out there. ( )

This is a very unique book, but I guess Heinlein is a pretty unique writer. The structure is really strange, like 20% get to know the main character, 50% go on a quest, 30% talk about the main character's struggles with his new situation now that the quest is over.

I thought first 20% was amazingly witty and fun, though it had nothing to do with fantasy and this was definitely going to be a fantasy book. I thought the quest was good, and sometimes great, but dragged a little sometimes when he got to philosophizing. I thought the last 30% was really boring.

At some point the really strong female character, gets "put in her place" by the male lead and it felt a bit dated and uncomfortable. She becomes a mouse after that even after it's revealed that she's even more powerful than anyone thought. It was kind of jarring, especially on audio where the narrator used a voice that made her sound like she was constantly afraid of the hero.

If you're a big Heinlein fan I would say go for it. If you're not, this is probably skippable. ( )

This book was a decidedly entertaining bit of light fantasy with hints of sci-fi. I've heard people bash this book because it is sexist. I disagree but see how they could reach the conclusion. In addition to being in the Fantasy genre, this book is a boy's fantasy: man goes on an action adventure with a beautiful woman and a loyal sidekick. Given that premise, the sexuality of both the beautiful woman and the hero are mentioned from a time to time (in ways that might have been racy when the book was first published but which are decidedly mild by today's standards). However, unless you think that a man writing about a woman comfortable with sexuality (hers and others) is inherently sexist there is nothing particularly sexist about the book. In addition, the main female character is smart and strong; she fights alongside her hero and saves him in addition to being saved.

In any case, it was a fun read. ( )

When this book was published I was in high school. I remember doing an oral book report on it, which was weird. I reported the book as a fun read, but "vulgar." I'm pretty sure I read an excerpt to the class, which must have been carefully selected.

That opinion still holds, more or less, though the word I'd use now would be sexualized--despite there's no actual sex in the book. More important, though, is that I now find the book's philosophizing both shallow and annoying. It's a lot like RAH was trying to sell us something we really didn't/don't want to buy. ( )