Orphans of the Sky

The Future History Series

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Graham Halstead

Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Lost in space.

Hugh had been taught that, according to the ancient sacred writings, the Ship was on a voyage to faraway Centaurus. But he also understood this was just allegory for a voyage to spiritual perfection. Indeed, how could the Ship move, since its miles and miles of metal corridors were all there was of creation? Science knew that the Ship was all the universe, and as long as the sacred Converter was fed, the lights would continue to glow, the air would flow, and the Creator's Plan would be fulfilled.

Of course, there were the muties, grotesquely deformed parodies of humans, who lurked in the upper reaches of the Ship, where gravity was weaker. Were they evil incarnate, or merely a divine check on the population, keeping humanity from expanding past the capacity of the Ship to support?

Then Hugh was captured by the muties and met their leader (or leaders) - Joe-Jim, with two heads on one body - and learned the true nature of the Ship and its mission between the stars. But could he make his people believe him before it was too late? Could he make them believe that he must be allowed to fly the Ship?

©1951 Robert A. Heinlein (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

another great Heinlein book.

Heinlein is steadfast science fiction. I love reading him and I always return to him time and time again for my scifi fix. He is solidly in the science while able to weave a wonderful story.

Performance was good but not one of Heinlein’s best

Having read all most every one of RAH books this one while good it is definitely not one of his best. However it is a decent listen and is a quick listen. For people hearing this as your first Heinlein book, please know that this master of science fiction has much better books. He is one of my top 5 favorite authors

Excellent Story

The science is timeless. Could have been written yesterday. It was a joy to read.

Plato’s Cave, In Outerspace

A conceptually interesting story about a generation ship that degrades to a feudal society, unable to understand even the limited writings they have left. Much of the story plays out like that of Plato’s Cave, with a few dramatic twists. The ending is, by the author’s own admission, so wildly improbable that it’s a bit unsatisfactory, but ties off the main story well enough, while still giving room for the engaged reader to wonder “What happens next?”

Overall, this feels like an great Part 1 to a longer story, much like Seveneves.

In worldbuilding Heinlein paints impressionistically. Only what stands out to the point of view characters is really noted, the rest is left un-noted.

The performance is great, characters were easy to distinguish and the emotional tone of conversation came through clearly, without crossing over into voice-acting.

An enjoyable quick listen, if you like conceptual sci-fi.

Good story.

Another well formed story by Heinlein. little else needs to be said.. this story gave a clear division between a curious sort, and a happily lazy people. the scientist's carried the vague remnant of knowledge left by the preceding generations. while most slothed along with little or no ambition than basic hierarchical dominance, for the most deliberate sort of basic citizen... this shouldn't spoil the story for the curious. Enjoy! i certainly did!

What can I say.

It’s Heinlein. One of the great early SF writers. I read it all when I was younger. It’s dated now but still a great story.

Entertaining but somewhat abrupt ending.

I really enjoyed the book and the narrator. It went by extremely fast and kept my attention well. I can thoroughly imagine all of the characters. I didn’t give it a perfect overall score because I would have loved for it to keep going.

a sci fi classic.

If you're familiar with Heinleins other work this one shouldn't be too surprising for you. Characterization is solid even if the performance could have used more varied voices. Enjoyable throughout. There were no lulls in the story that made me want to put it on hold.

One of the early stories, and good enough.

A good enough story, but not one of Hienlien's masterpieces written during, and after the mid fifties.

80 years old and still great

Written in 1941, this story is still a great piece of futuristic science fiction. I first read this in 1975, and it was a treat to revisit.