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Orphans of the Sky  By  cover art

Orphans of the Sky

By: Robert A. Heinlein
Narrated by: Graham Halstead
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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.

What listeners say about Orphans of the Sky

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Amazing....

The first Heinlein book I ever read, it turned me into a true fan and since then I have read every book he ever authored.

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11 people found this helpful

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Deprecated generation ship

Orphans of the Sky is a novella by Robert A Heinlein. The tale opens with a generation ship that has experienced a past traumatic event. The current situation is a bifurcated population of the original crew and 'muties' who are physically deformed existing in different parts of the ship. The original 'crew' has degenerated into peasant stock the feeds the crew, officers who run things, and 'scientists' who have contrived a theological basis of their universe. They have lost the concept of the ship as a transport medium and regard the ship as just their world and nothing else. A young curious apprentice tries to progress their perspective of the universe and unite the two factions.

Heinlein creates a realistic devolutionary scenario where an apparent accident with the nuclear reactors has led to the current state of affairs. Science texts are reinterpreted in terms of religious metaphors and the human reluctance to evolve perspectives in light of new information abounds. Although a few intrepid explorers make it off the ship to complete their journey, the bulk persist in their beliefs in the finite nature of their world.

The narration is reasonable with acceptable character distinction and brisk pacing.

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10 people found this helpful

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Would have been a great read if not for the female characters

Good book with an interesting premise, but it is old and I found myself annoyed by the writing of the female characters as basically sex objects and servants. Seemed completely unnecessary to the storyline

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Good read

I liked it. However I cringed internally at the treatment of women. Then I realized it was written in 194x when that was considered acceptable. I'm not advocating rewriting those parts but just that the reader know that up front.

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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.

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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.

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I could have skipped this one

The voice acting was spot on and it wasn't hard to try and get into the story, but this wasn't one of Heinlein's best. Story seeks unfinished or hurried and is a bit thin all around.

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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.

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Good up until the ending

Good story up until the ending. Really just kinda gave up writing. Still considerably better than Non-Stop.

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Scary in it's prescience

Something of sci-fi thriller, a story of a spaceship where the inhabitants don't realize the nature of their existence. Orphans has an interesting but familiar premise: what happens to society when it loses (or ignores) knowledge and basic subsistence is the immediate goal. I would have liked the story to have been fleshed out a bit more, perhaps more on the ship's past and the ending feels abrupt, as if Heinlein decided to simply write "The End" to conclude his novel

Orphans is brilliant in another way, however. Heinlein's exploration of human nature is troubling, emphasizing what people will sink to when their point of view is constrained by their environment. He's prescient in describing the current phenomenon of people rejecting facts, even those "in their face," when the facts don't agree with their preconceived notions and what they want to believe (flat earth society, "stolen" elections, etc.). Despite being one of the older Heinlein works that I've read, it feels the least dated

The narrator is good, voicing actions and different characters in appropriate ways. His job is made easier by the story lacking virtually any spoken female lines.

Recommended

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