Glory Road

This is a great book. I've been wishing for a long time that Audible would get it. I've read it over and over again through the years, and I'm happy to say that now I'll be able to listen to it over and over again because Bronson Pinchot does a wonderful job with the characters' voices.

I'm not sure that this is really a fantasy. It has swords and seems to have sorcery, but the magic gets explained in such a way that it seems to (almost) be advanced science. But it has the feel of fantasy. If Heinlein wrote this book today, the publisher would have insisted on a 20-book series, and I truly think our hero Oscar Gordon could have provided it to us.

Heinlein was born more than a hundred years ago, and attitudes toward male/female relations were different then. But just as we do not hold Shakespeare or Homer to 21st Century societal norms, so we must give Heinlein a pass here as well. He was trying.

I think that any young man who likes science fiction or fantasy will like this adventure story. And I think that women who can release their grip on modern feminism for the space of a few hours will like it as well.

Get this book.

One of my favorite books, it's Heinlein’s homage to Edgar Rice Burrough -
full of the swashbuckling, macho, romantic ideals of ERBs Barsoom (John Carter/Mars) series (including the silly romantic banter).

Heinlein’s witty, insightful, and caustic (at times) commentary on the military and the Vietnam War in particular are spot-on. The off Earth adventures are over-the-top, filled with sword fights and monsters. The character development is good, especially the grudging respect that grows between Oscar and Rufo.

All in all it is just plain fun and well worth the listen.

Unlike many Heinlein fans, I have loved "Glory Road" since I read it as a teenager. At that time, I had just read "The Lord of the Rings" and was delighted by what I saw as a beautiful fantasy adventure that wasn't quite so heavy and thoughtful.

WRONG. It's just as topical and political and sneaky about making one think as any of Heinlein's books... but more about that later. Suffice to say that E. C. "Oscar" Gordon (and why anyone would name a little baby boy Evelyn Cyril is beyond this writer; though my given name is also Evelyn I'm at least FEMALE) became a voice in my head as the competent, reluctant -- or not so reluctant -- hero, one I always remembered, and the book a sentimental favorite.

I adore Audible books, but often the casting is not to my preference. Hazard of the trade, I guess. The wonder is, after a few moments, Bronson Pinchot, an actor I've always liked but wrongly considered something of a lightweight, BECAME the voice of Oscar in my head. Pinchot's command of narrative, dialogue, nuance, and, yes, dialect, made this story come alive for me as never before. I could close my eyes and be THERE; his reading gave it an immediacy that I seldom get from **any** production, audio, video, or otherwise. I wonder if he's a fan?

Reading "Glory Road" time and again over many years, I have come to see the craft that seemed so effortless the first time through. Heinlein was current with not only the time he wrote this classic (1962 or thereabouts) but with the time I read it, in the early 1970s with the war in Southeast Asia still going on in its bloodiest, most nonsensical glory (yeah, folks, get over it, I AM that old). And sadly, he was correct about how "non-veterans" got treated after that war for many years.

I'm off to find more of Mr. Pinchot's audiobooks. I recommend this for fans of Heinlein, sword and sorcery, and just plain good acting and narration of a book. I had a whale of a lot of fun listening to it, and I'll bet you will, too. It's worth the time.

Any Heinlein fan would find this novel enjoyable. While his only fantasy, most of the technology in this book was explained as science and not magic. The character creation and word play is vintage Heinlein.

The only complaint I have on the reader is that the volume on the primary female character, Star, drops off considerably from the other characters. When you're listening in a convertible, it means cranking up the volume.

Heinlein first published this book 50 years ago this year and it's been 40 since I first read it. While some people feel that the interplay between the sexes has changed so much in the intervening decades, I note them and enjoy seeing how much has changed. Surprisingly, these distracters never criticize Dickens, Wells, Dumas, or Bronte for their writing in their own milieus.

Heinlein is known for his strong feminine characters (based loosely on his wife Victoria). The hero in this novel, like many of Heinlein's, could not succeed without the assistant of the primary female character.

Every time the hero stumbled over a custom or situation which was strange to him, I enjoyed "watching" him decide how to respond and what questions to ask to get enough information to really understand what was happening.

Although I've been reading Heinlein for years, I didn't actually remember this story. I truly enjoyed the experience.

High. I'm a Heinlein fan from way back. I've read Glory Road a number of times. I thought Bronson Pinchot did a great job and even though I knew exactly what was coming next he held my interest.

This book isn't a top Heinlein story, but it is a nice mix of science fiction and fantasy.

The story is a bit out there but really brings to mind that magic could merely be technology we don't understand

At the top with ALL of the Heinlein titles.

The concepts incorporated to draw attention to some of our accepted ways and views of life.

Gordon, the Hero.

Negative

The characters are colorful and sharp. Classic Heinlein.

Oscar is exactly what I would expect from a Heinlein hero.

I was pleasantly surprised by Bronson Pinchot's narration. With one exception I love what he did with the characters in this book. I was a bit bothered at first by the fact that he gave Rufo a french accent. But it didn't take long to get used to it.

I read this book as a young adult and it's just as much fun now as it was then. A good ride!

I've had this book in my Amazon wishlist for a long time as I've heard a lot of good things about it and read the great reviews. So I was happy when I saw it was available on Audible and gave it a listen.

I don't know exactly what to say other than I just found the book kind of silly and juvenile for the most part. Very disappointing, because the first chapters of the book about Gordon's life and path to Vietnam were really good. It really lost me almost immediately as soon as the story leaves Earth.

I have a feeling my problem with this book is that it was written in 1964 or whatever and just doesn't hold up as well for a first time reader. Its like being a fan of the original Battlestar Galactica and remembering how great it was when you were a kid. But if you show it to your kid today, they likely wouldn't see it the same way.

I hate to bash the book as it clearly has a lot of fans who love it. My comment is just that if you're like me and you've grown up reading Gibson or Stephenson or more contemporary sci-fi writers, you might find this a little unsophisticated.

Bronson Pinchot's narration was pretty awesome though.