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.

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.

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

A self-aware relic of the older space adventures

The story has the scientific background of a Flash Gordon serial, but the social aspects of a generation ship are interesting, if guided by the 1930's.
The book was very well presented by Graham Halstead.

Nice easy science fiction from before space flight

It's interesting to hear what the writers thought things were possibly going to be like in the future. Making up the science as they went along. I love hearing their novice ideas, and how incredibly close they guess sometimes.

Definitive but dated

An idea groundbreaker in its time, a believable society, good science and understandable motivations.
And uh, ahem.. far from feminist at the very end.

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.