Well, there’s a whole bunch of hours of my life I’d like to get back. To say I hated this book would be an understatement. I’d throw it in a fire, but the book itself is a dumpster fire of a middle-aged author's kink wish fulfillment, and I am way too old to take this nonsense seriously.

Was this edgy when it came out? I suppose so, with the bizarre number of pages dedicated to female orgies. I’m not against female orgies, or orgies in general. You do you. What I’m not a fan of is female orgies set against the rampant misogyny of this book, and the women being little more than entertainment for men. And no, the misogyny is not meant to be satirical, no matter what all the bros tell you. The statement about women being the cause of their own SA is all you need to know about how much Heinlein believe in the edgy sexual freedom he purports to be in favor of.

While the women are busy being secretaries and other domestic servants when they’re not existing for the sole purposes of pleasuring men, the men are very busy being manly and definitely not being gay. The male-female dichotomy is pointed out several times and specifically in the context of real romantic love. I don’t have time for this.

I swear Heinlein actually wanted a religion to spring from the not-religion-religious cult that pops up in the book. There’s no other reason for the terrible writing and annoying characters (unless he was trolling us, in which case, good job, it worked). I will say the first half is better than the second half, because watching Michael the alien learn about humanity was more enjoyable than watching a full-blown cult come into existence.

And then there’s the word “grok.” Stop trying to make grok a thing, Heinlein.

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Created Apr 05, 2024 at 4:13pm • Submit your own review...