Some of science fiction’s seminal works are Robert Heinlein’s “juveniles”: young-adult fiction that cemented Heinlein’s career and became the bedrock upon which much of modern sci-fi was built. They were coming-of-age stories filled with new horizons, baptisms of fire, teenage graspings at love, and sometimes very melodramatic romance. VARIABLE STAR, written from the late Heinlein’s notes by Spider Robinson, aspires to all of these essentials, but falls short in the end.
VARIABLE STAR revolves around Joel Johnston, whose romantic notions are torn asunder at the book’s outset, as he finds himself aboard a giant colony ship headed for the outer limits of the galaxy. Most of the book takes place on this ship, and as its inhabitants bond, form a government and, most importantly for Heinlein, begin dating, Robinson comes extremely close to replicating Heinlein’s early works.
At its best, VARIABLE STAR is a portrait of a newly sexual young man who just happens to be on a gigantic spaceship. Johnston’s daily life is exactly what you’d expect from a Heinlein character: He struggles through romance after romance, starts playing saxophone at the spaceship’s jazz club (learning circular breathing in the process) and serves as the reader’s witness to the formation of the ship’s nascent democracy.
This is all vintage Heinlein, and it rolls along extremely well for a while. But about halfway through the book, you’ll start waiting for the other shoe to drop, yet it never does. Oh, there’s a resolution of sorts, but it’s neither satisfying nor wholly interesting. The characters are sort of thrust into the endgame with little foresight of preparation, unfortunately spoiling the ride that Robinson obviously worked so hard to construct.
Posthumous collaborations are strange beasts, and rarely are they good or even remotely satisfying, but Robinson has made a valiant effort with VARIABLE STAR. And though it is still woefully shallow (especially at the end), for a moment, readers will think they’re reading a Heinlein book, and that’s never a bad thing. –Ryun Patterson
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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• OFF THE MAIN SEQUENCE: THE OTHER STORIES OF ROBERT A. HEINLEIN edited by Andrew Wheeler
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