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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-10-18 05:19 am (UTC)-- The pacing is weird, but it means we get to spend a lot of time on the ship, and that's actually kind of interesting. Heinlein did manage to give a feel for how a mixed civilian-military expedition crowded in together would feel.
-- The inhabitants of Elysia are almost Lovecraftianly creepy. The bit with the big? "It wasn't a mouth that got him. I don't think it was a mouth." That was downright disturbing, and very well done.
-- The future shock is depicted with a few deft strokes -- women without hats, ruffly around the ridge, and so forth.
-- It never gets pointed out, but the kill rate was crazy high in this book, I think less than half of the named characters make it to the end. Not sure if it sets the record for Heinlein generally -- I think maybe yes? -- but it's certainly by far the most lethal of the juveniles. As a young person, this gave me a bracing sense of unpredictability.
Doug M.