[shadow9d9]

I read the whole book and the second half of the book drops the story almost completely. It becomes monologue after monologue of preaching on and on about the religious and philosophical ideas of the author.. it ceases to be fiction.. it is just Heinlein's thinly hidden commentary. 10s of pages go by without anything happening.. just two characters set up to appear to converse the author's various views.

Checking amazon.com's hundreds of reviews, even the 5 star ratings seem to agree with this... one of them suggested that this book be required reading for seminary students! Lol. Many reviews agreed with me that the ball was completely dropped halfway through and turned into lectures on Heinlein's ideology. No longer science fiction, just pure preaching. Ironic, with all he has to say about religions being preachy.

Here are some quotes from other reviewers:
"nfortunately, Heinlein runs out of plot a third of the way into the book. After a gripping yarn of international espionage and a struggle for influence over the trusting Martian-Man's destiny, the book fizzles. What follows is a series of long-winded essays on the superiority of Michael Valentine's 'untainted' thinking, thinly veiled as dialogue...It soon becomes clear that Heinlein's desire isn't to write an involving yarn -- he's trying to tie together his essays on some fuzzy concept of new morality."

"Most of the novel is simply bad preaching disguised as a sci-fi novel. "

"The story begins innocently enough, about a mission to mars and a human child raised by Martians...but about page 250--by the time you've invested too much time to easily toss this book down in disgust--suddenly we feature Angels talking to one another, snake-oil preachers, and a generally mystifying focus on religion. If you want Sci-Fi, go elsewhere. If you want to be spoon-fed Heinlein's ideas through badly-disguised characters, by all means waste your time on this."

"What i found was another long winded yarn disguised this time as a sociology comment ( which I presume was shocking and sensational when it first came out but comes across now as pretty ordinary )."

"If you like Heinlein, fine. You'll probably like this. But if you dislike his overbearing preaching and inability to get over himself, steer clear of this one."

"Some where in the second or third section the book turns to complete crap. It becomes Heinlein's reactions to religion and philosophy."

"Overall, some of his other sci-fi is better than this. This book was nothing more than a soapbox for Heinlein to preach his personal life philosophy. I might be able to overlook this, if there was an actual plot as well. Unfortunately, no such luck. Ech."

"But by the time I was 2/3rds of the way through I was getting very tired with the author on his soapbox beating up organized religion. Heinlein's preachiness (sp?) is the same reason why I didn't like Starship Troopers. The author doesn't know when to stop and realize his point is taken."

"It became too preachy, which RH doesn't carry out very well."

"This book starts off reasonably interesting, and I had hoped to read a book rife with futuristic politics and personal hubris. But it soon degenerates into a rather mundane diatribe for or against religion--it's hard to tell--and, while I usually enjoy such books that discuss these issues, Heinlein doesn't pull it off effectively. Heinlein seems to spend the first third of the book being interesting, then switching to soapbox mode. Such methods do not a good book make."

"But you better stop at page 208, when they have made the president of the world the one to manage Valentines hugh inheritence. After that point nothing much happens, and that it takes Heinlein about 200 pages to write that as well..."

"loved the first half of this book, in which plot and character rose to the fore. Great action sequences, terrific dialogue, and tons of suspense tricked me into thinking that this was a five star novel. Jubal Harshaw in particular was--and remains--one of the most richly realized characters in contemporary fiction. Alas, the novel quickly sags beneath the weight of its own socio-political and pseudoreligious philosophies. The plot thins, the action comes to a screeching halt, the characters flatten into cardboard, and the rest of the novel becomes so self-consciously preachy and churchy and utterly unsexy (despite the frequent nudity and bedhopping) that it lost all appeal to me. Less politics, more plot. I could grok that, anyday."

I'm not exactly the only person who felt extremely let down by the book. If I wanted to be preached to, I'd go to church... maybe it is nostalgia for you?