A teenager joins the elite Space Patrol academy, where gruelling training, new friendships and a mission to Venus test what kind of officer he will become
Earning a place among the stars
Matt Dodson has wanted to join the Space Patrol for as long as he can remember, and now he has passed the first tests. The Patrol is responsible for keeping the peace across the solar system, and its cadets must be the best. Matt trains alongside boys from every planet, struggles with mathematics, homesickness and discipline, and learns what the Patrol's traditions really mean. Then a training mission sends him and his friends to Venus, where everything they have learned is put to the test.
Who will enjoy it
Young readers who enjoy school stories with a science fiction twist, Heinlein fans, and anyone interested in classic space adventures.
What you will get
A classic coming-of-age science fiction novel about a young cadet's training in an interplanetary peacekeeping service and his first real test on Venus.
Space Cadet Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Science Fiction · Space academy · Coming of age · Classic juvenile
Length
221 pages · ≈ 6 h
More about this book
The first half is essentially a school story set in space, and it is surprisingly absorbing. Heinlein describes the cadets' training in practical detail, from orbital mechanics lessons to life aboard the training ship, and Matt's struggles with study, rules and homesickness feel real. The friendships between cadets from different planets are warmly drawn.
The second half shifts to adventure on Venus, where the cadets must deal with a crash, a hostile environment and a misunderstanding with the planet's native people. Heinlein uses the situation to explore duty, respect for other cultures and what it means to keep the peace, ideas that give the book more depth than a simple adventure.
The science is of its time, with a habitable Venus, and the cast is almost entirely male. Some lectures on the Patrol's ideals run long. For readers who enjoy classic science fiction, it remains an engaging and thoughtful story about growing up and taking responsibility. Its influence can be seen in many later stories about space academies, and reading it today offers an interesting glimpse of how earlier generations imagined the future. The friendships at its centre still feel warm and believable. About 221 pages in the Del Rey mass-market paperback.
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