Tunnel in the Sky | Robert A. Heinlein

Tunnel in the Sky | Robert A. Heinlein | The 1st Sci-Fi Book I ever read...

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Tunnel in the Sky

	Tunnel in the Sky Robert A. Heinlein Pocket, 2005 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 71 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Not so juvenile.

I never liked when they would tag a Heinlein novel as part of his "juvenile" series. It would tend to make adults not want to read it and that really is their loss as most of the juvenile books are every bit as good as his "adult" novels.

Tunnel in the Sky has variations of the themes covered in "Lord of the Flies". A group of youths are cut off from the world and must establish their own civilization.

"Rod" the survival trainee is one of Heinlein's most human protagonists in that he is not a superman but a regular guy that most readers can relate to.

The story deals with both the growth of a new society and the growth of a boy to a man, and what it means to be one.

Don't get me wrong though there are some great science fiction concepts going on here. Fans of Star Gate will give this book a knowing nod.

Don't hesitate a second to buy or read this one.

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The 1st Sci-Fi Book I ever read...

and though it isn't RAH's best, it was enough of an intro for me that about forty years later, Sci-Fi is still the 1st place I look in the library or bookstore.
This isn't really meant to be a review, just an off-the-wall, unplanned moment of thanks to a great, but slightly bent talent like RAH.
Thanks, buddy.

Wilderness survival with an interesting twist

This is an enjoyable novel about high school students who are enrolled in an advanced survival class. The final exam consists of the students being transported to a distant and unknown (to them) planet in which they must survive on only their wits and what they can carry with them. After 7-10 days, they will be able to return to Earth. Grading is simple, either they pass (i.e. return alive) or they fail. The students must initially travel alone, but they can form teams (which can be pre-arranged before departure). The narrative centers on one of the students, Rod Walker, as he prepares for the exam, is sent to the unknown planet, and as he rapidly learns to deal with the unexpected.

This book is, in my opinion, one of Heinlein's top novels, if not his very best. I would rate it as 4.5 stars if I could, rounding up to 5 as it is RAH. As in most of the best of Heinlein, there are digressions into political philosophy and the social compact between individuals and the government. This is a quick read, and a well written, well paced story. In fact, if I had any negative comment to make, I wish the story was longer and more detailed! I think that anyone with an interest in adventure stories will like this one, there are only a few hard sci-fi elements in the plot line. I would have no hesitation about recommending this story to someone who didn't generally like science fiction. Highly recommended.

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Still a great read

In the future, Earth is bulging at the seams with people. Fortunately, a technology is developed which allows gateways to be opened to far-flung planets. By stepping through the gateway, you are almost instantaneously transported light years across the galaxy. This technology paved the way for the colonization of the galaxy by the immigrants eager to leave the crowded confines of Earth.

Naturally, with a colonization boom on, high school and college students are trained in survival and pioneering techniques to prepare them for being colonists. The culmination of these training courses is a survival course. The participants in the course are sent to a remote planet fraught with peril and must survive for up to ten days utilizing only the scant belongings they have carried with them through the gate. Usually these tests proceed with minimal injuries and casualties. But, what if something went wrong and the students could not be recalled?

Heinlein explores the disaster of students stranded among the stars with his usual precision and non-wordy prose. The character development is sufficient for the male characters, but a bit sparse for the females (somewhat typical of Heinlein). You can really empathize with these poor kids who are stranded, most likely without hope of ever being rescued, as they contend with the hardships of survival. Dangerous animals abound on their planet and they must learn to work together to be able to thrive as a group and survive the perils of their environment. Predictable as it may be, the most dangerous creatures often prove to be the students themselves, but not always for the reasons you would suspect.

As the students organize, Heinlein does explore the folly of trying to organize a government in the harsh surroundings. Fortunately, Heinlein uses this side plot to effectively advance the main plot line instead of digressing into a pointless discourse on the importance of government to achieve an orderly society (as other authors might have done).

Like Asimov, he tends to focus more on his characters than science. And even though this book was written in 1955, it still holds up very well today and can be enjoyed by all science fiction fans.

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A Lord-of-the-Flies-esque tale, Heinlein-ized

I don't know if Heinlein had read Lord of the Flies before writing his book, Tunnel in the Sky. I think it unlikely because they were released within a couple years of each other. The plot is very similar: a group of boys and girls are stranded with no hope of rescue and have to learn to govern themselves. In Lord of the Flies, the students are prepubescent (to avoid the "hormone" issue) while Heinlein tackles it head-on: these are hale and hearty men and women from 16 to 22 who are sent on a survival test (because it's science fiction, on another world). They are allowed whatever they want on the test, but the best students know their best weapon is between their ears, and go through mainly with knives and other non-perishable material. However, their "warp gate" home never materialises at the end of the test, and they have to eke out an existence, assuming catastrophe at home has left them stranded forever.

Overall, I think Heinlein deals with the situation far more elegantly (and realistically!) than Golding. The point of both books is not whether they make it home, but how they adapt to their situation. They are trapped more irrevocably than the island-dwellers in Lord of the Flies ever could be - a way gate requires an atomic pile to drive it. The kids set decide to set up a "colony" and make the best of their situation. Heinlein allows them to dislike each other, to fight, to marry, and in every way act like real people. Sure, they still talk in early Heinleinese (they sound like they escaped from the set of Leave it to Beaver), but this was originally conceived as a juvenile. The first few chapters are the worst for this - once the hero lands in the new world for the start of his test, Heinlein changes tone to a more readable and less saccharine style. There are also some weird inconsistencies at the beginning, such as the students being unwilling (or unable) to form teams for the duration of the test - wouldn't you be stupid not to form a team?

However, once the story starts going and the kids start organising themselves into a society, Heinlein does a masterful job of protraying a realistic and interesting resolution to the problem. Alliances shift, people don't like each other but get along because they have to (or die), people pair off in marriage, some are sexist or racist, etc. Heinlein does tend to philosophise in his books, but it's mercifully absent (for the most part) here - he lets the situation and the characters speak for themselves. It makes for a fast read (the book is only 200 pages anyways), but an enjoyable one. It's somewhere at the level of Starship Troopers and Double Star for weight of ideas and level of activity (there is no sex per se and little violence), but probably does not contain the level of insight of these two. Having said that, it's certainly above the young adult stories like Between Planets (for which I have an irrational love) and Rocket Ship Galileo.

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