Between Planets was Heinlein's second novel published in 1951 and seems to have been aimed at a young adult market. It is an adventure story set sometime in the not too distant future when man has colonised Venus and Mars. Don Harvey a space born teenager is at school on earth, he was brought up on Venus, but his parents who are scientist work on Mars. Don is in his final year at school when he receives an urgent recall from his parents to join them on Mars. He is instructed to meet a scientist friend of theirs before he boards the space rocket. There is talk of a war between the colonists on Venus and mother planet earth. Don is given a ring by the scientist who then disappears in mysterious circumstances, Don struggles to catch his ship to Mars which is anyway diverted after a space station is blown up. Don ends up on Venus where sundry characters take an unusual interest in his ring. Don's main characteristic is his stubbornness, which gets him in and out of trouble.

Featuring a teenage hero puts the book in the young adult market, but Heinlein's story runs smoothly enough with a well written plot. Don grows up when he is forced into military service on Mars and finds himself at the centre of an espionage story when he is hunted for his ring. A Venusian landscape of swamps, thick fog and mud banked lagoons provide a suitable territory for a hunt and the highly intelligent Venusian dragons add spice to an interesting story. An enjoyable read with no overt racism or sexism. 3 stars. ( )

Between Planets
By: Robert A. Heinlein
Narrated by: Andrew Eiden

Don was born in free fall. Not on Earth, or Mars, or Venus. He's mom was born on Venus and his dad from Earth. When the book starts, Don starts on Earth at a school but he has lived on Venus before. He gets a message to get to Mars now! There's a war coming. Venus and the Federation (Earth) were about go at it. The message said to stop and say goodbye to his uncle first. He doesn't have an uncle but his parents have a friend so he assumes it means him.

This is where things get crazy! He gives a ring to Don to bring to his parents. Now, everyone is after him! The war starts and he can't get to Mars but he makes it to Venus. On the way he meets a dragon and saved his life. Comes to find out he is someone very important. He speaks dragon from living on Venus before.

It's an exciting and fun book! A rebellion, friendships, honor, and it has plenty of action! Loved it! Read it as a kid and enjoyed it again now that I'm old! ( )

A bit of a divergence in the Scribern's Juvenile "series" The martins described here are significantly different than the one's described in the earlier "red planet"

Our protagonist Don is almost ready to graduate from his remote private high school but is summoned away to Mars apparently to avoid a pending war. As a space born with no allegiance to any particular planet it seems best.

On the way to Mars the venetian rebels take over.

Don ends up going to Venus and trying to make ends meet as a dishwasher and falls in love with the girl at the Telegraph shop.

The romance is the best part of this. The Native Venetian dragons are also interesting, but for the most part it is an evil war story. ( )

Another delightful Heinlein juvenile. Compulsively readable, picked it up when by 10 year old finished, and then blazed through it. As with much Heinlein, both shallow/light (interplanetary war! talking dragons! lost civilizations!) and surprisingly deep. I can't recall a kids book from the past decade where characters matter-of-factly accept that you need to kill yourself before being captured by the secret police. ( )

This is one of Heinlein's juvenile novels. That said, there's a couple of somewhat more adult portions, so I'd recommend that younger children shouldn't read it. At least not without having some an interesting discussion or two. But, since the main character is a older teenager, it's more aimed towards that age range.

It was written in 1951 and it certainly bears some of the hallmarks of that. Most notably in the fact that there is very little for the women in this novel to do. That said, the main love interest does express an interest in joining the women's corps in the military when the planet is at war, although it comes across as more along the lines as their participation in WWII, than full participation.

It's basically a boy's adventure novel like most of his juveniles (with the exception of [b:Podkayne of Mars|50839|Podkayne of Mars|Robert A. Heinlein|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309211249s/50839.jpg|2534895] which has a female protagonist). It's a decent novel, and explores themes that he'd revisit in later novels. Here we have a colony world (Venus) rebelling against the Earth regime, very much like [b:The Moon is a Harsh Mistress|16690|The Moon is a Harsh Mistress|Robert A. Heinlein|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348768309s/16690.jpg|1048525] which had Luna rebelling against Earth.

I think a number of his juveniles perform a useful service in raising issues for young people to consider in a safe environment. It also helps in preparing them for other themes that will arise in his later novels (e.g., [b:Starship Troopers|17214|Starship Troopers|Robert A. Heinlein|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348024291s/17214.jpg|2534973] which could be misconstrued) as well as themes in more weighty texts.

I listened to the Full-Cast Audio production which is kind of a mix of a book and a radio play. It's the full text of the book, but they use different people to play (i.e., read) the individual parts, along with the main narrator. I've quite liked their productions of Heinlein juveniles in the past and they once again did an excellent job here. Overall, it's a decent novel, but not a great one. If one is an adult interested in starting to read Heinlein, I'd really recommend his [b:The Moon is a Harsh Mistress|16690|The Moon is a Harsh Mistress|Robert A. Heinlein|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348768309s/16690.jpg|1048525] as a starting point. But, for the YA audience, I think the juveniles would work fairly well and this certainly isn't a bad one. ( )