Orphans of the Sky, Robert A. Heinlein
Orphans of the Sky, Robert A. Heinlein
6 Rating(s)
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Orphans of the Sky

Author: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrator: Graham Halstead

Unabridged: 4 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/19/2017

Synopsis

Lost in SpaceHugh had been taught that, according to the ancient sacred writings, the Ship was on a voyage to faraway Centaurus. But he also understood this was just allegory for a voyage to spiritual perfection. Indeed, how could the Ship move, since its miles and miles of metal corridors were all there was of creation? Science knew that the Ship was all the universe, and as long as the sacred Converter was fed, the lights would continue to glow, the air would flow, and the Creator’s Plan would be fulfilled.Of course, there were the muties, grotesquely deformed parodies of humans, who lurked in the upper reaches of the Ship, where gravity was weaker. Were they evil incarnate, or merely a divine check on the population, keeping humanity from expanding past the capacity of the Ship to support?Then Hugh was captured by the muties and met their leader (or leaders)—Joe-Jim, with two heads on one body—and learned the true nature of the Ship and its mission between the stars. But could he make his people believe him before it was too late? Could he make them believe that he must be allowed to fly the Ship?

About Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) is widely recognized as one of the greatest science fiction authors of all time, a status confirmed in 1974 when the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America gave him their first Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement. A four-time Hugo Award winner, he is best known for such works as Starship Troopers, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, and the sensational bestseller Stranger in a Strange Land. Several of his books were New York Times bestsellers, and his worldwide bestsellers have been translated into twenty-two languages. 

About Graham Halstead

Graham Halstead, an Earphones Award and Audie Award–winning narrator, is a professionally trained actor and voice artist. As an actor, he has worked internationally in Edinburgh and London, as well as at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. His youthful, easy-flowing voice can be heard on television and radio voicing spots for Airborne and Allegra.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ on August 02, 2016

An imaginative if improbable tale (or more accurately: pair of SF tales combined together to make a short novel) by Robert Heinlein, about a spaceship voyage to colonize another planet. The trip has taken so long that the people being born, living, having children and dying on the huge ship have los......more

Goodreads review by Manny on February 06, 2011

I rather like this religious allegory. They've been on a huge spaceship ("The Ship") for many generations, and all they can remember of Earth are distant legends kept alive in an oral tradition. According to these myths, the Ship was built by "Jordan". Once, there had been a Golden Age, when the shi......more

Goodreads review by Amal on January 11, 2013

WOW this cover is not the cover I have, which is far less ... Whatever the hell this cover is. ("That must have been the '80s," said my Glaswegian. Goodreads has this as the 2001 cover from Baen. It's a good thing feminism fixed all the world's problems or who KNOWS what kind of cover we'd have.) I p......more

Goodreads review by Paul on April 19, 2025

Read for an hour; Enjoy it for years! The mutiny took place many, many years ago on an enormous star ship outfitted for a multi-generational voyage to Far Centaurus. The last remaining member of the original crew, for right or wrong, made a political decision to hide the logs and, in effect, to bury......more

Goodreads review by J.G. Keely on May 24, 2011

This novella collects two of Heinlein's earliest stories, both from 1941, but unlike other such combinations, the two stories were originally meant to go together, and form a continuous narrative. As this is a very early attempt from Heinlein, it wouldn't be surprising to find his writing rough and......more

Quotes

“Not only America’s premier writer of speculative fiction, but the greatest writer of such fiction in the world.”

Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“There is no other writer whose work has exhilarated me as often and to such an extent as Heinlein.”

Dean Koontz, #1 New York Times bestselling author

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