Rating: 
Summary: Literature, this is not...
Review: I admit, I'm a fan of STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND and FRIDAY. That's about it. TIME ENOUGH FOR LOVE falls as a guilty pleasure. But this isn't good literature, it is not good science-fiction literature, and it's one bad book. The plot actually does start out promising. At first it seems to be a murder mystery that has more than 1 implication to the rest of the world. Then Heinlein looses it. He goes back to ...THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST ... So from that point forward the plot just goes downhill, nonsensical, want-to-be symbolical but just fall short dime store novel. I really had high hopes for it as it DOES START OUT WELL but toward the middle and end it just makes one wonder if Heinlein's faculties were all there.
Rating: 
Summary: It Grew on Me Over Time
Review: I read this book two years ago and I didn't like it at all. Oh, the first half of the book was an excellent adolescent chase on a space station and across the moon. However, the second half was more of a... I really can't describe it without giving away the plot. ... And the ending? Well, I simply didn't like it one bit.Two years ago I didn't like it because I wanted a simple, happy adventure story. I didn't want to have to deal with the implications of the second half of the book. Since then, I've read, and *forgotten* a lot of easy adventure books. Yet this book has always stayed in my mind. I haven't yet read many of Heinlein's works, but now I'm going to start. And the ending? You'll never forget it!
Rating:
Summary: Still a Favorite.
Review: This is a wonderful tale. For those of you who are fans of Joseph Campbell, the last portion of this book provides an entertaining explanation of myth. I read this when it came out and I appreciate it even more today. If you like a read that will make you think, give this book a try.
Rating:
Summary: BUY IT, read it and THINK FOR YOURSELF
Review: For the prospect reader, hi, this is a great bookbook and you should buy it! Don't get discouraged if you sense you're not getting the most out of it because you can't identify too many of its connections to other books: read as many of Heinlein's books as possible (start by the ones mentioned in the other favorable reviews) and you'll see that Heinlein's characters and plots aren't confined to a single book, indeed they exist well beyond the written lines of each of his books; by this I don't mean just the intertwining characters and realities he frequently comes back to, but rather his recurring and easily recognizable views on human nature... If you can't see the beauty in how the "last part" of the book detaches itself and therefore reads so differently from the "first part", then you haven't the faintest idea of how to fully appreciate the gift Heinlein has given us with this book...
Rating: 
Summary: Have to agree with everyone
Review: This is really a pretty bad book, overall. Maybe it's good in the broader context of every other book Heinlein has ever written, but what use is that? The story contains a bunch of essentially unrelated events that push the main characters forward like a bad action movie (or perhaps a bad 50's SF serial), and then suddenly takes a right turn and introduces dozens of characters who you have no reason to try to figure out (I assume that if I'd read the previous thirty-seven volumes I'd be more interested?). I've read several other Heinlein books, and have no trouble believing that this is one of his best. I didn't like the others much either (Stranger in a Strange Land being the best of what I've seen). If you've read the others, this is more of the same. Free love, anarchy, preachiness, more free love, sex with underage girls, lessons on "ballistics", etc. But the main problem is that there's simply no real plot. There's no "there" there. You can be 80% of the way through the book, and if someone asked you what the book was about, you'd think and say, "Well, it's not about anything yet. Maybe soon, though."
Rating: 
Summary: 4 and 1/2 Stars
Review: A lot of reviewers seem to have misunderstood this book. It is not meant to stand on it's own. I've never understood the type of reader who, when choosing which book to read first when encountering an author new to them, randomly pick a book off the shelf. This is usually a recipe for disaster in science fiction, and Heinlein is no exception. For everyone's convenience let me hereby make a list of... BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE READING THIS ONE IF YOU EXPECT TO LIKE IT OR HAVE IT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL: Methuselah's Children, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Time Enough For Love, and The Number of the Beast. (Characters from The Rolling Stones, Stranger In A Strange Land, and The Man Who Sold The Moon, among others, also appear, or are mentioned, but reading those books is not necessary to understand this one.) Clearly, this is a book for the hard-core Heinlein fan. Newcomers to the author should definately start elsewhere. As for this book itself... how good is it? Well, if you've read all the books I've mentioned, quite good. It starts out as a very fast-paced and cleverly told adventure story (reminiscent to 50's-era Heinlein) on a seemingly unrelated note to the books mentioned above. However, mid-way or so through, the plot changes abruptly, as The Number of the Beast did. This sudden switch is a bit annoying, because the events of utmost signifigance in the first part of the novel are not resolved until the very end of the book, and a few minor ones are not resolved at all (wait for the next book, To Sail Beyond The Sunset.) (This segment of the story is not, however, abandoned completely as some reviewers have incorrectly stated, but rather resolved at book's end. I am forced to believe that some of these reviewers did not finish the book.) In hindsight, it probably would have been better had Heinlein finished up the story started early on in the book in a more standard fashion, and then have the events in the latter part of the book fleshed out and expanded in a different book. But Heinlein was always an idiosynctric writer, and Cat is no exception. Don't be turned off by the other reviews. If you are a Heinlein fan, and have read the books I mentioned, you will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Heinlein the ideologue overwhelms Heinlein the storyteller
Review: This book shares much in common with "Number of the Beast". Both begin with the hero pursued by unidentified nasties. He quickly acquires a loving but mysterious wife, then runs for his life for a couple of hundred pages, with you turning pages quickly to see how it turns out. Then it gets weird. Heinlein's love late in his life of multipersonality soliphism (we made the universe up between us.) overwhelms the story and plot, characterization, and everything else just dissolve. Lots of potential wasted.
Rating: 
Summary: Well . . .
Review: If I were you, I'd read only the first half of this book. It's really clever. The characters are likeable, there's humor, what more can a guy ask for? But then, just about halfway through the book, it starts to get confusing. What is the significance of the stupid cat? You never find out. Not really. He dedicates like one sentence to the topic. In the last half the story just seems to fall apart. The first half is sort of like a mystery. They are trying to figure out something--but I don't remember what, that should tell you something. But I do remember this cute little poem from the first half of the book: When in danger or in doubt run in circles, scream and shout.
Rating:
Summary: What?...
Review: Don't get me wrong I love Heinlein, but I couldn't finish this book. No writer excites and aggravates me as much as this man. His works are brilliance bordering insane drivel. This book starts off as a fast paced romp through spacebut breaks down somewhere in the middle, by 3/4 of the way through I was totally lost, plot twists started to entangle and bumb headlong into themsleves. I stuck this back on my shelf and read 'Friday' instead. I think if Heinlein suffered from thing it was not knowing when to stop or starting a storry to early when it should have started in the middle of the book (if you get my meaning). I found out later that this is part of a series, so maybe if I read it in order it'll make more sense.
Rating:
Summary: A Heinlein Fan Let Down A bit
Review: Ok folks. I cut my teeth on Heinlein with "I Will Fear No Evil" and loved every minute of it. I kept me entertained and I read it in two days while commuting to and from work. Yes I read fast. But this book let me down hard with its awful ending. It had the same flavor as the befor mentioned book with alot of fun and surprising plot lines, but what a let down in the end. I felt I got taken on a great ride and then dumped on the side of the road not knowing where the heck I was. He could have done better but it felt like he ran out of gas. Take some advise and barrow it from the library and save you money for something else.
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