deaken's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyable story that's full of humor, adventure and Heinlein's social commentary that he always had in his works. Not quite on the same level as his classics, but still a great read. Recommend.
thomcat's review against another edition
4.0
This book is really two parts - a fantasy romp and then the after happily ever after portion. I read this as a teen, but somehow the second half didn't stick with me at all. Heinlein knew his sword play and proves it here, but I didn't enjoy the moral rants and there was far too much talk of spanking. Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars.
nyllia's review
1.0
J'ai eu beaucoup de mal avec ce livre. J'ai eu du mal à suivre le style, à comprendre même l'histoire. On se retrouve embarqué avec le héro dans un monde, sans aucune explication. Parfois j'avais même l'impression d'avoir sauté des passages car je ne comprenais rien. Le style est un peu lourd, surtout les dialogues. Je n'ai pas vraiment aimé les personnages. Il y a quelques idées que j'ai bien aimé, surtout dans la deuxième partie. Mais malheureusement ça n'a pas suffit. Dommage.
oleksandr's review against another edition
3.0
This is a fantasy novel wrote by the master of SF [a:Robert A. Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg] (RAH). I read is as a part of monthly reading for April 2021 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group. The novel was nominated for Hugo award in 1964, but lost to [b:Way Station|190999|Way Station|Clifford D. Simak|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1326490682l/190999._SY75_.jpg|348798].
The story starts quite interesting: the protagonist, E. C. "Scar" Gordon, is a self-proclaimed coward, who decided to join the army in order not to be drafted (RAH was an anti-conscription advocate) and after getting wounded he end up in Europe, planning to use his GI money to enter university, and later, when funds haven’t arrived, visiting nudist beaches of French Riviera (RAH was a nudism supporter). There he meets a wonderful woman, who vanishes only to meet him again when he answered an ad about seeking for a hero and she hires him.
He, the woman and their assistant/servant/partner start a quest, the final goal of which is not clear for him, but his affection toward his employer is the only thing that matters for him. On their route they, as every fantasy team, meet strange enemies, who try to stop them and wine and dine with friendly locals. Unlike usual fantasy, the hero always thinks as an engineer, so he is interested exactly how dragon fire works and similar things.
The story has a strong start but notably dulls down in the middle with usual for RAH’s later works preaching of his ideas. His treatment of women on a surface is also quite old style, but in reality, it is partly an imitation of the 1940s movies, which most modern readers fail to see.
In [b:Among Others|8706185|Among Others|Jo Walton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1317792367l/8706185._SY75_.jpg|6449955], the protagonist of [a:Jo Walton|107170|Jo Walton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1353809579p2/107170.jpg] (I guess largely written from her young self) states that ‘Glory Road is deeply disappointing. I hate it. I stopped reading it and read Gill’s book of Asimov science essays in preference, that’s how much I hate it. I love Heinlein but he clearly doesn’t get fantasy. It’s just stupid. And nobody saying “Oh, Scar” would be heard as “Oscar,” it’s not even plausible. It’s almost as bad as its cover, and that’s saying something, as the cover is so bad that Miss Carroll raised her eyebrows at it from her librarian desk on the other side of the room. It’s funny how Triton, which is all about sex and sociology, has a cover of a spaceship exploding, while Glory Road, which does mention sex here and there but is actually a stupid adventure story, has a cover like that’. I disagree that RAH don’t get fantasy, but he wrote it is a peculiar own way, as SF and as a homage to [a:Edgar Rice Burroughs|10885|Edgar Rice Burroughs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207155710p2/10885.jpg], whose Mars is fantasy masquerading as SF by setting it on another planet.
This is one of RAH’s weakest works, which probably got a nomination on his name alone. It is still preferred by me to a lot of modern stuff.
The story starts quite interesting: the protagonist, E. C. "Scar" Gordon, is a self-proclaimed coward, who decided to join the army in order not to be drafted (RAH was an anti-conscription advocate) and after getting wounded he end up in Europe, planning to use his GI money to enter university, and later, when funds haven’t arrived, visiting nudist beaches of French Riviera (RAH was a nudism supporter). There he meets a wonderful woman, who vanishes only to meet him again when he answered an ad about seeking for a hero and she hires him.
He, the woman and their assistant/servant/partner start a quest, the final goal of which is not clear for him, but his affection toward his employer is the only thing that matters for him. On their route they, as every fantasy team, meet strange enemies, who try to stop them and wine and dine with friendly locals. Unlike usual fantasy, the hero always thinks as an engineer, so he is interested exactly how dragon fire works and similar things.
The story has a strong start but notably dulls down in the middle with usual for RAH’s later works preaching of his ideas. His treatment of women on a surface is also quite old style, but in reality, it is partly an imitation of the 1940s movies, which most modern readers fail to see.
In [b:Among Others|8706185|Among Others|Jo Walton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1317792367l/8706185._SY75_.jpg|6449955], the protagonist of [a:Jo Walton|107170|Jo Walton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1353809579p2/107170.jpg] (I guess largely written from her young self) states that ‘Glory Road is deeply disappointing. I hate it. I stopped reading it and read Gill’s book of Asimov science essays in preference, that’s how much I hate it. I love Heinlein but he clearly doesn’t get fantasy. It’s just stupid. And nobody saying “Oh, Scar” would be heard as “Oscar,” it’s not even plausible. It’s almost as bad as its cover, and that’s saying something, as the cover is so bad that Miss Carroll raised her eyebrows at it from her librarian desk on the other side of the room. It’s funny how Triton, which is all about sex and sociology, has a cover of a spaceship exploding, while Glory Road, which does mention sex here and there but is actually a stupid adventure story, has a cover like that’. I disagree that RAH don’t get fantasy, but he wrote it is a peculiar own way, as SF and as a homage to [a:Edgar Rice Burroughs|10885|Edgar Rice Burroughs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207155710p2/10885.jpg], whose Mars is fantasy masquerading as SF by setting it on another planet.
This is one of RAH’s weakest works, which probably got a nomination on his name alone. It is still preferred by me to a lot of modern stuff.
ugoglen's review against another edition
2.0
Glory Road does not stand up as well as most of Heinlein's other pulps, either on plotting, characters, or timelessness. Maybe it's that this one isn't science fiction and thus isn't grounded in his usual extrapolation from research or theory. Maybe it's just more obvious when he's lecturing about his ideas for sexual mores. But the relationship between Oscar and Star is gross, and that colors the whole book.
captainjaq's review against another edition
3.0
I'd forgotten how completely sexist this book is... Honestly it took a bit of the enjoyment out of the rip roaring adventure yarn.
jayshay's review against another edition
1.0
An incredibly tension free picnic in the woods with your creepy, nudist/free-love aunt and uncle (both in their sixties with lots of warts and liverspots).
In re-reading Heinlein, who was a favorite in my teens, I've enjoyed being provoked and entertained by a fellow who at his best was able to tell a good story while also holding forth on his pet hobby-horses. But Heinlein doing fantasy was extremely slack and seems to indulge his worst impulses to come to a dead stop and pontificate. There is no meaningful plot to get him to just shut up and tell a tale.
At the beginning I was impatient for him to get out of the real world and start the story. By the end I was grateful when he finally came out of silly picnic world with all those doting female gals and back to planet earth. The first Heinlein that ever bored me.
In re-reading Heinlein, who was a favorite in my teens, I've enjoyed being provoked and entertained by a fellow who at his best was able to tell a good story while also holding forth on his pet hobby-horses. But Heinlein doing fantasy was extremely slack and seems to indulge his worst impulses to come to a dead stop and pontificate. There is no meaningful plot to get him to just shut up and tell a tale.
At the beginning I was impatient for him to get out of the real world and start the story. By the end I was grateful when he finally came out of silly picnic world with all those doting female gals and back to planet earth. The first Heinlein that ever bored me.
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