wonderful Sci-Fi

Heinlein is always pushing the boundaries of what the social norms were. Maybe a bit too much with some of the pseudo science in places and definitely went off the boil at the end.
other than that a wonderful read and one of my personal favourites.

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I struggled with this one

What did you like best about The Number of the Beast? What did you like least?

This book has some really good use of language, discussions of theories and I loved how the story switched between characters. I found the narrators ok but not amazing. This is normally enough for me to love a story but I found the whole thing a struggle. It felt long, slow and the only reason I stuck with it until the end was out of some reverence to the author and the hope that it would get much better. The early parts of the book (earth and mars) were really good but anything after chapter 38 became a chore.

I really cannot put my finger on what might have been my least favorite parts I am guessing its just the book wasn’t a good fit for me. As a result of haven’t given the story as a whole a low score.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Number of the Beast?

The best part of the book would have to be the whole mars British vs Russian thing. I would this part of the book the most enthralling. The characters where great and the way the plot worked really kept me going.

What aspect of the narrators’s performance might you have changed?

the narrators were good and worked well together, some of the males performance seemed to be a bit lacking in enthusiasm from time to time and didn’t always fit the mood of the story.

Could you see The Number of the Beast being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

it could be done and if made faster i would find it entertaining

Any additional comments?

this book has made me down load john carter of earth and given me a list of other books to down load. all of which were mentioned in this book. i hope once i have listened to or read these that i will return to the number of the beast and find it more enjoyable.

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1 person found this helpful

Typical Heinlein

An interesting idea, about a device that allows travel through multiple universes becomes somewhat self indulgent as the author takes the reader through his personal favourites.

The narration of different characters is handled by using different voice artists for each chapter which takes some getting used to, but this is also a stylistic effect from the book- each chapter is first person for a different character.

It’s a fun romp and took me back to reading it many years ago.

PS Americans should NOT be allowed to attempt British or Russian accents, especially “cockney” and “Received Pronunciation”. Luckily in this book it is presented as the character doing the impression of another person in the narrative, for the most part anyway, so it can be forgiven.

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Went on a bit !

Started well, but got a little drawn out, more a taste of fantasy than science fiction.

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Very well done

Would you consider the audio edition of The Number of the Beast to be better than the print version?

Much Better

If you’ve listened to books by Robert A. Heinlein before, how does this one compare?

A bit too technical - I could have done without all the maths

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

doing this as separate narrators per person fitted the book exactly and it ran very smoothly. very well done.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

mainly irritation at all the wrangling about who was "Captain"

Any additional comments?

I have had this book in my to listen to pile for a fair while but was a bit nervous about playing it mainly because I did not want to be disappointed as I had re-read the book and found it very hard going. Not to worry ~ I thoroughly enjoyed it (mostly) but all 4 could have done with a good slap at times.

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3 people found this helpful

Terrible performances

I have read this story a few times over the years so I bought this. I made a mistake don’t make the same mistake as I did.
The acting is awful if I’m being polite, the characters are specific ages but the actors are clearly not, I know that sounds picky but it’s really distracting. Read this book don’t listen to it.

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I loved it - but I am a fan boy

Where does The Number of the Beast rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

For me it is high up there, BUT I am a mad fan of Robert E Heinlein, and have read it in paperback also.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Deety. And the Beast (well his cameo role). And Lazarus Long making his much loved appearance.

Any additional comments?

Its a complex book, and a lot of "dialogue" going around in circles, often arguing about abstract mathematical concepts, or tiny errors of conversation which the characters keep trying to trick each other or point out the other persons mistake... BUT if you know Heinlein, you will get it and love it. Sci Fi and Heinlein fans will devour it. But if you stumble across it unprepared, you may sink under the pages of mathematical arguments.. I loved it.

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Variable - slow in places

I found this one quite hard to follow as it is vey much like a never ending “gossipy” conversation which I couldn’t always make sense of.
I also found it slow and lacking interest at times, although it did seem to get better later on in that regard.
Overall it was worth listening to though, although I much preferred some of the others by Heinlein.

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One of Heinlein's most difficult reads!

Fortunately this is not typical of Heinlein's work! It is an attempt to examine fiction as history, unfortunately the plot and characters decend into gibberish, with the thread of the book disapearing. I would avoid this book and look at Time Enough for Love, I will fear no Evil, A Stranger in a Strange Land, Friday or Starship Troopers which bettyer represent this very gifted Sci-Fi author. This is definately for Fans only!

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3 people found this helpful

Confusing and disjointed

I've enjoyed many of RAHs stories, and so was greatly disappointed not to enjoy this one. I found the plot disjointed, and the storytelling swinging from rushed to tedious and back again.
The audio recording struggled with RAHs decision to tell the tale from 6 different characters' points of view. The decision to give each pov their own narrator is reasonable, but itself adds to the jarring nature of the text as each person applies their own interpretation to the protagonists

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