Rating: 
Summary: A fairy tale, not a fantasy
Review: I suspect that most people today were not raised on fairy tales, as I was. Otherwise, they would have immediately recognized Glory Road for what it is--a fairy tale that goes on beyond "and they lived happily ever after" to explore what happens when the brave hero no longer has monsters to fight, and therefore has no useful function. This makes the last part of the book, which some readers found dull and extraneous, really the key part of the book. As for Heinlein interjecting his political philosophy--well, that's just late Heinlein.
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Rating:
Summary: One of Heinlein's best
Review: I recently finished rereading "Glory Road" for the second time. The first time through was shortly after it came out, when I was much younger. At that time, its strong female heroine and the idea that sexual mores could legitimately differ in different places made a big impression. I wanted to reread the book to find out if it was as good as I remembered it.Well, it was and it wasn't. The adventure fantasy elements are still fun (calling "Glory Road" a "sword & sorcery" book just doesn't seem right, especially in light of the ending), and the ideas are equally interesting. Star remains a strong heroine, and Oscar and Rufo are pretty good too. However, that doesn't mean that the book is without problems for current readers. Back when it was first published in 1963, Heinlein's portrayal of Star would have been read as unusual--a strong female character, more than competent, with an agenda of her own, and a more than equal match for the manly hero. Heinlein's descriptions of Star's physical attributes and her fawning over Oscar would have been accepted as normal back then. Nowadays, however, after Xena and Buffy have made their mark, Star comes across as the stereotypic adolescent male SF fan's fantasy object--kind of like an earlier version of Star Trek's T'Pol or Seven of Nine, but without clothes on. However, to Heinlein's credit, if you read the end carefully, even Star's fawning takes on a slightly different motivation. That said, I still found "Glory Road" fun. The fantasy elements may make it unique among Heinlein's work, but you can still tell it's Heinlein. As long as you bear in mind that parts of it are dated, it remains an enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: It's good and all these other people are just idiots.
Review: Since everyone else has given a fairly accurate summary, I don't need to. But if you are reading my review, you should realize that Heinlein is writing a great book. It's not "swords & sorcery," it's not "just like Tolkien," it is its own story. How many action heroes have to read before they can go to sleep. How many grooms have to shave people lying down because they learned on corpses? Many of Heinlein's books have misogynist overtones, but he is writing from a less enlightened time. Not that you would know it from reading these reviews. He is still the greates science fiction writer, even if some people don't know enough about Heinlein to realize it.
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