Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein: A Book Review (No Spoilers)

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      Hello everyone!  This is my review for the amazing book Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein, on of my favorite Sc-fi authors.  I highly recommend you to read this Sci-fi/Adventure.

     Hi, I'm Jake E. Stief and today I am going to review the book Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A Heinlein.  First off, let me tell you that It is nearly impossible or at least very hard to give a book review without giving away any of the plot or story.  I will warn you that there may be a few spoilers in here which could potentially ruin your reading experience.  While I will reveal only what is absolutely necessary in my mind to convince you that you should or should not read this book.  So basically this book takes place sometime in the future;  the Earth is overpopulated and 100s of thousands of other planets for that matter.  Technology has advanced sufficiently, people can teleport, travel through time, etc. 
     The main character is a teenager named Rod Walker and his goal to master his high school Survival course.  Rather than taking a simple exam he must literally 'survive' for up to ten days without any knowledge what so ever of where he would have to withstand the wild.  It could be any climate, planet, terrain, etc.    This exercise can literally be lethal.  He and the rest of the class is teleported to the same region and placed (unknowingly with three other survival classes).  Before leaving however, they are inflicted with the fear of a vicious beast called the stober.
       He steps into a seemingly tranquil terrain much like that of Earth.  Over a matter of days of living in this foreign land Rod accidentally stumbles across another survival student named 'Jack'  who quickly convinces him of something which I will not tell you.  The sun rises and sets far too many times for it to have been only 10 days.  They soon realize that the gate which teleports them back to civilization was not going to appear.  They were stuck there.  Living on the belief that they would need to group with more people in order to survive they start making signals to bring more folks in.  In many ways this book is very similar to Lord of the Flys and at the same time very different.  Lord of the Flys is about a group of kids which have been isolated from civilization who start to tear people up in order to survive and I say this literally.  They collapse any form of civilization.  Tunnel in the Sky takes a different look on things.  Rather than tearing things apart, the group of teens tries to build their own civilization from ground up starting only with supplies they brought on their journey.  I enjoyed reading how this bunch of people erected their own form of life, everything from their own government to starting to forge metal.  This book is stunning just as many of Robert A Heinlein's books are.  I was on the edge, reading this book at any chance I could get.  I would much enjoy coping with the same situation they were in.  I would love to test my survival skills.  So, overall I rate this book 5 out of 5. A great read it is indeed.  I wouldn't say that it would be for anyone under 13 though.   It may be a little hard to understand with the way Robert A. Heinlein worded things at the beginning of the novel.  Now I am going to read one chapter from the book, like I usually do, just to see if it intrigues you.  I highly recommended it and I can't argue enough that you read this book!     

     I can not post the excerpt I read, as it would make may description past the maximum amount.  I will however post may favorite quote from the book:
 
      The young man was dressed only in walking shorts and soft bush shoes.  "Friends," he said, "we are gathered here tonight to found a new nation."
     He paused to let the idea sink in.  "You know our situation.  We fervently hope to be rescued.  I will even go so far as to say that I think we will be rescued...eventually.
     "It might be tomorrow...it might be our descendants a thousand years from now.  But whem the main body of our great race reestablishes contact with us, it is up to us whether they find a civilized society, or flea-bitten animals without language, without art-with the light of reason grown dim.  Or no survivors at all, nothing but bones picked clean!"

If you have any questions please email me at crazyjake451@yahoo.com
Thanks for watching an LZ Production and Bibliophile Production.
Jake E. Stief