Friday
Oh dear, Oh dear. Going by the reviews blurbed on the cover of the book, this was considered at one point to be Heinlein’s last great book.
For the record this book is a big old pile of manure that I couldn’t wait to be done with.
Friday is a ‘combat courier’, the kind you turn to when your delivery must absolutely get through. She’s also an artificial artefact, a genetically manipulated superhuman in a world where prejudice is rife and her kind have no rights.
The book follows her on a couple of missions and through an incident called ‘Red Thursday’. It also follows her obsessive need for family and love through several groups of people.
Friday is a typical late Heinlein character – practically flawless and her main flaw is in her total humility.
Unfortunately she’s just not a very sympathetic character and Heinlein’s quirks have gotten real old by this point in his career.
If I hadn’t already read ‘I Will Fear No Evil’ and ‘To Sail Beyond The Sunset’ I would have classed this as his worst book.
It’s such a pity that so many of the genuinely great science fiction authors started produced self-indulgent crap the second they’re successful enough to overrule their editor.
The only reason to read this is for Heinlein completism or for an idea of the influences behind Charles Stross’ upcoming Saturn’s Children..