I do enjoy a good Heinlein, and although he has some strange philosophical ideas about relationships, morality and society in general I find that this normally adds to my enjoyment of the story. The main character in the book is, as is often the case in Heinlein's books, also the narrator. She tells us of her life on Mars, her hopes fears and relationships and of a trip to Earth that goes a bit wrong. The story contains a great deal of justice – when things go wrong those at fault are punished or the situation is put right and is written in such a way as to put the reader firmly on the side of the main character and her family. It also contains detail on what things might be like in the future – what society might be like. In fact what different societies might be like as each planet has its own social set up. These kinds of details add interest to the story.

I did enjoy this story but found that it ended rather abruptly - as though the author had got bored with it. There are a lot of loose ends – characters that are developed but never really fulfil their potential. It’s like the book is the introduction for a much larger book. Like the Hobbit is for the Lord of the Rings. But on the whole it was fun, I liked the characters in it and it had some interesting ideas about what the future might be like.