Tunnel in the Sky

I have enjoyed a number of the Heinlein juvenile novels, having now read about half of them. This one also has many positive characteristics of Heinlein's works: his witty dialogue, pull yourself up by your bootstraps philosophy, and strong characters. With Tunnel in the Sky Heinlein takes on the survival genre. My issue with the novel is that while the use of "the gate" for interstellar travel was creative and convincing, the planet that Rod travels to could easily have been Earth. It would have been a great opportunity to explore truly alien landscapes, but Heinlein instead focuses on robinson crusoe style survivalism and developing a system of government. The lengthy parlimentary style meetings in the novel frequently became tedious. Worth reading if you are a fan of Heinlein, but I would recommend Have Spacesuit, Will Travel or The Puppet Masters if you are looking for an early period Heinlein novel to read.