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Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein
01/06/2005 . Source: Laura Kayne 
pub: TOR. 319 page hardback. Price: $24.95 (US), $34.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-31221-2. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.tor.com
"Are you a coward? This is not for you. We badly need a brave man."
Presented with these words at the beginning of an employment advert, three times, EC 'Scar' Gordan finds himself with no choice but to seek out the writer of the ad. It is a job for either a hero or a fool, commanded by the most beautiful woman EC has ever seen and it seems that he is the only man for the job.
EC, now known as Oscar, embarks on a journey full of adventure and danger, together with his beloved Star and a groom/side-kick named Rufo. Travelling through strange worlds and customs, fighting monsters and dragons in search of a mythical egg, Oscar gradually learns what it is to be a hero. With a mix of perils and pitfalls, good luck and bad and some romance, Oscar soon stops questioning the bizarre turn his life has taken and gradually accepts his destiny. He decides that being a hero is as good an occupation as any. Although, what exactly happens to heroes when the dragon is eventually slain?
Heinlein, in what is known as his only true fantasy novel, provides a hero and quest, swords and sorcery in the tradition of King Arthur and his knights or of 'The Wizard Of Oz'. He blurs the line between the real world and fantasy, as Oscar welcomes other lands and heroic quests with an almost blunt acceptance; perhaps pausing only really to ask, 'Why me?' 'Glory Road' is both fun and funny, fairly irrelevant while still being intelligent in places and, by the end, not without something to say about society (both in the 1960s and today) and an individual's place within it.
With an ending that is more philosophical than adventurous conclusion, Heinlein also manages to make the reader think about the nature of fantasy fiction, of destiny or lack of it and creating one's own role in the world. The characters are fun and likeable. The dialogue and action is well-paced, witty and very readable, as much today as when it was first published in 1963. It should provide much entertainment to newer generations of fantasy readers.
Laura Kayne
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