To Sail Beyond the Sunset
- 446
- Pages
- about 8 h
- Reading time
Affiliate link: buying through it supports BookRank at no extra cost to you.
Our view
“To Sail Beyond the Sunset” closes Heinlein’s career as a novelist with a frank, unconventional family saga from his “Future History”. Its title comes from Tennyson’s “Ulysses”, and its story reaches back to where the Long and Howard families began. Some readers caution that its sexual material, incest included, will put off the squeamish, though they find a good story beneath it. Those who know Heinlein’s late novels will know what to expect.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
To Sail Beyond the Sunset is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1987. It was the last novel published before his death in 1988. The title is taken from the poem "Ulysses", by Alfred Tennyson. The stanza of which it is a part, quoted by a character in the novel, is as follows:
Reading order · Future History
Full order & progress →- Life-LineStart here
–Not ranked yet - MisfitMisfit–Not ranked yet
- Blowups HappenBlowups Happen–Not ranked yet
- "Let There Be Light""Let There Be Light"–Not ranked yet
- "If This Goes On—""If This Goes On—"–Not ranked yet
- CoventryCoventry–Not ranked yet
- Requiem
–Not ranked yet - The Roads Must RollThe Roads Must Roll–Not ranked yet
- —We Also Walk Dogs—We Also Walk Dogs–Not ranked yet
- Logic of EmpireLogic of Empire–Not ranked yet
- The Green Hills of Earth
–Not ranked yet - "It's Great to Be Back!""It's Great to Be Back!"–Not ranked yet
- Space JockeySpace Jockey–Not ranked yet
- Ordeal in Space
–Not ranked yet - The Black Pits of LunaThe Black Pits of Luna–Not ranked yet
- The Long WatchThe Long Watch–Not ranked yet
- Delilah and the Space RiggerDelilah and the Space Rigger–Not ranked yet
- Gentlemen, Be Seated!Gentlemen, Be Seated!–Not ranked yet
- The Man Who Sold the Moon
–Not ranked yet - The Green Hills of Earth
–Not ranked yet - Revolt in 2100
–Not ranked yet - The Menace from Earth
–Not ranked yet - Methuselah's Children
7.67.6 / 10 - Orphans of the Sky
7.67.6 / 10 - The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein
–Not ranked yet - The Past Through Tomorrow
–Not ranked yet - Time Enough for Love
7.67.6 / 10 - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
7.27.2 / 10 - To Sail Beyond the SunsetThis book
7.67.6 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.1 across 54 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 27% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.6 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 6.0 | 9 | 17% |
| Hardcover | 7.4 | 45 | 83% |
Frequently asked
How long is To Sail Beyond the Sunset?
It has 446 pages — longer than 50% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 7.6, the closest to this book.
