Editing Between Planets (section)

==Reception==
[[Groff Conklin]] reviewed the novel favorably, calling it "a magnificently real and vivid Picture of the Possible".<ref>"Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", [[Galaxy Science Fiction]], February 1952, p.&nbsp;85. [caps per original].</ref> [[Anthony Boucher|Boucher]] and [[J. Francis McComas|McComas]] named it among the best sf novels of 1951, characterizing it as "more mature than most 'adult' science fiction".<ref>"Recommended Reading", ''[[F&SF]]'', April 1952, p.&nbsp;95.</ref> [[P.&nbsp;Schuyler Miller]] praised the novel as "very smoothly and logically put together", although he noted that it lacked the level of "elaboration of background detail" that he expected from Heinlein.<ref>"The Reference Library", ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'', March 1952, pp.&nbsp;157–158.</ref>

Surveying Heinlein's juvenile novels, [[Jack Williamson]] characterized ''Between Planets'' as "mov[ing] the series still farther from its juvenile origins toward grownup concerns". Although describing the plot as "pretty traditional space opera", he praised the novel for its "ably drawn" characters, its "well-imagined" background, and its "story told with zest". Williamson also noted that Heinlein closed the novel "with a vigorous statement of his unhappiness with 'the historical imperative' leading to the loss of individual freedom as governmental organizations grew".<ref>Jack Williamson, "Youth Against Space", ''Algol'' 17, 1977, pp.&nbsp;11–12.</ref>