Citizen of the Galaxy
Literary high-water mark of juvenile SF
Narrative Synopsis
Sold on an alien auction block as a brutalized slave child, young Thorby is purchased for a trivial sum by Baslim the Cripple, a one-legged beggar in the planetary bazaar of Jubbulpore. Baslim is secretly an intelligence operative for the Hegemonic Guard fighting the interstellar slave trade, launching Thorby across Free Trader clans and galactic dynasties.
The price of freedom is the willingness to die to defend it, and the humility to remember that others died for yours.
Notable Passage
Historical & Editorial Context
A sophisticated exploration of anthropological kinship structures, trading ship clans, and military intelligence.