Critical Reception
Surveying Heinlein's juvenile novels, Jack Williamson characterized Space Cadet as "a long step forward. . . . The characters are stronger the background is carefully built, original, and convincing, the story suspenseful enough." Williamson noted that Heinlein was "perfecting the bildungsroman form that shapes the whole series."
P. Schuyler Miller gave the book a favorable review as "a first-rate historical novel of the near future," saying "So subtly has the scientific detail been interwoven with plot and action that the reader never realizes how painstakingly it has been worked out."
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