Teaser

Decades ago, the people of Earth fled in great ships. Many chose to settle on new worlds, but some decided to remain onboard, crating a culture of interstellar nomads . . .

Review

One of my many ongoing reading projects is to delve into the hundreds of books that have won science fiction awards. I’m talking about the Hugos, the Nebulas, the BSFA, and a half dozen others. These awards are a great way of finding out what people of any given year thought was the peak of science fiction, and the differences between the awards are remarkable. Sometimes a book comes along and sweeps the awards. Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama, for example. It’s hard to deny that that one is a classic. And yet there are some years that seem to produce nothing of lasting note. There are some award winners that I personally dislike, and there are plenty of others that seem to have faded away. Alexei Panshin’s Rite of of Passage won the Nebula in 1969, and was shortlisted for a Hugo in the same year, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it mentioned by the broader reading population.

When you find a book like that, there’s one obvious question. Is this a hidden classic, or a case of the awards getting things wrong?

To be honest, I’m not usually a fan of coming-of-age stories. I think they’re much better when you yourself are coming of age. Much like Young Adult novels are best enjoyed by people who are themselves young adults. However, Rite of Passage is a coming-of-age story that works perfectly for me, a somewhat jaded nearly-thirty year old. the writing is so good that it pulls you right into the head of Mia, a young teen who has never known a life outside of the generation ship she inhabits.

On that note, this is one of the most interesting generation ship stories I’ve come across. Most books will portray a generation ship as an obligation required to reach a distant planet, with each generation scarifying themselves so that one generation can be the one to arrive. Rite of Passage doesn’t do this. Here, the people choose to live in space. The can settle on a planet at any time they like. Indeed, they send their youth to a planet as part of a trial. But choosing to live on the ship doesn’t mean they escape the pitfalls of the generation ship lifestyle. Reproduction remains a thorny issue, and society is far from a paradise.

The titular Rite of Passage sees Mia visiting one of humanity’s colonies, which are less technologically advanced than the ships. Panshin does a great job of contrasting the two cultures, criticising each in turn as Mia explores new philosophies. There’s a quiet condemnation of shipboard life that serves a nice counterpoint to the more obvious flaws of a planetary existence, all filtered through the eyes of a young girl encountering change for the first time. This isn’t a book about overthrowing the regime, or making a new life for oneself. Instead it’s a slower-paced story of disillusionment with the society you grew up in. Of learning that good people can do bad things, and that being left to fend yourself, while it seems freeing at first, may in fact just be another cage. It’s a quiet and at time melancholy book, but it still packs a formidable punch. Best of all, it’s a book that will eave you thinking.

Rite of Passage lost out to various other awards to John Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar and Samuel R. Delany’s Nova, but if you ask me, it is by far the best of that trifecta of science fiction. If you read only one book published in 1968, make it Rite of Passage.

Book Stats

• A Standalone Novel
• First Published in 1968
• 223 Pages