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Jan 27, 2012

Manny rated it:

The plot of this rather fine coming-of-age SF novel is described well in several of the other reviews. Oddly enough, no one seems to mention that it is constructed around Shakespeare's Sonnet 94, which appears on the last page.

Since the poem isn't nearly as well-known as it deserves to be, and it's one of my favorites, let me reproduce it here:

They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as st

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8 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2008

Leslita rated it:

There are not a lot of coming of age novels for girls. Nor are there many adventure science fiction novels starring girls coming of age, and that is what makes this book stand out. It is not great literature, but it is a book that I remember often because of the power and authenticity of the main character. Even if you are not keen on Sci-fi, this is a quick read that is a change of pace from most space novels.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2010

Tim rated it:

Alexi and Cory Panshin wrote one of the best histories of early science fiction, The World Beyond the Hill, in 1989. I found the book at a bookstore in Wichita, Ks when I lived there in the early 90's and read it cover-to-cover in one sitting. So it was a surprise to me when I found this neat little book at Indian Path Books a few weeks ago. Needless to say, it ended up in my "To read" pile.
Winner of the 1968 Nebula award, Rite of Passage shows the influence of the dean of Americ More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 27, 2011

Pf87 rated it:

The narration, told as a flashback, is capable but unadventurous. If not for a non-explicit but uncomfortably extended sex scene between two 14-year-old characters (when was this taboo lifted in literature, and am I a prude for being a little bothered by it?) I'd almost call Rite of Passage kid-lit, a sophisticated answer to the "juveniles" Alexei Panshin likely grew up reading in the '40s and '50s. Like those, this is not hard science fiction; the workings and lifestyle of the colony More...

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Oct 13, 2011

William rated it:

I thought that this book was brilliant for the amount of themes and subjects it touched upon in such a short number of pages. I'm surprised that I have not heard of this book before reading it, as I can see it being very popular as recommended reading for young adults. It is an intelligent coming of age story that explores the oldest ethical issues with which humanity continues to grapple, such as the proper way to distribute power and the dilemma of stable passivity versus dynamic action. It dr More...

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Apr 25, 2011

Paul rated it:

Spoiler Alert!

Rite of Passage is an easy book to pigeon-hole as a "coming of age" novel, but to do so would be a mistake and a disservice to this excellent little science fiction novel that steps beyond the genre.

The book is written first person past through the eyes of the central character, Mia Havero, looking back at herself from the ages of twelve through fourteen. She is the daughter of the elected leader of a group of scientists and engineers who live on More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 25, 2011

Cheryl in CC NV rated it:

Excellent story. I loved the girl's insights as she matured - for example that every hero has at his back a 'spear carrier' (that's "red shirt" for Star Trek fans) but that nonetheless those people are not 'diposable' to their families & their dreams. Short but very rich - lots of ideas, complex characters & world, even the plot was really more than just a 'coming-of-age.' Thank you so much for sharing it with me.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 11, 2011

Joseph rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Sep 22, 2011

The_antichris rated it:

It's instructive to realise that this was conceived pretty much concurrently with both Podkayne of Mars and the misogynist dreck that unfortunately infests James White's Sector General. Turns out it was possible to write fully realised female characters and equitable gender roles in 1960s SF! WHO KNEW. Panshin wasn't even tempted to fridge her. There are bunches of characters of colour (Mia included) too, but diversity isn't its only or even its greatest strength: a great narrative voice from a More...

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Jan 21, 2011

Marmaduke45 rated it:

Rite of Passage is one of my favorite books. I love a coming of age story and this one set in a society aboard an interstellar spaceship hits all the right notes for me. The heroine is very smart and competent. She lives in an interesting environment aboard the ship where responcibilities are taken seriously. We get to see how the society works and how the young members are tested by dropping them off on alien worlds to see if they can survive and then become full citizens of the ship. The More...

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Feb 27, 2011

Laura rated it:

I really liked it. A friend of mine lent it to me, his dad wrote it, and I was really impressed with this one. I have to admit, I was concerned I wouldn't because I'm a little picky about my sci-fi and fantasy. But this was a really cool book -- good pacing, good plot, and well-written characterization. Normally I dislike the first-person pov, but it works well here. I also like the hints of the untold stories -- the people on the worlds, and the way we see glimpses of these fully integrated, gr More...

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Sep 03, 2007

Cindy rated it:

Dated SF published in 1968. It's one of those books that's entertaining in how it reflects its own time more than the future it's describing, though with a few surprises, including a disturbing ending. It's a bit over-explanatory and preachy, but a good adventure most of the time. (November 19, 2006)

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 15, 2008

Matt rated it:

This short but slow moving novel has a lot great science fiction concepts that may be used quite a bit, but I haven't personally encountered them in too many stories.

The denizens of generational starship become the technological overlords of the worlds they helped colonized.

The story is told from the point of view of Mia, a girl coming of age, and getting ready to endure a survival rite of passage on one of the colony worlds.

Good but not great.

It w More...

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Jun 14, 2010

David rated it:

In the far future the human race has fled a destroyed Earth in starships built inside hollowed-out asteroids. The ships practice a ritual, a rite of passage, where every 14-year-old is dropped on a planet for a month; the ones who survive are considered adults when they return to the ship. The story begins about two years before Mia Havero is to go on Trial. Mia is terrified of change. She doesn't even want to move to the fifth level--when her father becomes Chairman of the ships council--from h More...

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Dec 15, 2011

LauraW rated it:

This book has most of the things I really enjoy in a book - good story, interesting characters, and things that keep me thinking afterwards. While ship society isn't as richly imagined as I might have hoped, the build up to the Trial, the Trial itself, and the aftermath are carefully orchestrated to leave the reader with much to ponder and discuss. I would love to read this book with a group of adolescents.

SPOILER ALERT!!!
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Apr 05, 2009

Kate rated it:

I read Alexei Panshin's Rite of Passage again. For some reason, this story is very close to my heart. It's a story of a young girl, Mia, living in a floating spaceship, facing the Trial of her society. This Trial is the mark of adulthood in their community of thirty thousand, their 'Rite of Passage'.

The story began with Mia's little joys and frustrations. And behind that, she had her fears and prejudices. I always love 'coming of age' stories. Usually I just enjoy reading about the g More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 23, 2008

Matt rated it:

'Rite of Passage' is one of science fiction's more overlooked and lesser known masterpeices.

Really, they did know what they were doing when they gave this book a Nebula award.

I think one of the reasons it hasn't maintained the enduring audience of some of other classics from the golden era is that it is a book that suffers from having an uncomfortable relationship with any of its potential readers. On the one hand, adult readers may be put off by a book which appears More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 21, 2007

Nicholas added it

http://nhw.livejournal.com/724118.html[return][return]A rather good retelling of Heinlein's Tunnel In The Sky, with better world-building and characterisation. Mia, our narrator and heroine, has grown up on a generation starship where the young folks must endure a month on the surface of whatever nearby planet is handy to become full citizens. Her father, incidentally, is a senior politician on the starship.[return][return]This better-than-average sf Bildungsroman is then completely wrecked by t More...

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Nov 15, 2009

Coralie rated it:

This is a coming of age book set on a spaceship that travels between colonies exchanging knowledge for raw materials.
The rite of passage is to drop the teenagers on a planet for a month, and if they survive to be picked up they are judged to be adults.
It is interesting to compare this test with the one in Tunnel in the Sky by Robert Heinlein.
The main differences are -
- it is compulsory
- they test them at an earlier age
- the test is for a longer period
- t More...

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May 20, 2011

Eva rated it:

I've loved this book ever since my father read it to me when I was little. I loved how Mia wasn't always perfect- she fought with her father, was mean to her friends, and didn't always what she was told. When she was scared, she was direct about it, "Call me a cautious tiger". She made her own decisions and accepted the consequences, was loyal to herself and her friends. And she survived to became an adult. By far one of my favorite coming of age stories ever.

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Apr 10, 2011

Julia rated it:

I almost gave this a 4 because I like the parts of the book that would generate interesting discussion, and there are several of those. I gave it a 3 because I wasn't moved by it in any way. It didn't surprise me. It's a very old novel...been around since the 70s. It's only available now in kindle or print-on-demand. I was considering this one for our HS summer read, but we went with Hunger Games instead.

1 comment like

Nov 14, 2011

Erik rated it:

A science fiction novel about deontological ethics--imagine that! How could I not love it?

Science fiction is justified as something more than mere escapist entertainment by its inherent capacity to radically challenge its readers' presuppositions and worldviews. In this the genre serves the same salutory function available to the disciplines of cultural anthropology, abnormal psychology and comparative sociology. Unfortunately, most SF literature does no such thing. Indeed, Norma More...

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Oct 02, 2011

Bill rated it:

I read "Rite of Passage" by Alexei Panshin long ago and only remember it as a great story that left no doubt in my mind why it received the Nebula Award for Best Sci-Fi Novel of the year. The cover of my paperback copy is coming apart and its pages are now brown with age, but I'd love to read it again if time would permit.

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Dec 29, 2008

Robert rated it:

If you ever run into someone that dismisses science fiction out of hand as "full of all those space ships and robots, but nothing about the people," this is one title you can recommend they try. Especially good for teen readers, and a great entry-point to the Anthony Villiers novels by Panshin.

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Dec 03, 2010

David rated it:

I'm not sure why this book has stuck with me so long -- I read it over 20 years ago. But it was one of the most memorable early-Heinlein-era sci-fi stories I ever read. The story is somewhat reminiscent of Heinlein, though the writing is not. The social issues raised in this novel are still compelling, though rather dated now, but I imagine it was even more relevant when it was first published.

I really liked the main character, who was quite believable as a rather privileged teenage More...

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Feb 11, 2011

Althea rated it:

This brings me up to 89% done with Reading The Nebula Award Winners.

I'm really sorry I somehow missed reading this book when I was a kid. I would have loved it when I was a pre-teen. As it was, I liked it, but it's very definitely a coming of age story with an Introduction to Ethics woven in.

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May 01, 2011

Catie rated it:

This is a very thought provoking book about a young girl's mental awakening. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic society existing on a ship that has been hollowed out of an asteroid. In this universe, Earth has been destroyed and humans are either existing on these ships or eking out a living on dangerous and mostly uninhabitable planets. The ship dwellers, faced with high population pressure, devise a test for every fourteen year old. Each adolescent is sent to one of these planets for a mo More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2009

Frank rated it:

Probably the best coming-of-age novel I've ever read, with a payoff that caught me flat-footed and could never have snuck up on me unless the story was told as science fiction. This is why science fiction is necessary; at its best, it can show us things about ourselves we would never see otherwise.

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Jun 15, 2011

Emmi rated it:

This was one of two science fiction books I read as a kid (and I read a LOT of them!) that was about a girl. It held up pretty well and it was fun to read it again. I'm giving it 4 stars from my younger self; my current self would probably give it 3.

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Dec 18, 2011

Kacey4kc rated it:

I really enjoy this book however I will say that I first read it when I was not much older than Mia at the end of the story. I know this has probably affected my enjoyment of it but it is still a great sci-fi book.

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