Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Courtship Rite (original 1982; edition 1982)by Donald Kingsbury
Work InformationCourtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury (1982)
None Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.
I love this book. It isn't perfect, but I find it very appealing and have read it at least 3x before 2008. My copy is falling apart but I'm keeping it. ( ) Decent, but not great. I definitely enjoyed it when I read it, but over time the details have faded, which means it was not memorable. I also haven't had an urge to re-read it, which puts it in the middle of the pack of science fiction novels for me. Its not bad, it was actually an interesting book, just not as memorable as truly classic science fiction. Courtship Rite takes place on a human colony world, Geta, that has forgotten it is a colony. Their legends tell them "God" brought them across the stars to protect them from "war", and "God" still watches over them from the sky. We learn later that their word for "God" was the original colonists word for "ship", and the colony ship does indeed still orbit above them. The only source of protein the colonists have are bees and human flesh, so cannibalism is common and accepted. They also practice genetic engineering. The story follows one family of three half brothers and their wives. The men share a common father and were raised in a public creche where any failure would result in death. They married a young girl from a clan that specializes in math and a spoiled rich girl of their own clan. Their clan specializes in government. They are about to marry a scientist when they are ordered by their clan leader to marry a woman from a coastal clan who advocates heretical beliefs, such as evolution and not killing people for food. They decide to use the "Courtship Rite", where they try to kill her several times and if she lives they will marry her. Since she doesn't know them or want to marry them this is bit unfair to her, but they were a angry about the order and it is the central motivation of the plot. They also have to deal with a clan of clone women who make their living as courtesans, and clan of seafarers who want to rule the coastal area. This is my favorite kind of Science Fiction: religion, politics, social engineering, and philosophy. By an author who does it all very well. I give it 5 out of 5 stars What I like best about this novel was how well the author set up his world and the consistencey of the details. To survive the harsh planet Geta, insect DNA was mixed into the human stock generations ago and while the people appear wholly human, evidence of their insect biology slowly reveals itself in surprising ways in personality and societal structure. Great read! Recommended by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and me :-) (And don't worry, guys, no one important gets eaten :-)
Op de planeet Geta bestaat een gelegaliseerd kannibalisme. In een tijd van snel vorderende wetenschappen, een erfenis uit vroegere tijden toen de Zwijgende God het volk op de planeet heeft afgezet, kampen de Clans verbeten om de heerschappij. De familie Maran-Kaiel wil daartoe een huwelijk tot stand brengen met een ketterse priesteres. Donald Kingskury mag dan ook op fantasy-gebied een nieuwe naam zijn in het Nederlands taalgebied, toch heeft hij met Communiteiten een voltreffer van zeldzame kwaliteit gescoord. De fantasy wordt hier opgetild tot het niveau van de literaire allegorie. In een statige taal, die toch helemaal niet bombastisch aandoet, stelt de schrijver ons zeer opmerkelijke personages voor, zowel vrouwelijke als mannelijke, in een even opmerkelijke wereld. Communiteiten wordt zondermeer een klassieker in het genre, en een fel gewaardeerde roman daarbuiten. Verzorgd uitgegeven en goed vertaald. (NBD|Biblion recensie, Bob van Laerhoven) Belongs to Publisher SeriesGallimard, Folio SF (129) Présence du futur (365) Science Fiction Book Club (3102) AwardsNotable Lists
A vast alien landscape, a human culture based on our own, yet evolved in strange ways by the forces of an inimical nature provide a panoramic backdrop for the romantic adventures of a large cast of memorable & attractive characters. Courtship Rite is an SF novel by American writer Donald Kingsbury, originally serialized in Analog magazine in 1982. The book is set in the same universe as some of his other stories, such as "Shipwright" (1978) and the unpublished "The Finger Pointing Solward." In the UK, the novel was entitled Geta; in France, Parade nuptiale. Courtship Rite was the 1st winner of the Compton Crook Award for best first novel and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1983. The novel details the attempts of two of the priest-clans, the Kaiel & the Mnankrei, to expand into territory controlled by the Stgal. Ultimately, all the priest clans are trying to attain dominance of the planet through the use of new technology, propaganda, treachery, and "war," a new concept in this world. Previously, killing was done merely in order to provide food. Jo Walton remarked that Courtship Rite "is about a distant generation of colonists on a planet with no usable animals. This is the book with everything, where everything includes cannibalism, polyamory, evolution and getting tattoos so your skin will make more interesting leather when you're dead." No library descriptions found.
|
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |