“I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a spear carrier in…”

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The last time I was up to date with reviews was 2022-01-31. Since then, 260/415 books (62.7%) have been reviewed. We'll get there … eventually.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a spear carrier in somebody else’s story. A spear carrier is somebody who stands in the hall when Caesar passes, comes to attention, and thumps his spear. A spear carrier is the anonymous character cut down by the hero as he advances to save the menaced heroine. A spear carrier is a character put in a story to be used like a piece of disposable tissue. In a story, spear carriers never suddenly assert themselves by throwing their spears aside and saying, “I resign. I don’t want to be used.” They are there to be used, either for atmosphere or as minor obstacles in the path of the hero. The trouble is that each of us is his own hero, existing in a world of spear carriers. We take no joy in being used and discarded. I was finding then, that wet, chilly, unhappy night, that I took no joy in seeing other people used and discarded.

Rite of Passage

by Alexei Panshin · published 1968 · read 2023-03-29

★★★★☆

A scifi book from the 60s, with a young black girl as protagonist, written by a white dude from the US, that isn’t terrible? And also isn’t praised and listed on all the reading lists everywhere? Reading this book was a big surprise, I have to say. This book is a take on generation ships that not only pays attention to society on the ship (which I think basically all generation ship stories set out to do), but also economics, and how the ship relates to non-ship space (and hot damn colonialism on a bicycle, it’s not pretty). The protagonist is proactive, very very flawed in a way that works with her being, y’know, a 14-year-old girl born to influential parents, but also not stupid. Granted, the story has limited depth in the end – it is a coming-of-age story, but I thought things felt very alive and well-handled. And, what’s more, the ending! Oh my, the ending. When the subject of the climax became clear, I was very afraid it’d be tacky or moralising or cheap, and it was none of that. Really glad I read this book.