SSteinberg.SoftArts@MIT-MULTICS@sri-unix.UUCP (09/20/83)
I just finished reading Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury and would like to recommend it highly. It is a well constructed intrigue with lovable characters. It is set on the planet Gita which is exceedingly hostile to human life. Most of the native vegetation is poisonous except for eight plants known as the sacred eight. The clans follow rigorous "culling" procedures in which those with low genetic "kalothi" are eatten during times of famine. The five protagonists are members of a group marriage and are searching for a sixth. They have chosen a particular biologist but are redirected by the Prime Predictor and told that they must marry a heretic who has numerous followers in a politically important area. Needless to say, her heresy includes the renunciation of cannibalism which has endeared her to many, but has also made her many enemies. The plot twists and turns as these political intrigues often do but that just keeps the pages turning.
student@nmtvax.UUCP (09/24/83)
I read Courtship Rite when it was printed up in Analog Magazine a year or so ago. I was interested in the was the sciences developed, they are far advanced in biology but not so much in physics, but the ending left me unfulfilled. Good try but it missed the mark somehow. Sincerely; Greg Hennessy ..ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!student
ccw@dvamc.UUCP (09/29/83)
References: sri-arpa.11819 Courtship Rite appeared in Analog in the early part of this year and I too liked it very much. It was a four(?) part serial. Chris Woodbury decvax!mcnc!dvamc!ccw