The Season of Passage [Hardcover]

Christopher Pike (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1993

Arriving at Mars on a mission to rescue the crewmen of the Russian ship Lenin, American astronaut and Medical Officer Lauren Wagner, along with her crew, discovers that a horror worse than any she could have feared awaits her.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The year is 2004 and, detente in place, the U.S. has sent a manned mission to Mars to find out what happened to and perhaps rescue the Russian cosmonauts who landed there two years earlier and have not been heard from since. Lauren Wagner, chief medical officer on the U.S. unit Nova , suspects alien infection killed the crew of the Lenin and worries that the same may happen to those on her ship. Little does she know that they face a fate far worse: there are vampires on Mars! Pike ( Chain Letter ), bestselling author of YA thrillers, offers a campy SF/horror scenario with all the credibility and finesse of a '50s B-movie; the "Red Menace" in this case is a thirsty crew of Russian zombies who get their blood from victims via IV hookup. An intriguing subplot concerning Lauren's earthbound sister and a story she is writing--which appears to be a telepathically received fable about Mars becoming a wasteland of ghouls--is not strong enough to redeem the outlandish main events. Long before the Nova heads home, most adult readers will have abandoned ship.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Pike (Sati, 1990) leaves behind the young YA horror/suspense field to show what he can do with horror for adults and scores strongly--in a novel that covers many genres: suspense/fantasy/sf/horror. In 1996, the first unmanned space probe to land on Mars sent back sensational analyses (including secret pictures of huge footprints) before going dead. Four years later, the Russian crew of the manned Lenin loses contact in midmission. When the first American crew, which includes Dr. Lauren Wagner as medical officer, lands there in 2002, the mysteries expand rather than resolve, and author Pike hits top suspense with the American team discovering a Russian cosmonaut still alive in his bed in the orbiting Lenin, despite a freezing temperature in the ship. To be sure, he seemingly has no pulse and answers all questions with a fixed zombie grin that never wavers. When he leads the Americans below to comb the Martian surface by jeep and by foot, and then into a dark cave where they discover something very much like water, the reluctant reader begins shouting warnings. Meanwhile, back on earth, Lauren's sister, 13-year-old Jennifer, begins writing a fantasy tale about her life as the Princess Chaneen, a goddess among the Asurians, which somehow ties in with the vampires of Mars and for a while takes up alternate chapters with the sf/horror tale, though sf folks may not willingly accept the fantasy novel interwoven with the main text. Only Lauren and fellow astronaut Gary ``survive'' the Martian ordeal and return to earth where Jennifer has killed herself--or has she? At least she's been buried. But is the Princess Chaneen still around, to fight the vampire infection sent back to earth in the two astronauts called Lauren and Gary? Not without its ups and downs but, at its best, both riveting and a back-prickler. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 438 pages
• Publisher: Perfection Learning (October 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0780792254
• ISBN-13: 978-0780792258
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (164 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,031,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Christopher Pike is the author of over forty teen thrillers, including series REMEMBER ME, FINAL FRIENDS and CHAIN LETTER.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Updating an old review, March 9, 2004

By 

J. Wadkins (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Season of Passage (Mass Market Paperback)

I reviewed this book back in July of 2002 using lots of cheesy descriptors and verbosity. Well, I still love the book as much as ever, although this time I'm not compelled to launch into any cliches.

I DO however want to expand more on what you might THINK you know about this book. Pike is well known as an author of teen horror, but this is not a young adult novel. I feel that Pike's established reputation as a teen horror writer actually could have hurt this book because it makes it less likely to be taken seriously by adult readers and the literary community in general. It is most definitely for a mature audience and can MORE than hold its own for content and quality against the novels of any other respected authors of adult fiction. I find myself shocked that this book was never "discovered" by the literary community because it is really quite brilliant. Like most of the reviewers I grew up reading Pike's YA fiction and was actually a little surprised by this book, which is a very mature and adult story. You probably want me to get to some point, so here it is: This is NOT a young adult novel so please do not disregard it just because of Pike's reputation as a teen horror author. Don't make the mistake of the general literary community and overlook this book based on your preconceived notions about Pike's work.

On to another point. I was reading the reviews, and I was overwhelmed by a common thread that repeated over and over. Snippets like "I've read this book x number of times"... "I'm on my second copy because I read my first one out" ... "this is my favorite book of all time"... "10 years later this is still the best book I've ever read"... What's my new point? I see very few books with reviews that are so repetitive and consistent in such a manner. Almost everyone who discovers this book finds it to be something really special and worth coming back to over and over. Maybe one lone reviewer could be nuts, but take a quick look over the reviews, and you'll discover that almost all of us are saying the same thing. So give it a shot.

READ THIS BOOK.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than mere escapism--a book with real literary value, March 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Season of Passage (Mass Market Paperback)

As a Yale student, I have read, analyzed, and been lectured on the best works of the western world's literary cannon. But I've also read my share of supermarket fiction--some of which is good escapism, some of which is just awful. I was given Season of Passage for my birthday a number of years ago, and, expecting it to fit somehwere in the range of the supermarket fiction books, was greatly surprised to find that it belonged in a much higher class. This book is a masterpiece, and I mean that in the sense that it has true literary value. A brilliant page-turner, it's one of my favorite novels--along with Crime and Punishment and the Brothers Karamazov. The Season of Passage is a true gem for avid sci-fi fans, and definitely worth the interest of those fed on the classics. This is the only Pike book I have read, and whether or not he just got lucky in writing such a fabulous work, I do not know, but I will attest to the merits of Season.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read...Recommended!, January 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Season of Passage (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my all-time favourite Christopher Pike book, and quite possible my favourite book in general. This superb blend of horror, science-fiction, and fantasy captivates the reader the whole way through and the story-within-a-story concept encourages the reader to keep on reading to find out what happens to Chaneen's kingdom and Lauren's expedition to Mars. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an open mind (don't you just hate those stubborn people who refuse to enjoy something different). I remember when I first read this book two summers ago, I was enchanted and unable to put it down (I even ignored my girlfriend), and since, I have lent it to all my friends. Please, read this. It is an extraordinary read and it changed my life.