Paradise Passed [Paperback]

And by my title, I don't mean just from adolescents to the old. This is a book that raises issues the human race, once we get off this rock, will be dealing with until the last of the stars goes out.

It's an odd mixture here. On one hand, it seems a lot like the "Winston Juveniles" of the mid- to late- nineteen-fifties, with a young hero thrown into major trouble, and he must either grow up or lose everything he stands to become. On the other hand, there are serious philosophical issues raised, and, as I said, we'll be dealing with them for a long time to come.

On the surface, it's the story of Ryan Hughes, who comes across as a boy about to become a man, and who must choose just what *sort* of man he will be. This is complicated by the fact that, if I understood the chronology, he is about twenty-seven years old when it hits. It's a truly delayed adolescence, made more complicated by the fact that he's spent his life from age eight aboard a slower-than-light starship, and only now, after nineteen years of voyaging, are they about to make planetfall, and he must leave the comfortable world he has known all his life, that of the starship.

This part of the story is, as I said, a familiar theme of stories aimed at young people, and the theme is a familiar one, right up until everything goes off at a skew angle.

The cover of the book gives part of the game away, for one of the world is inhabited by a sentient species, and to make matters a lot more complicated, they are *JUST* on the edge of discovering fire.

We take fire for granted, our ancestors having mastered it literally megayears ago, so we tend to forget just what a change it made in us. Jerry brings this singularity back to vivid life, as the locals begin to plunge into what, if we knew all the details of our own history, would be saga that spanned centuries.

But that's not the only complication, for we, and Ryan, are also brought face-to-face with our responsibilities under such circumstances. Do we intervene in another species' path? *Are* there other ways to grow as a species besides the one we took? Do we have the right to become teachers? Or, perhaps, Gods?

I won't spoil the resolution here. Anyone can read this book as a solid story of exploration and growth in a young man. But there's a lot of philosophical meat on these bones, and food for hours of thought.

It works either way, and is equally rewarding, either way. The book didn't waste my time, and it won't waste yours either. I highly recommend it.

There are many worthwhile science fiction novels out these days, as well as many worthwhile philosophy books. But what do you get when you put a healthy dosage of thoughtful, powerful philosophy into a science fiction adventure?

Well, if you're lucky, you get a book like Paradise Passed. Jerry Oltion describes this as his "favorite novel...[his] baby" and it's easy to see why. As my co-reviewer states, it raises questions that humanity may someday have to answer, and questions that you'll be pondering for a while about our own development as a species.

Beyond that, it poses other important questions: Does God exist when we are among the stars, or dealing with other species? Is there really such thing as destiny? Where must we make compromises between emotion and logic?

All this philosophy doesn't get in the way of the adventure at all, and if you're just approaching the book to be entertained you won't be disappointed, you'll just be missing out.

It's not easy to get your hands on, but if you can, Paradise Passed is a book that every science fiction fan should have on their shelf.

A great book that deftly mixes hard science fiction with religious debate...only problem is that Jerry Oltion seems to hate President Bush and has him confused with Adolph Hitler...its a pity that Mr. Oltion fails to realize that under a free democratic regime, his ideals would flourish...under a tolterian one like the one in Iran, his book wouldn't have been published and he would have been imprisoned for hersey...something Mr. Oltion should think about...

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews  4.7 out of 5 stars