Title of the Book: Rite of Passage
Author: Alexei Panshin
Part of a Series (Y/N): N
Description: In 2198, one hundred and fifty years after the desperate wars that destroyed an overpopulated Earth, Man lives precariously on a hundred hastily-established colony worlds and in the seven giant Ships that once ferried men to the stars. Mia Havero's Ship is a small closed society. It tests its children by casting them out to live or die in a month of Trial in the hostile wilds of a colony world. Mia Havero's Trial is fast approaching and in the meantime she must learn not only the skills that will keep her alive but the deeper courage to face herself and her world.
Anthony Villiers series: sometime-Viscount, is a sort of travelling adventurer/gambler/private eye, a kind of interplanetary Simon Templar, with a bit of Bret Maverick tossed in, living off his wits. He's young and slight of build, but that doesn't seem to stop him, or his faithful companion, Torve the Trog, a large furry toad who rides a red tricycle, from wandering the universe, having wildly improbable adventures rescuing fair maidens and thwarting the bad guys. A combination of The Brothers Grimm, The Rockford files, and Star Trek.
Title of the Book: Star Well
Author: Alexei Panshin
Part of a Series (Y/N): Y (Book 1 of 3)
Description: A small airless planetoid set deep in the heart of the Flammarion Rift. Due to its location, it is a minor hub of commerce within the Sashuite Empire, and though it is equipped with elegant dining rooms and casinos, luxury suites and expensive shops, Wu and Fabricant's GUIDEBOOK claims that Star Well is a dull place to visit and that travellers should avoid layovers if they can. But Wu and Fabricant had not been shown the secret basements, nor told the nature of the things stored there--if they had been, they might still have advised against layovers, but not because Star Well was dull. When our hero Anthony Villiers and his Traggish friend Torve arrive on the scene, it soon becomes evident that the truth must out: that Star Well has reached the end of an era...(thurb).
Title of the Book: The Thurb Revolution
Author: Alexei Panshin
Part of a Series (Y/N): Y (book 2 of 3)
Description: The Thurb Revolution, the second book is full of action and philosophy and improbable entertainments. And in the background, almost unnoticed, Thurb begins to flesh out the universe glimpsed in Star Well: we begin to learn more about the citizens of the Empire, and a sinister plot against Villiers is set in motion. Thurb also introduces the notion of a pantograph, a "three-dimensional homologue . . . of the distribution patterns of the Empire" (Thurb, ch. 6), used by the Empire to model and predict behavior, albeit imperfectly.
Title of the Book: Masque World: An Anthony Villiers novel
Author: Alexei Panshin
Part of a Series (Y/N): Y (book 3 of 3)
Description: The third book has plenty of interesting character moments and entertaining philosophical discussions, but its plot is relatively thin and feels mildly forced to me. It is, however, certainly worth reading as a continuation of the characters and story. Among other things, it reveals in passing the true identity of a character from one of the earlier books. And it provides a little more information about the Universal Pantograph, and sets up all sorts of intriguing hints for what was to have been the fourth book in the series.
: The Lathe of Heaven
