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A review by infinitespeculation
Rites of Passage by Mike Brooks
4.0
This review originally appeared on my blog at https://thatguyreading.weebly.com/ which features other reviews, Q&As and more!
It’s an interesting time for Black Library right now. Their flagship Horus Heresy series is nearing its conclusion, they’ve introduced a range of books for younger readers, and they’ve started branching out into other genre fiction with Warhammer Horror. The publishing arm of Games Workshop has really taken great strides in its attempts to diversify in recent years, and Rites of Passage, by Mike Brooks, is yet another sign that the publisher is interested in telling different stories from those that have come before. And Rites of Passage really is definitely quite different to any Black Library book I’ve read before.
First of all, we have a main character who is not a Space Marine (of either flavour), an Inquisitor, or some grizzled guardsman. No, what we have instead is Lady Chettamandey Vula Brobantis, widow of the recently deceased Novator of Navigator House Brobantis. It should be noted at this point that she is the widow of the Novator because she arranged to have him killed, by the way. Chettamandey, or Chetta as she is known, is old. It’s mentioned on a number of occasions that she has very dark skin, unlike the predominantly white (and occasionally even alabaster) denizens of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Her hip plays up. When she falls, she struggles to get back up. As a Navigator, she is also a mutant, the third eye in her forehead allowing her to pilot ships through the warp, as well as being capable of blasting the sanity from any normal mortal unlucky enough to be fixed in its gaze. She is strictly a non-combatant, which means those occasions when she actually comes under fire have a real tension to them - were she a conventional hero or heroine, she would be whirling a chainsword all over the place, slicing and dicing cultists until she faced off against their leader (see, for example, Eisenhorn, Gaunt, Cain and numerous others). But Chetta fights with her wits, preferring to tear strips off her enemies and rivals with her sharp tongue rather than a powersword. She is a scheming, elderly, frail, black, aristocratic mutant, and I love her. Chetta is still a loyal servant of the Imperium, so when bad stuff goes down (specifically, a whole planet disappearing), she feels compelled to act. Her highborn attitude and general bolshiness see her run up against various authority figures, but we are repeatedly shown how she does right by those that do right by her, and its clear that she is possessed of a strong internal moral compass (despite the attempted power grab facilitated by her husband’s timely demise). She describes herself as a battleaxe, and this is definitely the case - there is seemingly nobody that she won’t argue with, even going so far as to press someone against a wall with her cane as she berates them at one point.
Secondly, there’s the plot itself. Rites of Passage has plenty of the usual 40K grimdark, much of which is supplied by antagonist Radimir Niklau, a devoted and murderous agent of Chaos. Plenty of the more visceral moments come courtesy of Radimir, his deadly abilities seeing off plenty of victims as he murders Navigators in grisly fashion. But the nature of Chetta as a non-combatant means there is more of an emphasis on mystery solving and diplomacy than in many Black Library novels. The rivalries and power struggles between and within the Navigator houses are complex without being hard to follow, and the exchanges Chetta has with said houses are entertaining and interesting to read. There are plenty of twists and turns before we reach the big showdown, with alliances forged and agendas revealed that are guaranteed to keep you guessing, and the pacing that comes with all this is practically perfect. Having two very different characters - Chetta and Radimir - allows Mike Brooks to have more action and combat scenes with one and more intrigue and investigation with the other, all fostering a mounting sense of urgency without being relentless, in-your-face action.
Thirdly, and finally, there’s the use of neopronouns. I will hold my hand up and confess my total ignorance here - when I first read the words ve, vis and ver, I thought they were some sort of typesetting error, having never come across them in a novel before. When I realised they were being used only for one specific character, I did a little bit of googling and realised it wasn’t a mistake at all. Once I knew that this was intentional, I thought it was pretty cool, as science fiction as a genre should, in my mind, be pushing boundaries and challenging perceptions. To be able to this so effectively simply through the use of some pronouns rather than the plot was, I thought, very skilful, as well as addressing the all-important topics of inclusivity and representation. Sadly, some readers did not share this opinion. I don’t want this to turn into any kind of rant, but those few negative reviews that I have seen mostly seem to focus on this aspect of the novel, and I really couldn’t understand why. More diverse voices means more diverse characters and stories, which can only be a good thing. I find it extremely heartening, for example, that I struggle to compare this novel to anything else - the closest I have come is Murder, She Wrote crossed with Angels and Demons with a sprinkling of Dune and an all over grimdark wash, at which point there are so many ingredients in the mix that you should probably give up trying to compare it to things and admit that it stands alone as something special. For a genre that has historically attracted misfits and the socially awkward and made them feel like there's a place for them, as well as this being a novel based on a game that, it must be said, shares this characteristic, I find it tragically ironic that some fans have such a gatekeeping and bigoted attitude towards an attempt to be more inclusive. I guess that did turn into something of a rant, sorry about that!
In conclusion, I really enjoyed Rites of Passage. It’s different from what I’ve come to expect from Black Library, and gives me hope that we’ll continue to see some interesting experiments from the publisher in terms of genre and the kinds of characters we can expect to see. It shines a light on a hitherto little written about part of the 40K universe by covering Navigator houses, and is a much-needed display of diversity and inclusion to boot. I am eagerly awaiting a sequel!
It’s an interesting time for Black Library right now. Their flagship Horus Heresy series is nearing its conclusion, they’ve introduced a range of books for younger readers, and they’ve started branching out into other genre fiction with Warhammer Horror. The publishing arm of Games Workshop has really taken great strides in its attempts to diversify in recent years, and Rites of Passage, by Mike Brooks, is yet another sign that the publisher is interested in telling different stories from those that have come before. And Rites of Passage really is definitely quite different to any Black Library book I’ve read before.
First of all, we have a main character who is not a Space Marine (of either flavour), an Inquisitor, or some grizzled guardsman. No, what we have instead is Lady Chettamandey Vula Brobantis, widow of the recently deceased Novator of Navigator House Brobantis. It should be noted at this point that she is the widow of the Novator because she arranged to have him killed, by the way. Chettamandey, or Chetta as she is known, is old. It’s mentioned on a number of occasions that she has very dark skin, unlike the predominantly white (and occasionally even alabaster) denizens of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Her hip plays up. When she falls, she struggles to get back up. As a Navigator, she is also a mutant, the third eye in her forehead allowing her to pilot ships through the warp, as well as being capable of blasting the sanity from any normal mortal unlucky enough to be fixed in its gaze. She is strictly a non-combatant, which means those occasions when she actually comes under fire have a real tension to them - were she a conventional hero or heroine, she would be whirling a chainsword all over the place, slicing and dicing cultists until she faced off against their leader (see, for example, Eisenhorn, Gaunt, Cain and numerous others). But Chetta fights with her wits, preferring to tear strips off her enemies and rivals with her sharp tongue rather than a powersword. She is a scheming, elderly, frail, black, aristocratic mutant, and I love her. Chetta is still a loyal servant of the Imperium, so when bad stuff goes down (specifically, a whole planet disappearing), she feels compelled to act. Her highborn attitude and general bolshiness see her run up against various authority figures, but we are repeatedly shown how she does right by those that do right by her, and its clear that she is possessed of a strong internal moral compass (despite the attempted power grab facilitated by her husband’s timely demise). She describes herself as a battleaxe, and this is definitely the case - there is seemingly nobody that she won’t argue with, even going so far as to press someone against a wall with her cane as she berates them at one point.
Secondly, there’s the plot itself. Rites of Passage has plenty of the usual 40K grimdark, much of which is supplied by antagonist Radimir Niklau, a devoted and murderous agent of Chaos. Plenty of the more visceral moments come courtesy of Radimir, his deadly abilities seeing off plenty of victims as he murders Navigators in grisly fashion. But the nature of Chetta as a non-combatant means there is more of an emphasis on mystery solving and diplomacy than in many Black Library novels. The rivalries and power struggles between and within the Navigator houses are complex without being hard to follow, and the exchanges Chetta has with said houses are entertaining and interesting to read. There are plenty of twists and turns before we reach the big showdown, with alliances forged and agendas revealed that are guaranteed to keep you guessing, and the pacing that comes with all this is practically perfect. Having two very different characters - Chetta and Radimir - allows Mike Brooks to have more action and combat scenes with one and more intrigue and investigation with the other, all fostering a mounting sense of urgency without being relentless, in-your-face action.
Thirdly, and finally, there’s the use of neopronouns. I will hold my hand up and confess my total ignorance here - when I first read the words ve, vis and ver, I thought they were some sort of typesetting error, having never come across them in a novel before. When I realised they were being used only for one specific character, I did a little bit of googling and realised it wasn’t a mistake at all. Once I knew that this was intentional, I thought it was pretty cool, as science fiction as a genre should, in my mind, be pushing boundaries and challenging perceptions. To be able to this so effectively simply through the use of some pronouns rather than the plot was, I thought, very skilful, as well as addressing the all-important topics of inclusivity and representation. Sadly, some readers did not share this opinion. I don’t want this to turn into any kind of rant, but those few negative reviews that I have seen mostly seem to focus on this aspect of the novel, and I really couldn’t understand why. More diverse voices means more diverse characters and stories, which can only be a good thing. I find it extremely heartening, for example, that I struggle to compare this novel to anything else - the closest I have come is Murder, She Wrote crossed with Angels and Demons with a sprinkling of Dune and an all over grimdark wash, at which point there are so many ingredients in the mix that you should probably give up trying to compare it to things and admit that it stands alone as something special. For a genre that has historically attracted misfits and the socially awkward and made them feel like there's a place for them, as well as this being a novel based on a game that, it must be said, shares this characteristic, I find it tragically ironic that some fans have such a gatekeeping and bigoted attitude towards an attempt to be more inclusive. I guess that did turn into something of a rant, sorry about that!
In conclusion, I really enjoyed Rites of Passage. It’s different from what I’ve come to expect from Black Library, and gives me hope that we’ll continue to see some interesting experiments from the publisher in terms of genre and the kinds of characters we can expect to see. It shines a light on a hitherto little written about part of the 40K universe by covering Navigator houses, and is a much-needed display of diversity and inclusion to boot. I am eagerly awaiting a sequel!