The Season of Passage is a horror novel by Christopher Pike, published in early 1992. After a series of successful Young Adult horror novels, it was his first novel aimed at adults.
The book revolves around the (then future) year of 2004 and the first American manned mission to Mars. Dr. Lauren Wagner, our protagonist, must leave her fiance and precocious younger sister behind to embark on one of the most exciting adventures in mankind's history. However, something very ancient lies in wait on Mars. Something that mankind once ran into in its infancy...
In 2021, it was announced
that Mike Flanagan had been chosen to direct a film adaptation of this book. Fittingly, Flanagan directed another Christopher Pike project (The Midnight Club).
This novel provides examples of:
- Apocalypse How: Chaneen caused a Class 6 (extinction of all life and the atmosphere) on the Asurian's homeworld in the ancient past by invoking the power of the sun to scorch the entire planet. It's why Mars is such a barren, hostile wasteland today.
- Big Good: Queen Chaneen in Jennifer's story. She is the only one who is able to stop the Asurians. Her reincarnation, Jennifer, also fits the bill for being the only one capable of halting the spread of vampires on Earth.
- Came Back Wrong: Towards the end of the book, Lauren is killed and turned into a vampire. From then on, she is evil and highly dangerous. Thankfully, thanks to the efforts of her sister, she is at least able to die again as herself.
- Faking the Dead: Partway through the book, Jennifer appears to commit suicide by burning herself to death in a cabin. However, she had actually faked her death with the help of her boyfriend using the body of a girl who had drowned two years ago. The reason why Jennifer did this was because she is the reincarnation of Chaneen, the ancient Queen of Earth, and she was trying to lure her Martian enemies into a false sense of security by convincing them she was no longer in the picture. It worked.
- The High Queen: Queen Chaneen is this trope to a T. She is gorgeous, kind-hearted (to the point of not wanting to fight the Asurians until she is pushed to her absolute limit), and views her subjects as her children.
- Our Vampires Are Different: In this universe, vampires are the result of an ancient curse/virus from Mars, dating back to a war mankind fought in our infancy. Simply drinking Martian water is enough to turn one into a vampire. Despite vampirism being more akin to demonic possession in this book, common vampire tropes are still present (needing to drink blood, needing to be invited in, being unable to cross running water, etc).
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Kratine's (the Greater-Scope Villain) rape of Janier is what allowed him to create the curse that would inflict vampirism on any human who went to Mars. Later on in the story, a newly-vampirized Gary rapes Lauren (who also happens to be Janier's reincarnation), turning her into a vampire in the process. Both rapes are portrayed as horrific and they're among the most disturbing scenes in the book.
- Story Within a Story: Interspaced within the regular chapters of the book is Jennifer Wagner's story, which is a high-fantasy epic. It tells of the war between the Sastra (led by Queen Chaneen) and the evil Asurians (led by Kratine). The story ends with Kratine putting a curse on the Sastra via his rape and defilement of Janier, Chaneen's sister, and Chaneen taking revenge by completely destroying the Asurian's planet with the power of the sun. However, Kratine promises that the Sastra's descendents will be drawn to his world in the far future, and Chaneen in turn leaves the mortal realm so she can reincarnate when the time is right to prevent the Earth from being destroyed. It later becomes clear that Jennifer's story is actually a historical account of mankind's beginnings. The planet Chaneen destroyed was Mars, and now that mankind is starting to be drawn to it Kratine's curse (which is basically vampirism) is starting to take hold. Jennifer knows all this because she is Chaneen's reincarnation.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: Chaneen, queen of the Sastra, was also the most beautiful among them (and by extension, the entire world). Her reincarnation, Jennifer Wagner, is outright stated to be "perhaps the most beautiful girl to ever walk the Earth."
