I never forgot that this was a terrific book - but I didn't actually remember much about it. Maybe the morals are a little pointed, but in a book aimed at young people that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I remembered vaguely that the overt rite of passage is the Trial - the children of the ship are dropped on a planet to survive for 30 days. I also remembered that it turned out very badly for the group of which Mia, our heroine, is a part.
That much reminds me of one of the Heinlein juvies - Tunnel in the Sky, maybe? At any rate, the final exam for their survival course is being dropped (via some transmat device) on a primitive world to survive. Turns out that the world is much nastier than anticipated - and some cosmic something or other disrupts the gate and they can't get them back. In this book, the world is colonized by humans and they are the major nasties, but there are also good guys and Mia must revise her prejudices.
Much more of the story takes place in the ship society than during Mia's trial, but the scenarios of bias and self-determination play out in a number of ways leading up to the Trial - and afterwards in the decision of the population of the ship with regard to the planet. Mia must deal with the fact that her adored father, while a truly good man, can be devastatingly wrong.
I am considering the suggestion that I use it as the novel for my English class. It would certainly be on the list of suggested reading if I ever got to teach SF.
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