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Wyrms
The sphere is alien in origin but has been controlled by man for millennia. A legend as old as the stars rules this constructed world: when the seventh seventh seventh human Heptarch is crowned, he will be the Kristos and will bring salvationor eternal destruction of the cosmos. Patience is the only daughter of the rightful Heptarch, but she, like her father, serves the usurper who has destroyed her family, for she believes that duty to one's race is more important than duty to one's self. But the time for prudence has passed, and Patience must journey to the heartsoul of this planet to confront her own destinyand her world's.
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First published July 1, 1987
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About the author
Orson Scott Card
911 books20.5k followersOrson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 320 reviews
November 12, 2011
I just finished my third or fourth re-read of this book, and it occurred to me that I still haven't reviewed it. What a crime! Because this is one of the finest novels in the sci-fi genre, and one of the best books I've read of any genre.
Orson Scott Card's writings from early in his career -- say, everything from Ender's Shadow and earlier -- are really amazing works. Whatever you may feel about him as a person, given his (in my opinion) odious political views, it's hard to deny that early on, he was a superlative writer. His work is emotionally deep, lyrically written without ever turning purple, and absolutely haunting in theme and imagery. In his younger days he also took more risks with theme and plot, writing books that walked the very fine line between disturbing and unforgettably brilliant on the tips of their toes. Back then, Card's stories meant more because they delved into parts of the human experience where we often fear to tread, pushing us past the artificial boundaries of propriety and tradition.
Wyrms is one such book. In a bold move for a very religious author, this novel explores the nature of "God." And the nature of god which Card presents, in the end, is something entirely unexpected from the pen of a very religious author. As an atheist, I appreciated the intellectual honesty of Card's exploration. As a human being, I loved the uplifting nature of the book's ultimate message.
But you shouldn't be led to believe by this review that Wyrms is a feel-good novel. Card weaves a dark, strange atmosphere where religious zealotry and racial prejudice are serious threats to the central characters. The main character, Patience, bred by an unseen, unknown being to fulfill a prophecy of sorts, is hardly more than a child but is already trained as a "diplomat," which in this book really means "assassin," and Patience is often quite callous about her duties. She is not a perfect main character, not by a long shot -- which only underscores the strangeness of the book's central prophecy. As she moves along her path to fulfill the prophecy -- or not fulfill it; the reader is never quite sure which way she'll swing until the climactic scene ultimately comes, very late in the novel -- Patience travels through a world that merges old-fashioned sci-fi weirdness with images that seem more haunting for their contemporary treatment.
Card creates an umber-hued world of alien strangeness into which the reader cannot help immersing herself. Once you have read this book its central message and its intensely dark imagery will never leave you. Highly recommended.
Orson Scott Card's writings from early in his career -- say, everything from Ender's Shadow and earlier -- are really amazing works. Whatever you may feel about him as a person, given his (in my opinion) odious political views, it's hard to deny that early on, he was a superlative writer. His work is emotionally deep, lyrically written without ever turning purple, and absolutely haunting in theme and imagery. In his younger days he also took more risks with theme and plot, writing books that walked the very fine line between disturbing and unforgettably brilliant on the tips of their toes. Back then, Card's stories meant more because they delved into parts of the human experience where we often fear to tread, pushing us past the artificial boundaries of propriety and tradition.
Wyrms is one such book. In a bold move for a very religious author, this novel explores the nature of "God." And the nature of god which Card presents, in the end, is something entirely unexpected from the pen of a very religious author. As an atheist, I appreciated the intellectual honesty of Card's exploration. As a human being, I loved the uplifting nature of the book's ultimate message.
But you shouldn't be led to believe by this review that Wyrms is a feel-good novel. Card weaves a dark, strange atmosphere where religious zealotry and racial prejudice are serious threats to the central characters. The main character, Patience, bred by an unseen, unknown being to fulfill a prophecy of sorts, is hardly more than a child but is already trained as a "diplomat," which in this book really means "assassin," and Patience is often quite callous about her duties. She is not a perfect main character, not by a long shot -- which only underscores the strangeness of the book's central prophecy. As she moves along her path to fulfill the prophecy -- or not fulfill it; the reader is never quite sure which way she'll swing until the climactic scene ultimately comes, very late in the novel -- Patience travels through a world that merges old-fashioned sci-fi weirdness with images that seem more haunting for their contemporary treatment.
Card creates an umber-hued world of alien strangeness into which the reader cannot help immersing herself. Once you have read this book its central message and its intensely dark imagery will never leave you. Highly recommended.
July 28, 2008
Almost grand in its awfulness, Card reaches new depths of misery in what must be his worst book ever. With the exception of Lovelock, I have never felt as agonizingly awkward while reading a book. The OSC intelligence and glimpses of insight are not nearly enough to redeem the misery of this plot. My primary emotion is relief that it's finally over.
November 22, 2024
Din minicronica apărută pe blog:
„Nu pot spune că m-a dat pe spate prin execuție, dar ideea nu e chiar neatrăgătoare. Cu toate astea, neajunsurile acetui volum mi s-au părut evidente, iar situațiile în care sunt puse personajele de multe ori par trase de păr. Iar perfecțiunea cu care Patience și Angel îș interceptează și interpretează mesajele subliminale mi s-a părut ridicolă. Sunt curios cum va suna saga Homecoming, din care la noi au apărut primele 4 volume (din 5), dar despre care probabil că voi scrie spre sfârșitul anului.”
Mai multe: https://fansf.wordpress.com/2013/04/1....
„Nu pot spune că m-a dat pe spate prin execuție, dar ideea nu e chiar neatrăgătoare. Cu toate astea, neajunsurile acetui volum mi s-au părut evidente, iar situațiile în care sunt puse personajele de multe ori par trase de păr. Iar perfecțiunea cu care Patience și Angel îș interceptează și interpretează mesajele subliminale mi s-a părut ridicolă. Sunt curios cum va suna saga Homecoming, din care la noi au apărut primele 4 volume (din 5), dar despre care probabil că voi scrie spre sfârșitul anului.”
Mai multe: https://fansf.wordpress.com/2013/04/1....
July 10, 2011
Generally, I liked this book. Specifically, I loved the idea of the headjars and headworms...very interesting sci-fi concept there. Card always has a nice and simple way of writing that just flows, that feels like someone is talking to you. So Wyrms was a breeze to get through. This book seems to have that fairytale element to it - what with characters that have names like Patience and Wreck and Ruin, the Wyrms and their enemy UnWyrm - which isn't a bad thing in my eyes, though I can see how it would turn people off as being silly or immature (from reading the back cover with the silly names one may think this book is light stuff with a bit of danger suitable for 10-12 year olds, but I wouldn't place it for anyone less than 16 years old). Names like the characters have just don't jive well when compared with a story filled with political plotting, cold and calculated killing, assassinations, psychological training since birth, evolution of life, sexual content, rape(?) and philisophical debates regarding the 'self' and the 'world'.
I liked the book until the ending. The ending left me a bit let down mainly with the protagonist, Patience.
I liked the book until the ending. The ending left me a bit let down mainly with the protagonist, Patience.
August 3, 2022
Patience, o fată de 15 ani, protagonista romanului, trăiește cu tatăl ei pe planeta Imakulata, la curtea regelui Oruc. Antrenată din pruncie în artele subtile ale diplomației, Patience devine o unealtă foarte prețioasă în mâinile care manevrează politicile planetare. Evident că tot status quo-ul se schimbă când tatăl ei se îmbolnăvește și ea începe să simtă o ciudată chemare spre un loc îndepărtat, Cranning, unde mulți s-au dus și de unde nimeni nu s-a mai întors - chemarea lui Unwyrm.
Intrat deja în istorie la momentul publicării acestui roman SF de sine-stătător (Orson Scott Card reușise să câștige treimea premiilor SF de două ori la rând), autorul crează un melanj SF îmbietor de elemente, condimentat cu niște world-building serios, ceva filozofie și teorii platonice privind sufletul. În același timp, aruncă în amestec și deja cunoscutele sale preferințe religioase, la care face referire voalată de câteva ori (fără să devină opresiv, aș adăuga). Regăsim astfel motive inspirate din giganții genurilor, Lord of the Rings și Dune, într-un roman care face economie de spațiu, gonind parcă firul epic la o viteză aproape super-luminică. Este chiar de admirat înfrânarea autorului de a nu-și expanda această mică operă (al cărei cadru narativ, până în prezent, n-a mai fost revizitat) în ceva "trilogie" de 15 volume. Adevărul e că există suficient material neexplorat aici pentru încă vreo câteva cărți, dar profilul acesta literaro-atletic, fără pic de grăsime în plus, merită admirat. Se vede cu ochiul liber că OSC este încă pe val, vârful său stilistic fiind atins prin exprimări clare, personaje interesante, uneori făcute după un calapod, dar utilitare și inedite. De asemenea, aș menționa cadrul cvasi-medieval-fantasy cu elemente clare de SF, un adevărat deliciu pentru pasionații genului. Bineînțeles, acest roman a rămas în amintirea cititorilor pentru un plot point a cărei discutare implică spoilere masive - fiecare și-l va putea interpreta cum dorește, majoritatea alternând între sexism sau auto-sacrificiu a la martiriile creștine.
Intrat deja în istorie la momentul publicării acestui roman SF de sine-stătător (Orson Scott Card reușise să câștige treimea premiilor SF de două ori la rând), autorul crează un melanj SF îmbietor de elemente, condimentat cu niște world-building serios, ceva filozofie și teorii platonice privind sufletul. În același timp, aruncă în amestec și deja cunoscutele sale preferințe religioase, la care face referire voalată de câteva ori (fără să devină opresiv, aș adăuga). Regăsim astfel motive inspirate din giganții genurilor, Lord of the Rings și Dune, într-un roman care face economie de spațiu, gonind parcă firul epic la o viteză aproape super-luminică. Este chiar de admirat înfrânarea autorului de a nu-și expanda această mică operă (al cărei cadru narativ, până în prezent, n-a mai fost revizitat) în ceva "trilogie" de 15 volume. Adevărul e că există suficient material neexplorat aici pentru încă vreo câteva cărți, dar profilul acesta literaro-atletic, fără pic de grăsime în plus, merită admirat. Se vede cu ochiul liber că OSC este încă pe val, vârful său stilistic fiind atins prin exprimări clare, personaje interesante, uneori făcute după un calapod, dar utilitare și inedite. De asemenea, aș menționa cadrul cvasi-medieval-fantasy cu elemente clare de SF, un adevărat deliciu pentru pasionații genului. Bineînțeles, acest roman a rămas în amintirea cititorilor pentru un plot point a cărei discutare implică spoilere masive - fiecare și-l va putea interpreta cum dorește, majoritatea alternând între sexism sau auto-sacrificiu a la martiriile creștine.
July 23, 2009
I really found this book quite compelling. It addressed a lot of interesting philosophical questions as well as religious ideas: the nature of the self, the nature of the will. It was also a very interesting study in human behavior from a diplomatic or political point of view. The on-going analysis of who is lying and who is telling the truth and why, as well as how people choose to display loyalty of betrayal, was fascinating to me.
Card also creates a plausible other-world theory of how an alien planet and alien races might interact with the sudden presence of humankind. I actually saw a good deal of foreshadowing of the pequeninos in "Xeoncide". While I certainly didn't love this book as much as his Ender series (some of which was very moving and even made me cry), I did enjoy it, and finished it in just two days.
PS - The "nasty" or "disgusting" or "too graphic" scene that some people mention in reviews isn't really all THAT bad, and it's very very brief. Probably not a book for twelve-year olds, though!
Card also creates a plausible other-world theory of how an alien planet and alien races might interact with the sudden presence of humankind. I actually saw a good deal of foreshadowing of the pequeninos in "Xeoncide". While I certainly didn't love this book as much as his Ender series (some of which was very moving and even made me cry), I did enjoy it, and finished it in just two days.
PS - The "nasty" or "disgusting" or "too graphic" scene that some people mention in reviews isn't really all THAT bad, and it's very very brief. Probably not a book for twelve-year olds, though!
August 20, 2010
Patience is the rightful Heptarch (ruler) of Imakulata. She is the seventh of the seventh of the seventh of rulers, and has been prophesied that she will either destroy or save all of mankind. Now at 15 years old she feels the cranning call. The irresistable urge to go to skyfoot, and meet her destiny. Even she doesn't know if she will be the messiah, or the anti-Christ of their world?
Card is a fantastic story teller, and this book is no exception from his ability to do just that. I was unimpressed with the story itself, but the way Card develops characters, and expresses intelligent ideas is unparalleled. I guess I just didn't like the idea of a young girl be driven with passion to meet and mate with an alien worm-creature.
Card is a fantastic story teller, and this book is no exception from his ability to do just that. I was unimpressed with the story itself, but the way Card develops characters, and expresses intelligent ideas is unparalleled. I guess I just didn't like the idea of a young girl be driven with passion to meet and mate with an alien worm-creature.
March 17, 2010
This book is the reason I no longer read Orson Scott Card. The premise is a young girl with extraordinary talent/power "insert Card child protege stereotype here" is 'called' by something she just can't resist! Turns out, she must have sex with a big wyrm!!
This book is a painful duplicate of almost everything I've read by Card. Except for the sex with the wyrm, of course.
Yeah, sorry if I've spoiled it for you, but trust me, I think I've saved you the trouble.
This book is a painful duplicate of almost everything I've read by Card. Except for the sex with the wyrm, of course.
Yeah, sorry if I've spoiled it for you, but trust me, I think I've saved you the trouble.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2010
http://www.saltmanz.com/blog/2006/08/...
Yesterday (8/15/06) I finished reading Wyrms by Orson Scott Card, for the second time.
It has the distinction of being the first Card book I'd read outside the "Ender" series. It was a bit of a departure from those books -- even the "heavier" of the Ender books like Xenocide -- and I decided that it was pretty good, but it really didn't do anything for me.
Fast forward a few years, and now I own almost all of Card's books, and have read most of those, and my impression is still that Wyrms is one of the weakest of the lot. So, wanting to read some more Card, and barely remembering a thing about Wyrms (though still maintaining my opinion on it), I decided to give it another read.
Wow.
The book hasn't changed any in the intervening 3-4 years, but apparently I've grown a lot as a reader. Wyrms is a great book. I'm a huge fan of early Card (like Treason, Hart's Hope, and The Worthing Saga) and this ranks right up there with those.
The story revolves around the girl, Patience, whose father is the rightful Heptarch, but is slave to King Oruc. This makes Patience the rightful heir to the throne; there's also the matter of a prophecy regarding the seventh seventh seventh daughter of the original Heptarch: which happens to be Patience. It seems that her destiny is to bear the Unwyrm's child which will either save or destroy humanity, and the story essentially chronicles Patience's journey from her home in Korfu to Unwyrm's lair.
Like most of Card's early work, everything about the book smacks of originality. The characters are sharply drawn, and quite memorable (aside from my own inherent forgetfulness) and the dialogue all has a very philosophical bent to it. One of my favorite aspects of the book is that whenever someone speaks, you feel like Card is imparting little nuggets of Truth to you. There's definitely a lot of wisdom in the text, and a lot to think about as a reader. The climactic scene is as disturbing as the buildup leads you to believe it will be, and the denouement by contrast feels just the opposite: rushed and happy.
Though the book is rooted in science-fiction, based in a far-flung future on a colonized planet and concerned with genetic manipulation, reproduction, and evolution, it reads much more like a fantasy. As with most of Card's sci-fi (the later Ender books included) it takes place in a fairly medieval setting, with kings and castles. The story itself revolves around the genre-standard quest or journey. In fact, I couldn't help noticing that the day before I finished Wyrms, I read on Card's website a review of a fantasy series that said:
"Too often, the world of a fantasy novel consists of: Two cities, a mountain range, a forest, and a desert. Oh, and a river here and there that will serve either as transportation or a barrier."
And, sure enough, Wyrms has two cities, Korfu and Cranning; a mountain, Skyfoot; a forest, Tinker's Wood; and though there's no desert, there's the Cranwater river that serves as transportation from the forest to the mountain.
Definitely fantasy. But definitely good. So I'm slightly dissatisfied with the ending; as with most fantasy, it's all about the journey.
Yesterday (8/15/06) I finished reading Wyrms by Orson Scott Card, for the second time.
It has the distinction of being the first Card book I'd read outside the "Ender" series. It was a bit of a departure from those books -- even the "heavier" of the Ender books like Xenocide -- and I decided that it was pretty good, but it really didn't do anything for me.
Fast forward a few years, and now I own almost all of Card's books, and have read most of those, and my impression is still that Wyrms is one of the weakest of the lot. So, wanting to read some more Card, and barely remembering a thing about Wyrms (though still maintaining my opinion on it), I decided to give it another read.
Wow.
The book hasn't changed any in the intervening 3-4 years, but apparently I've grown a lot as a reader. Wyrms is a great book. I'm a huge fan of early Card (like Treason, Hart's Hope, and The Worthing Saga) and this ranks right up there with those.
The story revolves around the girl, Patience, whose father is the rightful Heptarch, but is slave to King Oruc. This makes Patience the rightful heir to the throne; there's also the matter of a prophecy regarding the seventh seventh seventh daughter of the original Heptarch: which happens to be Patience. It seems that her destiny is to bear the Unwyrm's child which will either save or destroy humanity, and the story essentially chronicles Patience's journey from her home in Korfu to Unwyrm's lair.
Like most of Card's early work, everything about the book smacks of originality. The characters are sharply drawn, and quite memorable (aside from my own inherent forgetfulness) and the dialogue all has a very philosophical bent to it. One of my favorite aspects of the book is that whenever someone speaks, you feel like Card is imparting little nuggets of Truth to you. There's definitely a lot of wisdom in the text, and a lot to think about as a reader. The climactic scene is as disturbing as the buildup leads you to believe it will be, and the denouement by contrast feels just the opposite: rushed and happy.
Though the book is rooted in science-fiction, based in a far-flung future on a colonized planet and concerned with genetic manipulation, reproduction, and evolution, it reads much more like a fantasy. As with most of Card's sci-fi (the later Ender books included) it takes place in a fairly medieval setting, with kings and castles. The story itself revolves around the genre-standard quest or journey. In fact, I couldn't help noticing that the day before I finished Wyrms, I read on Card's website a review of a fantasy series that said:
"Too often, the world of a fantasy novel consists of: Two cities, a mountain range, a forest, and a desert. Oh, and a river here and there that will serve either as transportation or a barrier."
And, sure enough, Wyrms has two cities, Korfu and Cranning; a mountain, Skyfoot; a forest, Tinker's Wood; and though there's no desert, there's the Cranwater river that serves as transportation from the forest to the mountain.
Definitely fantasy. But definitely good. So I'm slightly dissatisfied with the ending; as with most fantasy, it's all about the journey.
March 3, 2013
So far, this gets my 'best book of the year' award. I was thinking that I would have to say I liked it even better than 'Ender's Game,' but I didn't think the ending was handled with quite as much power and finesse. And - like most of Card's books, although I LOVE the writing, I disagree with his conclusions.
Young Patience has grown up on the planet of Imakulata as a slave in the Heptarch's household, the daughter of the ruler's prime assassin, and trained herself in the deadly arts. However, with the help of the biologically preserved head of a deceased court official, she discovers that she is actually the heir apparent - and not only that, but the fulfillment of an age-old religious prophecy - believers think that she is destined to be the mother of the Kristos (the second coming of Christ).
Upon the death of her father, Patience is no longer trusted by the usurper, and she flees assassins herself, accompanied only by her childhood teacher, Angel. At first aimless, she soon begins to fall prey to a nigh-irresistible mental call... the call of the Unwyrm, a terrible legend feared by all four sentient races of Imakulata. Answering Unwyrm's erotic summons, Patience realized, would lead to the fulfillment of the prophecy. Perversely, she decides that she will exercise free will, seek out Unwyrm, and destroy him.
Along the road of her quest, she falls in with companions, including a brother/sister pair of geblings (goblin-like, intelligent and telepathic beings considered to be sub-human), their strong and silent servant, Will, and a stout riverboat captain, who is bigoted yet loyal - and meets others - the 'librarian' dwelf, who like others of her race, has perfect memory of actions, but no ability to remember concepts - and gaunts, the beautiful creatures for whom another's desire always takes precedence over their own (meaning that they're often caught in the role of sex workers).
Along the way, the group uncovers much of the history of Imakulata - how the founder of the planet was a starship captain summoned by the same will-subsuming mental call that Patience now feels, and how scientific experiments have revealed the bizarre phenomenon of Imakulata - the native life is capable of mixing genetically with alien life, sexually reproducing and mimicking the new forms perfectly.
However, the first generation always contains genetic screw-ups and 'sports.' The second generation is always superior to the original earth life forms, and then takes over with hybrid vigor.
All sentient life on Imakulata now is first generation after hybridization: the starship captain mated with the alien Wyrm he found on Imakulata, the results were: 'normal' humans, and the 'sports' - dwelfs, gaunts, and geblings. After this incident, the humans kill all the sentient alien life forms, since they're ugly and threatening (a very human-like behavior), preventing a second generation from occurring. Now, IF Patience mates with the alien Wyrm, her offspring will be new, improved, "super-humans." However, Card comes down against this, metaphorically equating the call of Unwyrm with the temptations of Satan. The reason given for this are that these new improved humans would wipe out the existing life on Imakulata (as the prophecy says will happen). OKAY, but the problem is that life on Imakulata is pretty bad. Racism and bigotry are rampant, people are oppressed, etc.. It's not such a good system to be preserving. Even Patience says something to the effect of, "the only reason I can think of to preserve humans is that I'm a human."
And Card specifically points out that all the Unwyrm wanted was what humans wanted - to live and reproduce.
So - why is he equated with Satan?
Why should the planet remain in the 'in-between,' awkward evolutionary state?
It seems to me that the second generation hybridization would have been good for everyone - and the universe in general. Patience deciding to destroy Unwyrm rather than bear his children goes against her main credo - to think of the whole rather than the part, to put the good of the many before the good of the few (or the one). (yeah, yeah, very Vulcan). I mean, she even accepts her mother's murder as OK due to this philosophy! So is not the good of the future better than the good of the present? Are not improvements to be sought? Card DOES portray this as a difficult choice, but his message does seem to be that Patience made the right choice - and I disagree. I'm just not a humans-firster, I guess!
OK, that's the major thing.
The second thing is Will. His subsuming of his "passions" to his will is portrayed as a great spiritual accomplishment. I got the impression that Card really looks up to that sort of thing. The book explicitly speaks poorly of hedonists and others that follow their passions. In the book, Will is rewarded for this great self-control with Patience's love. However Will is really just dull and boring. Who wants a lover with no passion, just this great inner peace? Dull, dull, dull. I'm all about passion. I want good food, good sex, all kinds of sensual experiences. I think they matter, and are the reason for life. I don't think there's any great reward to be reaped through self-denial. Again, this is just me!
However, the third thing is actually a literary criticism and not a philosophical criticism. After doing an Excellent job of portraying the vicious, violent, intrigue-threaded court of the Heptarch, and after going on and on about how violence is sometimes necessary - at the end of the book he has Patience, the true heir, show up and display a show of force. Then, the usurper agrees (instantly) to step down, accepts a minor lord's post, and gives Patience a bloodless coup.
All in about 3 pages.
And we're to believe that he holds no resentment against her after this.
Yeah, right. When in history did that ever happen?
Okay, now I got that out of my system.
So, complaints aside - I did really love, and would recommend this book HIGHLY.
(After all, I thought it was worth wasting this much space on talking about it, right?!?!?)
Young Patience has grown up on the planet of Imakulata as a slave in the Heptarch's household, the daughter of the ruler's prime assassin, and trained herself in the deadly arts. However, with the help of the biologically preserved head of a deceased court official, she discovers that she is actually the heir apparent - and not only that, but the fulfillment of an age-old religious prophecy - believers think that she is destined to be the mother of the Kristos (the second coming of Christ).
Upon the death of her father, Patience is no longer trusted by the usurper, and she flees assassins herself, accompanied only by her childhood teacher, Angel. At first aimless, she soon begins to fall prey to a nigh-irresistible mental call... the call of the Unwyrm, a terrible legend feared by all four sentient races of Imakulata. Answering Unwyrm's erotic summons, Patience realized, would lead to the fulfillment of the prophecy. Perversely, she decides that she will exercise free will, seek out Unwyrm, and destroy him.
Along the road of her quest, she falls in with companions, including a brother/sister pair of geblings (goblin-like, intelligent and telepathic beings considered to be sub-human), their strong and silent servant, Will, and a stout riverboat captain, who is bigoted yet loyal - and meets others - the 'librarian' dwelf, who like others of her race, has perfect memory of actions, but no ability to remember concepts - and gaunts, the beautiful creatures for whom another's desire always takes precedence over their own (meaning that they're often caught in the role of sex workers).
Along the way, the group uncovers much of the history of Imakulata - how the founder of the planet was a starship captain summoned by the same will-subsuming mental call that Patience now feels, and how scientific experiments have revealed the bizarre phenomenon of Imakulata - the native life is capable of mixing genetically with alien life, sexually reproducing and mimicking the new forms perfectly.
However, the first generation always contains genetic screw-ups and 'sports.' The second generation is always superior to the original earth life forms, and then takes over with hybrid vigor.
All sentient life on Imakulata now is first generation after hybridization: the starship captain mated with the alien Wyrm he found on Imakulata, the results were: 'normal' humans, and the 'sports' - dwelfs, gaunts, and geblings. After this incident, the humans kill all the sentient alien life forms, since they're ugly and threatening (a very human-like behavior), preventing a second generation from occurring. Now, IF Patience mates with the alien Wyrm, her offspring will be new, improved, "super-humans." However, Card comes down against this, metaphorically equating the call of Unwyrm with the temptations of Satan. The reason given for this are that these new improved humans would wipe out the existing life on Imakulata (as the prophecy says will happen). OKAY, but the problem is that life on Imakulata is pretty bad. Racism and bigotry are rampant, people are oppressed, etc.. It's not such a good system to be preserving. Even Patience says something to the effect of, "the only reason I can think of to preserve humans is that I'm a human."
And Card specifically points out that all the Unwyrm wanted was what humans wanted - to live and reproduce.
So - why is he equated with Satan?
Why should the planet remain in the 'in-between,' awkward evolutionary state?
It seems to me that the second generation hybridization would have been good for everyone - and the universe in general. Patience deciding to destroy Unwyrm rather than bear his children goes against her main credo - to think of the whole rather than the part, to put the good of the many before the good of the few (or the one). (yeah, yeah, very Vulcan). I mean, she even accepts her mother's murder as OK due to this philosophy! So is not the good of the future better than the good of the present? Are not improvements to be sought? Card DOES portray this as a difficult choice, but his message does seem to be that Patience made the right choice - and I disagree. I'm just not a humans-firster, I guess!
OK, that's the major thing.
The second thing is Will. His subsuming of his "passions" to his will is portrayed as a great spiritual accomplishment. I got the impression that Card really looks up to that sort of thing. The book explicitly speaks poorly of hedonists and others that follow their passions. In the book, Will is rewarded for this great self-control with Patience's love. However Will is really just dull and boring. Who wants a lover with no passion, just this great inner peace? Dull, dull, dull. I'm all about passion. I want good food, good sex, all kinds of sensual experiences. I think they matter, and are the reason for life. I don't think there's any great reward to be reaped through self-denial. Again, this is just me!
However, the third thing is actually a literary criticism and not a philosophical criticism. After doing an Excellent job of portraying the vicious, violent, intrigue-threaded court of the Heptarch, and after going on and on about how violence is sometimes necessary - at the end of the book he has Patience, the true heir, show up and display a show of force. Then, the usurper agrees (instantly) to step down, accepts a minor lord's post, and gives Patience a bloodless coup.
All in about 3 pages.
And we're to believe that he holds no resentment against her after this.
Yeah, right. When in history did that ever happen?
Okay, now I got that out of my system.
So, complaints aside - I did really love, and would recommend this book HIGHLY.
(After all, I thought it was worth wasting this much space on talking about it, right?!?!?)
October 26, 2012
I haven't read this in a while but, he can't write a normal heterosexual sex scene (not saying that only heterosexual sex is normal here) but he can write a scene with an amorphous blob and an underaged girl? What the hell is up with that?!
December 25, 2022
My kids have this lovely set of books from the Met, with titles like What makes a Leonardo a Leonardo? or What makes a Monet a Monet? As you can probably guess, these books go over an artist's works and style to highlight their techniques and interests. It's an interesting approach to take, so I'm going to copy it for this review. What makes an Orson Scott Card an Orson Scott Card?
I've read a fair amount of OSC's stuff; I picked this'n up after reading too many of his recent works, concluding he'd lost his touch, and deciding to look up an early book instead. And ... ooooohhh boy. Wow. Well, it's not as tedious as his latest stuff, but I wouldn't call it good, per se. Anyway, What Makes an Orson Scott Card an Orson Scott Card?
Everyone is Ender. OSC's one unquestioned masterpiece was Ender's Game, featuring a precocious, arrogant, yet insecure child protagonist. Then he released some other books, which also featured precocious, arrogant, yet insecure child protagonists, some of whom were purportedly adults. It's basically the only kind of character he writes, because he's more or less a precocious, arrogant, yet insecure child himself. You just deal with it. And yes, Wyrms fits this pattern. Abandon all hope of realistically depicted emotional maturity, ye who open this book. If you can't accept that, OSC is just not for you.
Everybody plays mind games. This is a natural consequence of the previous thing. Everybody in an OSC novel is trapped in a state of perpetual overanalysis of every aspect of their social existence, so every interaction however trivial turns into a replay of the Vizzini scene from The Princess Bride. If two characters are having dinner and one asks the other to pass the salt, the second character will spend a minimum of two paragraphs musing on the subtext and implications of this other person making such a request, and what hidden agenda they might have. Possibly the first character will notice their hesitation and comment on it, leading to a graduate-thesis-length conversation on the Machiavellian politics of salt-passing. In more recent OSC works this stuff can easily eat the entire rest of the book, but he had his habit under control at this stage of his career, and he at least tries to account for it by having the MC Patience trained as a diplomat/spy.
Poop! Haha, poop. When Orson Scott Card reads The Iliad he becomes annoyed by Homer's coyness about a very important subject. "But Homer, where did Achilles poop?" Achilles is constantly angry, and constipation might have been a factor. So OSC seldom passes up a chance to shoehorn in a mention of his characters' need to defecate, as when Patience has to dig through her own caca to find an object she smuggled out of the palace by swallowing it. I would chalk this up to coincidence, but seriously defecation and/or urination get worked into his stories enough for me to suspect some measure of coprophilia. I did not need to know about the poop, Orson.
OSC frequently starts with a clever, interesting sci-fi conceit, then gets distracted and abandons it for something crazy and stupid. In Wyrms he starts with a future society thousands of years after colonization of a planet with highly unusual native life. He builds it up and explores the society for a bit, then, uh, it all turns into ...
The Creepy Sex Part. OSC has some hangups about sex. No, not gay stuff; for all that he gets excoriated for his public comments, homosexuality seldom appears in his actual books. But female sexuality, and especially pregnancy, is a loaded subject to him for reasons I do not feel equipped to analyze without a psych degree. In other, later books, this is muted and buried under a certain amount of prudery, though it can come across as misogynistic. Here ... well, the last half of the book is about teenage girl Patience being psychically summoned on a pilgrimage across the planet by a gigantic ancient alien centipede thingy who has manipulated the planet's entire history so he can impregnate her.
I did not spoiler that. You need to know about it going in, if you're going to read this book. You will be reading at some length about a high-school-age kid's psychically manipulated lust for a huge alien bug. I read to the end because I could not believe he would go through with it; he would not actually describe a Lovecraftian horror getting its freak on with a minor. Well, he did. Somewhat graphically. Once I'd got to that I went ahead and read the remaining twenty pages or so because how the hell do you finish a book after that? Kinda boringly, as it turns out. But ... yeah. That was a thing.
I give Wyrms by Orson Scott Card 1 star because why did you even write that Orson aaaaaarrrghhh
EDIT: I should add that there are large holes in this bug's plan to get this kid pregnant, such as "why does it need to be this one particular girl," "why did you need to manipulate history and make up weird legends when you can implant an irresistible psychic compulsion," and "you know human women aren't actually fertile that large a percentage of the time, right?" Without divulging still more distasteful details, certain aspects of the alien's biology, as needed to make this scheme work, are implausible in terms of basic physics. One gets the feeling that OSC really, really wanted this bug sex to happen and plausibility be damned. I don't know why. I don't think he had bug sex happen in any later works, so hopefully he got it out of his system.
I've read a fair amount of OSC's stuff; I picked this'n up after reading too many of his recent works, concluding he'd lost his touch, and deciding to look up an early book instead. And ... ooooohhh boy. Wow. Well, it's not as tedious as his latest stuff, but I wouldn't call it good, per se. Anyway, What Makes an Orson Scott Card an Orson Scott Card?
Everyone is Ender. OSC's one unquestioned masterpiece was Ender's Game, featuring a precocious, arrogant, yet insecure child protagonist. Then he released some other books, which also featured precocious, arrogant, yet insecure child protagonists, some of whom were purportedly adults. It's basically the only kind of character he writes, because he's more or less a precocious, arrogant, yet insecure child himself. You just deal with it. And yes, Wyrms fits this pattern. Abandon all hope of realistically depicted emotional maturity, ye who open this book. If you can't accept that, OSC is just not for you.
Everybody plays mind games. This is a natural consequence of the previous thing. Everybody in an OSC novel is trapped in a state of perpetual overanalysis of every aspect of their social existence, so every interaction however trivial turns into a replay of the Vizzini scene from The Princess Bride. If two characters are having dinner and one asks the other to pass the salt, the second character will spend a minimum of two paragraphs musing on the subtext and implications of this other person making such a request, and what hidden agenda they might have. Possibly the first character will notice their hesitation and comment on it, leading to a graduate-thesis-length conversation on the Machiavellian politics of salt-passing. In more recent OSC works this stuff can easily eat the entire rest of the book, but he had his habit under control at this stage of his career, and he at least tries to account for it by having the MC Patience trained as a diplomat/spy.
Poop! Haha, poop. When Orson Scott Card reads The Iliad he becomes annoyed by Homer's coyness about a very important subject. "But Homer, where did Achilles poop?" Achilles is constantly angry, and constipation might have been a factor. So OSC seldom passes up a chance to shoehorn in a mention of his characters' need to defecate, as when Patience has to dig through her own caca to find an object she smuggled out of the palace by swallowing it. I would chalk this up to coincidence, but seriously defecation and/or urination get worked into his stories enough for me to suspect some measure of coprophilia. I did not need to know about the poop, Orson.
OSC frequently starts with a clever, interesting sci-fi conceit, then gets distracted and abandons it for something crazy and stupid. In Wyrms he starts with a future society thousands of years after colonization of a planet with highly unusual native life. He builds it up and explores the society for a bit, then, uh, it all turns into ...
The Creepy Sex Part. OSC has some hangups about sex. No, not gay stuff; for all that he gets excoriated for his public comments, homosexuality seldom appears in his actual books. But female sexuality, and especially pregnancy, is a loaded subject to him for reasons I do not feel equipped to analyze without a psych degree. In other, later books, this is muted and buried under a certain amount of prudery, though it can come across as misogynistic. Here ... well, the last half of the book is about teenage girl Patience being psychically summoned on a pilgrimage across the planet by a gigantic ancient alien centipede thingy who has manipulated the planet's entire history so he can impregnate her.
I did not spoiler that. You need to know about it going in, if you're going to read this book. You will be reading at some length about a high-school-age kid's psychically manipulated lust for a huge alien bug. I read to the end because I could not believe he would go through with it; he would not actually describe a Lovecraftian horror getting its freak on with a minor. Well, he did. Somewhat graphically. Once I'd got to that I went ahead and read the remaining twenty pages or so because how the hell do you finish a book after that? Kinda boringly, as it turns out. But ... yeah. That was a thing.
I give Wyrms by Orson Scott Card 1 star because why did you even write that Orson aaaaaarrrghhh
EDIT: I should add that there are large holes in this bug's plan to get this kid pregnant, such as "why does it need to be this one particular girl," "why did you need to manipulate history and make up weird legends when you can implant an irresistible psychic compulsion," and "you know human women aren't actually fertile that large a percentage of the time, right?" Without divulging still more distasteful details, certain aspects of the alien's biology, as needed to make this scheme work, are implausible in terms of basic physics. One gets the feeling that OSC really, really wanted this bug sex to happen and plausibility be damned. I don't know why. I don't think he had bug sex happen in any later works, so hopefully he got it out of his system.
July 18, 2021
So graciously disgusting it's almost poetry.
September 3, 2024
The first 200 pages really worked for me: I loved the characters, the setting and the little details that made the world unique. Patience' exploration of her own agency is compelling throughout the book and I like the kind of SciFi stories that is set in a future that feels more like a fantasy setting or the past. Later in the book, the aspects that didn't work for me became more prevelant: the chosen one and religious narrative, the self-important, theatrical nature of it all and the realisation that the world building stays a bid vague. I like that even a victory comes at a cost but I havent made up my mind if the ending feels quite right for me.
Read
August 9, 2011Intense and unrelenting sexual desire for someone you find completely repulsive as a means of physical and mental torture? Imagine having the hots for Dick Cheney and you'll have an instant sympathy for the main character of this sci fi classic.
I have the first edition with the original dust jacket art featuring a well-endowed alien being looming over a damsel in distress. It's second only to Hot Sleep (which later became the Worthing Chronicles) as the most hilarious cover art in the Card bibliography.
The story itself is one part Enderverse (on Lusitania with all the Hive Queen controlling the hive mind, Piggies reproductive cycles, genetic mutation madness) and one part Homecoming (on Harmony with the coming of age, mental struggle against the OverSould; and on Earth with all the Digger/Angel reproductive cycles, genetic mutation madness). There are some pretty heavy-handed religious overtones throughout the book, which is standard Card fare, though there is some Plato (a la The Republic) doctrine thrown in. The real reason to read this forgotten gem is because it's Card's most sexual book. He gives homosexuality a quick treatment and takes on pedophilia. There are many passages dealing with sexual desire and self-restraint.
I do find it seriously off-putting that the protagonist is only 15 and her would-be lover is never given an age, but we deduce from the fact that he's been in several military campaigns that he is MUCH older than her. Gives me a case of the Yucks almost as bad as when Bean and Petra start popping out babies in their mid-teens.
I have the first edition with the original dust jacket art featuring a well-endowed alien being looming over a damsel in distress. It's second only to Hot Sleep (which later became the Worthing Chronicles) as the most hilarious cover art in the Card bibliography.
The story itself is one part Enderverse (on Lusitania with all the Hive Queen controlling the hive mind, Piggies reproductive cycles, genetic mutation madness) and one part Homecoming (on Harmony with the coming of age, mental struggle against the OverSould; and on Earth with all the Digger/Angel reproductive cycles, genetic mutation madness). There are some pretty heavy-handed religious overtones throughout the book, which is standard Card fare, though there is some Plato (a la The Republic) doctrine thrown in. The real reason to read this forgotten gem is because it's Card's most sexual book. He gives homosexuality a quick treatment and takes on pedophilia. There are many passages dealing with sexual desire and self-restraint.
I do find it seriously off-putting that the protagonist is only 15 and her would-be lover is never given an age, but we deduce from the fact that he's been in several military campaigns that he is MUCH older than her. Gives me a case of the Yucks almost as bad as when Bean and Petra start popping out babies in their mid-teens.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2014
am ascultat multe la clubul de lectura "nemira" despre aceasta carte. despre obsesia lui card pentru copiii superdotati, despre cum totul se afla la indemana eroinei principale. am citit-o din scoarta-n scoarta si parerea mea este ca dincolo de SF-ul din ea se afla lectii de viata. S-o luam cu inceputul:
capitanul navei a coborat pe Imakulata cu oamenii sai, a gasit wyrmi (fiinte considerate inferioare), dar care, simtindu-si sfarsitul aproape au reactionat pentru conservarea speciei. Aceasta conservare a insemnat 'inrobirea' capitanului navei si imperecherea cu acesta. Insa, odata cu acest pas, s-a creat "religia" acestei noi lumi, invadata de "rasa superioara". De aici totul decurge ca orice poveste de supravietuire, Unwyrm-ul facand totul pentru a-si recapata planeta, dar de fapt distruge rasele nou create din incrucisarea wyrm-om. Aceasta dorinta nestavilita a Unwyrm-ului de a acapara toata intelepciunea de pe planeta poate fi interpretata si ca o "foame de cunoastere" a unei fiinte care se crede net superioara tuturor si care lanseaza profetia "de sapte ori si inca de sapte ori a saptea fiica". Numai ca foamea de cunoastere necontrolata nu te ilumineaza, te face sclav si te distruge din toate punctele de vedere. In cele din urma profetia se implineste, numai ca nu in forma dorita de Unwyrm, ci in forma aceea clasica a povestilor "si au trait fericiti pana la adanci batraneti". Este superba, iti deschide mintea catre ceea ce poti si ceea ce trebuie sa faci.
capitanul navei a coborat pe Imakulata cu oamenii sai, a gasit wyrmi (fiinte considerate inferioare), dar care, simtindu-si sfarsitul aproape au reactionat pentru conservarea speciei. Aceasta conservare a insemnat 'inrobirea' capitanului navei si imperecherea cu acesta. Insa, odata cu acest pas, s-a creat "religia" acestei noi lumi, invadata de "rasa superioara". De aici totul decurge ca orice poveste de supravietuire, Unwyrm-ul facand totul pentru a-si recapata planeta, dar de fapt distruge rasele nou create din incrucisarea wyrm-om. Aceasta dorinta nestavilita a Unwyrm-ului de a acapara toata intelepciunea de pe planeta poate fi interpretata si ca o "foame de cunoastere" a unei fiinte care se crede net superioara tuturor si care lanseaza profetia "de sapte ori si inca de sapte ori a saptea fiica". Numai ca foamea de cunoastere necontrolata nu te ilumineaza, te face sclav si te distruge din toate punctele de vedere. In cele din urma profetia se implineste, numai ca nu in forma dorita de Unwyrm, ci in forma aceea clasica a povestilor "si au trait fericiti pana la adanci batraneti". Este superba, iti deschide mintea catre ceea ce poti si ceea ce trebuie sa faci.
February 25, 2011
When I first wrote fantasy novels, I thought I had all the steps figured out: create an epic cast of characters, give them meaningful names and crucial roles, put them into a mysterious world with a few rules similar to ours but lots different, and send them on an epic quest. Then the entire story would be dedicated to building up those characters and the world...and except for hammering home a driving "plot point," I would completely forget about plot.
I think that's what Card did here.
Don't get me wrong -- there were certainly memorable moments, characters worth adoring, and some classic Card surprises. Reck and Ruin were actually two of my favorite characters in recent memory, and Heffiji was fracking adorable. However, the story was obnoxious in its preaching (something else that reminded me of a younger time in my writing life -- when I "set out" to write an allegory) and I was sick of the driving force by the halfway mark, not a good sign if I wanted to continue caring about the main character, Patience. She was a bit of a Mary Sue anyway, and really annoying, so I didn't connect much with her.
I'm glad I read this book, if mostly to feel vindicated in my early work (including what I'm writing now). Because if Card used to churn out sub-par work, then it's okay if I do too.
I think that's what Card did here.
Don't get me wrong -- there were certainly memorable moments, characters worth adoring, and some classic Card surprises. Reck and Ruin were actually two of my favorite characters in recent memory, and Heffiji was fracking adorable. However, the story was obnoxious in its preaching (something else that reminded me of a younger time in my writing life -- when I "set out" to write an allegory) and I was sick of the driving force by the halfway mark, not a good sign if I wanted to continue caring about the main character, Patience. She was a bit of a Mary Sue anyway, and really annoying, so I didn't connect much with her.
I'm glad I read this book, if mostly to feel vindicated in my early work (including what I'm writing now). Because if Card used to churn out sub-par work, then it's okay if I do too.
April 14, 2015
A very interesting book, hard to put aside, which besides the good & complex storyline, has applications in real life through elements of psychology about diplomacy, about will and how to overcome your fears and vane desires, etc. Loved it!
August 18, 2019
Although the specifics of the setting, plot and characterization of this 1987 novel are not remembered twenty or more years after I read it, I do remember being very, very impressed. The Wikipedia summary of its setting on the planet of Imakulata, in which all life has developed from a single species; of its characters, which include a ruthless dictator, a religious cult and the heroine, who is destined to give birth to a saviour since she is the seventh seventh seventh daughter of the nigh-mythical Starship Captain, who purportedly led the founding mission; and of its plot, in which the heroine is a highly accomplished scholar and assassin, and finds she must kill in order to save her planet, all have whetted my thirst to re-read this work should I ever find the time.
May 8, 2022
I read this more than once when I was a teenager, and this time I listened to the audiobook (all the way to the end, I think I was just fascinated by the awfulness) to see whether I wanted to keep it on my shelves. (NO NO NO in case this was in doubt.)
When I was a teenager I... did not spot anything wrong. Now I am not a teenager, I am just wtf is this unmediated id-based toxic gloop? (These days it just goes in the "monster porn" section of Kindle and everyone knows where they stand.)
TL;DR any worldview this fucked up basically poisons anything else he's ever written, bye bye Ender's Game, I loved you once upon a time.
When I was a teenager I... did not spot anything wrong. Now I am not a teenager, I am just wtf is this unmediated id-based toxic gloop? (These days it just goes in the "monster porn" section of Kindle and everyone knows where they stand.)
TL;DR any worldview this fucked up basically poisons anything else he's ever written, bye bye Ender's Game, I loved you once upon a time.
March 2, 2020
Reminded me of The Pathfinder series. So much so, I could almost accuse him of plagiarizing himself.
Concept was interesting with the backstory of the aliens, and the world, but the reader sees little of it. Majority of the story is Patience trying trying to sort out her thoughts from the Unwyrm’s.
The ending was weird and abrupt. The last chapter was more of an epilogue that just told the reader what happened rather than as a story.
Concept was interesting with the backstory of the aliens, and the world, but the reader sees little of it. Majority of the story is Patience trying trying to sort out her thoughts from the Unwyrm’s.
The ending was weird and abrupt. The last chapter was more of an epilogue that just told the reader what happened rather than as a story.
March 11, 2025
I tried. DNF.
June 2, 2017
strange. very good first half. then there is a lot of philosophical dialogue, too much. the end is all right.
October 21, 2023
Card goes balls-out in this forgotten attempt to rebrand his style to appeal to the Dune/Hyperion crowd. Very different from his usual books and I wish he had more similar releases.
March 4, 2017
Orson Scott Card. Az egyik legjobb. A kegyelem ára még ennél is jobban tetszett, de attól még max csillag.
July 19, 2022
I wasn’t expecting to like this (especially considering the author is a giant homophobe) but the world building and main character absolutely won me over. I liked Patience and Angel and Reck and Ruin. Their motivations were well thought through, they came across very clearly on the page, and even if they weren’t likeable they were good characters.
That’s not to say it’s missing any of its 80s, er, flair. Is the whole story cliché? Probably - I don’t know enough about classic sci fi tropes to say what came first. Are the sexual moments really off-putting and out of place? Absolutely. Is the main protagonist absurdly young but amazing at everything? She’s 15 and a lauded assassin, so yes. The old fashioned quicks only poke their head up occasionally, though, so if you can forge through something like an Eddings you’ll be fine.
Re Card’s general person: I picked this up secondhand and the name of the author didn’t click. It’s out of print book, so if you want to give it a go, I’d recommend buying it that way instead of as an ebook so publishers don’t think Card’s work is making a comeback.
That’s not to say it’s missing any of its 80s, er, flair. Is the whole story cliché? Probably - I don’t know enough about classic sci fi tropes to say what came first. Are the sexual moments really off-putting and out of place? Absolutely. Is the main protagonist absurdly young but amazing at everything? She’s 15 and a lauded assassin, so yes. The old fashioned quicks only poke their head up occasionally, though, so if you can forge through something like an Eddings you’ll be fine.
Re Card’s general person: I picked this up secondhand and the name of the author didn’t click. It’s out of print book, so if you want to give it a go, I’d recommend buying it that way instead of as an ebook so publishers don’t think Card’s work is making a comeback.
November 19, 2021
Nauseating religiosity thinly veiled as sci-fi. At least "Until We Have Faces" by C.S Lewis, the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics— was brilliantly reimagined as the story of Cupid and Psyche. Till We Have Faces is a brilliant examination of envy, betrayal, loss, blame, grief, guilt, and conversion. It tears at your heart-strings regardless of your beliefs.
This book, in an attempt to do the same, has fallen flat on it's literary face. Firstly, Card is not a nice person like Lewis. He is an Evangelical, gun-waving, homophobic Trump supporter who hates anyone who doesn't share his myopic worldview, that his god is the right one, Jesus and Santa Claus were both white and spoke English and Bill O'Reilly and Tucker Carson are living saints. Secondly, C.S Lewis was a true genius and yet, by all accounts, very humble. He loved people and not just Christians as Card does. He found goodness in all colours and creeds. Card, although an excellent writer has decided to use his talent to deride and profane. Reading between the lines shows exactly what kind of person Card is. Exceedingly disappointed in this "novel".
This book, in an attempt to do the same, has fallen flat on it's literary face. Firstly, Card is not a nice person like Lewis. He is an Evangelical, gun-waving, homophobic Trump supporter who hates anyone who doesn't share his myopic worldview, that his god is the right one, Jesus and Santa Claus were both white and spoke English and Bill O'Reilly and Tucker Carson are living saints. Secondly, C.S Lewis was a true genius and yet, by all accounts, very humble. He loved people and not just Christians as Card does. He found goodness in all colours and creeds. Card, although an excellent writer has decided to use his talent to deride and profane. Reading between the lines shows exactly what kind of person Card is. Exceedingly disappointed in this "novel".
Read
September 17, 2015My thoughts on this book are deeply conflicted. Card's work was important to me in my youth, and my daughter is currently reading and enjoying quite a bit of his stuff, but I can't separate my thoughts on a book like this from everything I've learned about Card's life and political views. In this book especially, given the strange telepathic pushing of desire onto the main character, I can't help but wonder how much of this book came from Card's own tortured past.
I can't untangle that enough to even give it a rating.
I can't untangle that enough to even give it a rating.
February 1, 2022
If you enjoy Orson Scott Card's writing style you won't be disappointed. The world and character building were fantastic. The story had great emotional highs and lows. My only real complaint is how quickly the story wrapped up. I think if he had written this book later in his career he would have done a better job on that front.
I hope he gets his dream of turning this into a movie. I think it would make a fantastic animated or live-action film.
I hope he gets his dream of turning this into a movie. I think it would make a fantastic animated or live-action film.
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