Orson Scott Card Month

Worthy of Note is celebrating April 2011 as Orson Scott Card month. There's no particular rhyme or reason to it: I just found that I had read a number of his works recently, so there were quite a few of those reviews still in the pipeline.  At the end of the month, I will populate this list with links to their respective reviews, and continue updating this page after other reviews that might follow. Enjoy the series!

The Ender Saga

Ender's Game (13 Aug. 2010)
Ender in Exile (23 Sept. 2010)
Speaker for the Dead (8 Apr. 2011)
Xenocide (9 Apr. 2011)
Children of the Mind (11 Apr. 2011)
Ender's Shadow (15 Apr. 2011)
Shadow of the Hegemon (19 Apr. 2011)
Shadow Puppets (25 Apr. 2011)
Shadow of the Giant (29 Apr. 2011)

The Tales of Alvin Maker:

Seventh Son (14 Apr. 2011)
Red Prophet (16 Apr. 2011)
Prentice Alvin (20 Apr. 2011)
Alvin Journeyman (21 Apr. 2011)
Heartfire (26 Apr. 2011)
The Crystal City (27 Apr. 2011)

Other Works

Enchantment (17 Jan. 2011)
Pathfinder (12 Apr. 2011)
The Lost Gate (30 Apr. 2011)

[Originally published 8 Apr. 2011]
[Updated and reposted 30 Apr. 2011]

Orson Scott Card: The Lost Gate

I'm not sure there's a more fitting conclusion to this blog's month-long celebration of Orson Scott Card than a review of his latest work, "The Lost Gate." It is more than a spectacular stand-alone story in his already impressive bibliography. It introduces the new world of Westil and Mittlegard, and launches the new "Mithermages" series. It is a story that has languished in Card's private thoughts (what Hollywood execs might call 'development hell') since 1977, the year that Card's short story "Ender's Game" was first published in the Analog Science Fact and Fiction magazine. The world of Mithermages may be the most fully realized world Card has yet crafted, and for that reason I highly recommend "The Lost Gate."

The novel begins in a small compound in Virginia, where the young god Danny has begun to wonder if he's really a god at all.  Danny is a North, one of the many families that came to Earth long ago from the land of Westil and became the basis for all the legends and myths of ancient gods. But the 'Great Gate' that connected them to Westil was severed, and the blood of the families has diminished in power. Danny has no skill with animals or elements. He doesn't even have a 'clant' or 'outself' that is the basis for other Westilians' power. Danny begins to fear he may be a drekka, a magic-less child, as worthless as the human drowthers who lack any awareness of magic at all.

Orson Scott Card: Shadow of the Giant

In this conclusion of the Shadow series, Card continues with the ongoing wars between the major powers of China, the Muslim League, and India, while focusing Peter’s attempt to unify the world.

It becomes clear that while the Battle School graduates remain on Earth, there will always be powers that will want them to start wars and conquer. Because of this, Graff and Rackham find these graduates and proposes a way out: ship out on your own colony and rule your own world. While this is intriguing to some, others love being in control of their home country.

Orson Scott Card: The Crystal City

Most historical fantasies are grounded in a mythic view of medieval Europe, involving sweeping romances with princesses and castles. In his later novel Enchantment, Orson Scott Card deliberately stepped outside this fairy-tale tradition to craft a fantasy-romance grounded in Eastern European history and culture. But this was not his first attempt. His early series, "The Tales of Alvin Maker," also sought to create a unique historical fantasy, rooted not in Europe but in America. In these novels Orson Scott Card has hybridized the fairy tale and the tall tale, and made a legitimately and uniquely American fantasy universe.

The first novel, Seventh Son, depicts the setting (an alternate-universe American frontier) and introduces the main character, Alvin Smith, who discovers in his childhood that he possesses a startling powerful 'knack' (magical ability) for Making. Its sequel, Red Prophet, constructed a broader setting and the meta-narrative for the whole series, particularly emphasizing the ongoing conflict between the white settlers and the native population and Alvin's future role in resolving it. The third novel, Prentice Alvin, depicts the 'training' phase in our hero's journey, as he learns to use his knack and starts gathering allies to help in his task. The fourth novel, Alvin Journeyman, resolves some of the residual conflicts and villains from past novels and introduces the main nemesis: Alvin's own brother, who is himself a Maker. The fifth novel, Heartfire, shows how Alvin and his wife Peggy use their knacks to effect social change in New England and the Crown Colonies, and how Alvin's brother is reintroduced into their lives.

Orson Scott Card: Heartfire

"Heartfire" is the fifth novel in the "Tales of Alvin Maker." As I mentioned previously, I hold the fourth entry, "Alvin Journeyman," to be the highlight of Orson Scott Card's historical fantasy series. I also mentioned that I consider it superior because the story features Verily Cooper, an English barrister with the best 'knack' in the series. If this is true, then "Heartfire" is proof positive that you really can't have too much of a good thing.

"Heartfire" is my second favorite work in the "Alvin Maker" set, for the same reasons as my favorite. The primary plot features Alvin and Verily Cooper recruiting new members to their jolly band of misfits from the unlikeliest of places: New England, one of the last holdovers of the Puritan anti-witch laws that had practically outlawed the use of knacks. Along the way, they encounter the young orphan Purity, who grew up with a powerful knack for sensing others' feelings, but with an intense fear that she will suffer the same fate as her parents and condemned as a witch.

Orson Scott Card: Shadow Puppets

Shadow Puppets begin with the rescue of Achilles, done by the Hegemon army (Bean’s army from Thailand), without the consent of Bean. Peter believes that he can use Achilles to his advantage. Others, such as Bean and Petra, flee the Hegemon compound as soon as possible, in order to escape the immediate grasp of Achilles.

Bean and Petra travel in hiding together, and she finds out his deadly genetic alteration. This inspires her even more to want to marry Bean, and carry on his species of human. With hints from the last book, we find Bean and Petra in love with each other, despite Bean’s misgivings. It terrifies Bean to love someone so deeply, especially since the two women he loved and cared for before (Poke and Sister Carlotta), were murdered by Achilles. However, this fear does not stop Bean from marrying Petra, after meeting with Anton, and realizing his innate human desire to continue on his genes.

Rob Bell: "Love Wins"

**One of my friends, Josh Chambers, posted a brief Facebook status on "Love Wins," a book he had recently finished reading. I asked about his opinion of the book, and he responded with a number of comments that looked for all the world like a standard-length book review. I asked and received permission to post here.  Enjoy!**

I just finished reading "Love Wins" by Rob Bell. I see why it caused a controversy, but I thoroughly enjoyed the perspective Bell brought to the whole 'heaven and hell' scene.

When the book was first publicized, "Love Wins" was portrayed by many evangelicals as a universalist tract. Indeed, Rob Bell makes some claims that are universalist-esque, mainly that all punishment is for the purpose of redemption and thus hell cannot be forever. His reasoning is chiefly based on attempting to ascertain the nature of God as loving and using that to argue that such a god would not change his nature toward an individual after death in exacting justice upon them when He has given him/her nothing but mercy and grace for the duration of his/her life. Bell argues that this trend would invariably continue, and that hell would only last as long as the individual therein continued to reject the grace God was continually offering him/her even at that point.

Orson Scott Card: Alvin Journeyman

At last.  With this fourth entry in the "Tales of Alvin Maker," Orson Scott Card's historical fantasy series really enters the Promised Land. "Alvin Journeyman" is, in my opinion, the best novel in the series, and is certainly one of his finest works to date.

"Alvin Journeyman" begins and ends with Calvin Smith, Alvin's younger brother. Because the eldest son had died shortly after Alvin's birth, Calvin is also born with the knack of Making, for he too is the seventh son of a seventh son. Unfortunately, he grows up resentful, angry at being overshadowed by his elder brother, and ultimately runs away from his home in Vigor Church. He makes his way to New Amsterdam (in this universe, "New York" remained in the possession of its original Dutch settlers), then to England, and then to France, working his way into the good graces of Napoleon Bonaparte himself.

Orson Scott Card: Prentice Alvin

"Prentice Alvin" is the third novel in Orson Scott Card's historical fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker." Having established the alternate-history universe of Alvin's America, and expanded the universe to include the voices of both white settlers and "Red" natives, Card now moves to bring Alvin into maturity within the world he has created. The first novel was about Alvin's realization that he possessed a knack for Making; the second novel gave him a purpose and context in which to use that knack. Here, in the third novel, Alvin finally digs deeper into his knack -- what it is and how to use it.

The novel begins with a vignette of sorts, about a slave plantation in Apalachee. The owner, Cavil Planter, is introduced as "a godly man, a church-going man, a tithepayer." But his wife is sickly and infertile, and Cavil is tormented by the thought that God was punishing him, by denying him a wife and an heir. He goes to the Bible and reads the account of Abraham, who slept with the servant-girl Hagar to produce an heir. It takes a while, but Cavil at length succumbs to the temptation, and (encouraged by the "Unmaker" appearing as an angel of light) ultimately becomes one of those beastly owners who sleeps with every slave-girl on his plantation.

Orson Scott Card: Shadow of the Hegemon

"Shadow of the Hegemon" is the direct sequel to "Ender’s Shadow." Instead of taking place in space, Shadow of the Hegemon focuses on the lives of the Battle School students as they return to Earth. However, as soon as they reach Earth, their lives are in danger, as the insane Achilles is on the loose.

Ender’s jeesh (or army), is captured by Achilles, all except one: Bean. Achilles has not forgotten the humiliation that Bean put him through at Battle School and attempts to murder him and his family. Eventually, Achilles also murders Sister Carlotta, and with it, Bean finds out the truth about his genetics. While his brain will keep growing, his body will as well, and likely, won’t live past the age of 20.