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 enlarge | Author: Orson Scott Card
Publisher: Tor Books
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $7.98 (100%)
New (38) Used (92) Collectible (1) from $0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  187 reviews
Sales Rank: 49858
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0765355221
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780765355225
ASIN: 0765355221
Publication Date: November 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Average Card book (which is very good) October 29, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Almost harkens back to Heinlen, in both good and bad ways. If you liked Card's "Folk of the Fringe" books, you'll like this one; it has a similar feel. This book has even more of an an action-novel appeal than the 'shadow' series; nice, but my favorite part of Card's writing is where he deals with more interpersonal/societal issues.
 Yeah, it's biased; that's the point October 25, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
A lot of liberals read this book and get their feathers ruffled because Card portrays a handful of liberals as the bad guys and a handful of conservatives as the good guys. If that makes this book "Ann Coulter screed" then everything by Robert Heinlein is "Al Franken screed." Kurt Vonnegut is just Jane Fonda's puppet and Neal Stephenson copies Greenpeace pamphlets. Come on, people! Most Americans acknowledge that there is a liberal bias in newspapers and TV news broadcasts, and a conservative bias in talk radio. Why is it perfectly all right for there to be a liberal bias in the science fiction of Heinlein, Vonnegut, LeGuin, Bradbury, or Stephenson, but when Card (who is, like half the country, a conservative) allows his own political views to influence his novel, he is a mudslinger?
The story itself is a work of fiction, obviously; that being said, Card's afterword makes clear his opinion on the plausibility of the story. He claims that as liberals and conservatives become more polarized, we stop seeing each other as rational people and start seeing each other as ideologues. If I say I believe in protecting our environment, conservatives immediately assume I am pro-choice, I am anti-war, I am atheist and I want to bring class-action lawsuits against every gun manufacturer in the world; clearly I am a commie left-wing extremist. On the other hand, if I claim to support the privatization of Social Security, liberals immediately assume I am fascist, I drive a Hummer, I hate gays, and I blow up abortion clinics with bombs I purchased at a gun show.
How long do you think Americans can keep hating each other as ideologues and not get violent? Card observes, "A good working definition of fanaticism is that you are so convinced of your views and policies that you are sure anyone who opposes them must either be stupid and deceived, or have some ulterior motive. We are today a nation where almost everyone in the public eye displays fanaticism with every utterance." Fanaticism can only lead to hatred, and hatred can only lead to violence. This fictional story takes today's fanatical ideologies (not everyday liberal or conservative, but extremist on both sides) and carries them to the logical conclusion: war.
Bias doesn't make the book bad. It doesn't make any book bad, or good. It just is. How you react to someone else's bias can be socially irresponsible, however. You can accept the differences and disagree on the beliefs, or you can choose to hate the person. Which do you think is more civilized? Which do you think is more rational?
A solid title, although not his typical book October 16, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I knew going in it wasn't part of the Ender series...back covers do wonders. Anyone who says they were disappointed because they liked Ender's game and this wasn't Enders game needs to get their heads on straight. It's a solid book, not as good as his other works but his other works were phenomenal. This one is just good. Not great, not awesome just good.
The biggest disconnect has to come from the switch of main characters after the first few chaptes. It is hard to realign yourself as the story perspective changes pretty severely. Otherwise I have no gripes with the book...although this is one of the less grounded titles I have read from him.
 poor entertainment October 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Honestly it seems more of a statement about morals and politics then a story. Major ontrast to the ender series, which while very moral are also slow paced, this is jumping around like it is on crack, and sometimes makes as much sense. Plot is terrible and rather confusing on how it jumps around.
Disappointing from Card October 1, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
*** Spoilers ***
Although some people take issue with the politics of Card, for me, I could care less about that. I got the feeling throughout that he was writing from the viewpoint of a Republican-leaning character, so what would you expect to see other than Republican views? When I see a book written from the viewpoint of a murderous evil man, I don't expect to need to agree with the views of the character, and it's the same with the Republican views presented here.
Unfortunately, even if you get past that, the big problem with this book is just the book itself.
The idea is interesting enough, and I was actually interested after the first few chapters, where some people seem to have already given up. The trouble is, the characters - which I can only imagine were developed skilfully and carefully by Card before he wrote this, as it's one of his strengths throughout his fiction - read like cardboard cut-outs, and lacked the character to get you involved in their viewpoint. I was shocked by that, as the reason I tend to read Card's fiction in the first place is because of his characterizations.
But it was missing here. When Reuben was killed, I was genuinely apathetic. I didn't care one bit, because the book hadn't made me care. Meanwhile, the story itself was sluggish, and at times seemed to labor over the points it was making. A lot of what was done could have been done more sharply and concisely, and it felt at times as though the writing was padding, the kind of scenes and focus that would be better brushed over in summary, rather than stumbled over a word at a time.
In the end, it's a pity. The idea is interesting enough, and Card certainly has the skills to transform the idea into a wonderful book. Unfortunately, this isn't it.
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