Two books arrived in the mail yesterday, one new author for me and one I've tried previously and want to explore a bit more. I'll update those and also continue with my look at the Sci-Fi novel, with today's author being Orson Scott Card.
New Books
"A MISSING RELATIVE....
Something of value was buried beneath the underwater dome city of Marinia...something that had already cost one man's life, caused another man's kidnapping and gravely affected still another man's future.
Expelled from the Sub-Sea Academy on trumped-up charges, Jim Eden wasn't about to wait around to prove his innocence. As soon as he learned that his uncle mysteriously disappeared while mining uranium at the bottom of hazardous Eden Deep, Jim knew what he had to do...and that he had to do it fast.
So he headed for the vast dome city -- location of the great mining colony at the bottom of the sea -- to pick up any clues to his uncle's disappearance. But once he had entered the undersea metropolis, the wrong people had his number...and they were determined that Jim would sink forever without a trace."
"‘The Starberths die of broken necks’ goes the legend in the village of Chatterham . . .'
The Starberth family governed the now-abandoned Chatterham prison for many years, and each male heir must spend the night of his twenty-fifth birthday there, alone, overlooking the hanging site of Hag’s Nook.
Meanwhile, after a chance encounter on a railway platform, Dorothy Starberth and young American graduate Tad Rampole fall in love. Rampole is here in rural Lincolnshire to see Gideon Fell. The following day, Dorothy’s brother is found dead of a broken neck, just as his father and grandfather before him."
The Science Fiction Novel - Orson Scott Card
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| Orson Scott Card |
The first two books in Ender won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. Ender's Game was originally published as a novelette in 1977. He expanded it to a novel in 1985 to make it a suitable precursor for the adult Ender's second novel, Speaker for the Dead. Card has been a prolific writer and I'll provide a link to his complete works at the end. I purchased Ender's Game a few years back but kept taking it off my book shelf and putting it back. I finally returned it to my local used book store.
But I finally saw the movie based on the book and it tweaked my interest in trying the story again. I finally read it in 2018 and enjoyed very much. I've not got the 2nd and 4th books in the series on my bookshelf. Let's take a look at those three books
"Ender's Game is the first book in the Ender Saga by Orson Scott Card. I had purchased this book back in early 2000ish and after picking it up and putting it down a number of times traded the book in. I don't know if I was intimidated by it or if I'd read something about it or the author that put me off, but for some reason I decided not to read it. A few years back I saw the movie based on the book and quite enjoyed so thought I'd try again. I had a new copy added to my bookshelves and this year made it one of my reading challenges after a recommendation from a Goodreads friend.
The premise of the story is that the Earth has previously won two wars against the Buggers and expect another to occur. The planners want to take the war to the Buggers before they can get an attack in place and destroy them. Children, smart children, are chosen and sent to a training school in Outer Space to become the future military leaders, making them enhance military geniuses. Where Ender lives in the US, families are permitted only two children. Ender is a 3rd, granted under a special exemption. He is picked on by his brother, protected by his sister. At an earlier age than most, he is sent to the training facility. Over the majority of the book, we see him learning to lead, picked on by some, but showing leadership skills beyond his age, until he is sent to Command school to finish his training, with the aim he will lead the final battle. As well, we also see his sister and brother back on Earth, an interesting, unique story line there.
That is the basic story. I found it was a slow burn for me, but gradually I found myself being drawn in more and more. In many ways it's a cruel story, how the government takes these children and makes them adults and warriors before their time, destroying childhood and innocence.
I liked Ender and many of his friends. Valentine, his sister, is a wonderful character and I also liked Graff, the Colonel, who must train Ender but also cares for him deeply. The final chapters become more and more fascinating and the ending is quite a surprise. It left me feeling more hopeful and positive than the beginning and also made me interested in getting into the 2nd book, Speaker for the Dead. (4 stars)"
"In this second book in the saga set 3,000 years after the terrible war, Ender Wiggin is reviled by history as the Xenocide--the destroyer of the alien Buggers. Now, Ender tells the true story of the war and seeks to stop history from repeating itself. ...
In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War.
Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth."
"At the start of Children of the Mind, Jane, the evolved computer intelligence, is using her newly discovered abilities to take the races of buggers, humans and pequeninos outside the universe and back instantaneously. She uses these powers to move them to distant habitable planets for colonization. She is losing her memory and concentration as the vast computer network connected to the ansible is being shut down. If she is to survive, she must find a way to transfer her soul to a human body."
The complete list of Card's works can be found at this link.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
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