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I first discovered Orson Scott Card when I picked up a book entitled "The Seventh Son". I loved it and devoured the next five books in the series.
I read "Ender's Game", Speaker of the Dead", and "Ender's Shadow". I also read the sequel to "Ender's Shadow" that I can't remember the title . Of these I enjoyed "Ender's Shadow" and "Ender's Game". I jut couldn't get into the others.
Some time ago I discovered Mr. Card's "Homecoming" series. I almost didn't get past the first book, "The Memory of Earth", but decided to give "The Call to Earth" a try. Then I got curious to just where the next book, "The Ships of Earth" would lead and have since picked up the next one, "Earthfall", that I'm looking forward to reading.
Just this week I finished another work by Mr. Card entitled "The Songmaster" about the life of a boy with a singing voice that could bring grown men to tears. A voice with power enough to affect an empire. It starts when Ansset is only 3 years old until he's an old man. Very, very well done for a stand alone novel.
Not long ago I also found another of Mr. Card's stand alone novel called "The Folk of the Fringe". It's about a group of nuclear holocaust survivors in what's left of the United States, and how they set about certain individuals finding a way to rebuild civilization. I haven't read this one yet either.
The thing is most of us are associated to Mr. Card through his Ender inspired books, but I'm discovering there's much more to Mr. Card's creativity.
I'll just add that I thoroughly enjoyed his fantasy novel, "The Treasure Box", too. Great read about a man who gets involved with a modern day witch.
All this makes me wonder if Mr. Card has written any other gems that I might not know about. Kinda makes me go hmmmmmm.
[This message has been edited by Crystal Stevens (edited January 23, 2011).]
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I'd forgotten about "Enchantment". I've read that one too, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very well done.
Posts: 1320 | Registered: May 2008
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Flux is a science fiction anthology and my second favorite Card book after Ender's Game.
Lovelock (co-written) didn't reach anywhere near its potential and made several sudden trips across the room while I read it, but many people loved it as is.
Homebody is romantic suspense/fantasy that can forever change the way one feels about historic houses and is a good follow-up to Treasure Box.
The Alvin Maker series provides an interesting twist on American political and religious histories and contributed to the name of this site.
*Edited because the author still has OCD tendencies.
[This message has been edited by aspirit (edited January 23, 2011).]
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OSC creates (super)heroes we love, because they possess abilities we desire and human failings we share that they ultimately rise above. He is a writer of Hope and Possibility. I believe that is what attracts me to his writing.
THE SONGMASTER, and the ENDER series (both those of Ender and his siblings and of Bean) are definitive examples as these type of characters. I would similarly recommend his The WORTHING CYCLE.
I enjoyed ENCHANTMENT as well, being a Yiddishe kopf and of Ukrainian ancestry.
Respectfully, History
[This message has been edited by History (edited January 23, 2011).]
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I haven't read that widely in Card's oeuvre, if that's how that's spelled...but there was a time in the early 1980s when I went back and dug out every short story of his I could find in my collection...and then, after I started coming here, I picked up the Alvin Maker series---and regretted not doing so much sooner.
I've given a pass on the Ender's series, basically from not liking the first one when I saw in Analog way, way back...but a lot of stuff I "didn't get" has improved at second glance, and, given how much I liked some of what I have read, I might like it now. But there's so damned much out there that commands my attention!
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I recently discovered OSC works too. I picked up Ender's Game late last year. I had apparently been living under a rock and had not heard of it. From Then until the middle of January I read all of the Ender Series and the Shadow Series. I couldn't stop reading them. I was in love with just about every character in those books and could not stop turning pages to find out what happened to them next.
Of course, now I need another book to pick up (once I finish this issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction). The writer in me says its time to read another author for another style. But the reader in me screams to buy another OSC book.
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I saw "The Seventh Son", if its the one I'm thinking of, when it first came out. Not sure why I didn't buy it but I'm not sure if I've seen any of the others in the series, maybe book two.
It takes place on an alternate US frontier?
At first I was thinking of an anthology of a mountain man in the old west someone wrote stories about. He rides a unicorn, knows how to fight a dragon, can influence someone by carving a likeness of them and carries a couple of different very old cups...one heals any injury if you drink out of it and the other well, lets just say you don't want to touch it. But then I remembered the real seventh son book. An interesting concept to say the least.
Some of the others mentioned I don't believe I have seen. "The Enders Game" is the most well known and is everywhere but some of his other books seem not to show up very often. But I need to see about finding certain ones.
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"Seventh Son" is part of the Alvin Maker series...which, of course, gives the name to this website, too...
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I found most of the more recent books I've read by OSC at my favorite used bookstore. It's proven to be a treasure trove of reading material for me. Maybe you can find one near you?
Posts: 1320 | Registered: May 2008
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Only a truly brilliant and distorted mind could have come up with the clever and disgusting world of Treason. I applaud his skill in every aspect of that masterpiece while simultaneously I loathe the book. What a strange juxtaposition.
Posts: 38 | Registered: Jan 2011
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quote:My local Barnes and Noble only carry a few of his books. But that changes sometimes so it could be a good idea to check again.
Anything B&N carries in its virtual book store can be ordered into one of their bricks and mortar stores without any shipping charges (and without commitment, as they'll just put it on the shelf if you don't show up to purchase it after some set interval.)
Posts: 1911 | Registered: Mar 2007
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<<...one is about a planet of humans controlled by a computer who has started to malfunction.>>
Yes, that is the "Homecoming" series I've been reading. I'm through the first three books and have the fourth, though it'll be awhile before I get to it. Too many books ahead of it yet waiting for me to read .
The first book in that series is "Memory of Earth", and it's best to read them in order. Just a suggestion, of course.
Interesting characters trying to figure out an interesting puzzle, with the "prologue"-type stuff told in bits and pieces at the beginning of each chapter (works better that way, I think).
This is the first in a series, and promises a lot more interesting stuff in subsequent books. But it doesn't leave me hanging--there's enough resolution to satisfy. I really hate cliff-hanger books.
And I've already posted this in another topic in this area, so my apologies if you've already read my post.
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There could be more than 4, but I'm not sure. I thought there would be only three when I began the series and was surprised when the story didn't end there. It gets much more interesting by the third book.
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I've stopped reading OSC, but the only book I read outside the Ender series was "Pastwatch" which was simply great.
Posts: 450 | Registered: Sep 2005
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I enjoy Card's books but to be honest I find myself tired of his style. I have a similar experience with other authors (Michael Crighton, Dan Brown, Terry Pratchett, etc.) At some point I realize they use the same phrases or grammar attributes. It's hard trying to read more from them if the style is not appealing anymore.
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I might have seen it but I can't recall what it is about. May not have realized it was his latest.
Posts: 5289 | Registered: Jun 2010
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I thought all the Ender stuff was really great. Originally Enders Game was by far my favorite, but then I really like the ethical quandaries found in Xenocide, Speaker and even Children of the Mind ((although Children got a little wonky in the end.)). His geopolitical themes of the Shadow aren't bad at all, Peter has got to be one of my favorite characters.
I found myself bothered by the trend of having gay males renounce themselves to have families and children ((with a heterosexual woman)) to follow their genes, as if they simply couldn't adopt, or have children some other means. As a single character it wouldn't bother me, but as a theme it's a little disturbing. Even worse the heterosexual women in this situations who seem satisfied with a husband who isn't actually interested in them sexually. We see this both in Earthfall and the Shadow series.
Both Pathfinder and the Lost Gate, which I read in quick succession, I found to be not as sophisticated as his earlier work. There were no moral quandaries, but instead physical and scientific ones and this was much less compelling for me.
All in all though it's safe to say I'm obsessed with OSC.
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I am not an atheist and have a great deal of interest in Old Testament stuff in general. So when I saw OSC's book Sarah I immediately bought it, read it twice, loved it, recommend it. I would really like to see his rendition of the story of Ruth and Naomi... pretty sure he hasn't written that one yet. Does he take requests?
[This message has been edited by DRaney (edited March 14, 2011).]
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Been an OSC fan for a while, and have read all but the last two. If you're looking for something different, try EMPIRE and HIDDEN EMPIRE (which I just finished) for a great take on the modern American political climate. A bit scary, those.
I also really love STONE TABLES, his take on the part of Moses' story not found in the bible.
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. Of these I enjoyed "Ender's Shadow" and "Ender's Game". I jut couldn't get into the others.
