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Orson Scott Card

1951-

Reviewed by Kat Hooper,
Robert Thompson,
Stefan Raets, Terry Weyna

Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction and fantasy, but he also writes thrillers and historical novels. Card is the first person to win the Hugo and Nebula awards for a novel and its sequel, two years in a row (Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, in 1986 and 1987). Card was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He lived in Brazil for two years as a missionary for the Mormon Church. He received degrees from Brigham Young University (1975) and the University of Utah (1981). He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina with his wife and five children. See a catalog of all his works at Orson Scott Card's website.

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The Worthing Chronicle — (1979-1990) Publisher: It was a miracle of science that permitted human beings to live, if not forever, then for a long, long time. Some people, anyway. The rich, the powerful — they lived their lives at the rate of one year every ten. Somec created two societies: that of people who lived out their normal span and died, and those who slept away the decades, skipping over the intervening years and events. It allowed great plans to be put in motion. It allowed interstellar Empires to be built. It came near to destroying humanity. After a long, long time of decadence and stagnation, a few seed ships were sent out to save our species. They carried human embryos and supplies, and teaching robots, and one man. The Worthing Saga is the story of one of these men, Jason Worthing, and the world he found for the seed he carried.

Orson Scott Card Capitol, Hot Sleep, The Worthing Chronicle, The Worthing Saga

Ender Wiggin — (1985-2012) Publisher: In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut — young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If the world survives, that is. Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Orson Scott Card 1. Ender's Game 2. Speaker for the Dead 3. Xenocide 4. Children of the Mind 5. A War of Gifts 6. Ender in Exile

1. Ender's Shadow 2. Shadow of the Hegemon 3. Shadow Puppets 4. Shadow of the Giant 5. Shadows in Flight

Ender’s Game

Ender Wiggin is a “Third.” His parents were allowed to have him only because their first two children, Peter and Valentine, showed so much promise. Earth is expecting another Bugger attack from outer space and humans are desperately trying to breed and train the children who they hope will be Earth’s saviors. Peter, Valentine, and Ender Wiggin are all geniuses, but Ender seems to have just the right balance of intelligence, resolve, independence, and sensitivity to make a great leader for Earth’s international forces.

When Ender is only six years old, the International Fleet comes to take him away to Battle School. There he meets dozens of other little geniuses, some who resent Ender for his quick advancement, and some who would even like to get him out of the way. Does Ender have what it takes to make it through the rigorous training and to become the military hero that Earth hopes for? Or, as he fears, will he grow up to be like his tyrannical and sadistic older brother?

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card was published in 1985 and was based on a short story that Card wrote in 1977. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. The focus is on Ender’s psychological drama as he is raised by indifferent parents (they know he’ll be taken away at an early age), tortured by a cruel brother, separated from his beloved sister, and cast without a friend into a highly competitive and often hostile environment where he’s expected to rise to the top. During all of this, Ender wonders if he will be responsible for saving Earth, or destroying it. There’s a lot resting on Ender’s little shoulders and the tension never lets up. At times Ender becomes whiny and emotionally overwrought, but who can blame him?

The main characters in Ender’s Game are young children and there are plenty of silly jokes about farts and butts, but there’s also some bad language, quite a lot of violence, and discussions about diplomacy and politics that will be too heavy for younger readers. Ender’s got plenty of personal flaws, too, and he has to deal with some major ethical issues such as does the end justify the means?

Thus, Ender’s Game is classified as Young Adult. Teens will enjoy Ender’s training at Battle School. The trainees are divided into teams and the battle tactics they learn are practiced in mock battles under zero gravity conditions. These scenes are great fun and, surprisingly, they don’t become dull because the difficulty and the stakes keep rising. During his time off, Ender plays a fantasy RPG that he wants to conquer without realizing why. He doesn’t understand why the game acts as it does, but it turns out to have a provocative significance later on.

Ender’s Game is fast-paced and becomes steadily more intense as the book goes on. Near the end there’s a huge twist that will leave your jaw on the floor, and several other tantalizing discoveries follow. I look forward to reading more about these in the first sequel, Speaker for the Dead, which also won both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

Interestingly, the U.S. Marines has Ender’s Game on its Professional Reading List, explaining in their Ender’s Game Discussion Guide that “Ender’s Game is more than about the difficulty and excitement that competition provides in preparing for combat. There are lessons in training methodology, leadership, and ethics as well. Such richness in range and treatment has made Card’s book an oft-read and re-read title for many years; Ender’s Game has been a stalwart item on the Marine Corps Reading List since its inception.”

I read Audio Renaissance’s full-cast audio version of Ender’s Game which was narrated mostly by Stefan Rudnicki (my favorite reader), Harlan Ellison, Gabrielle De Cuir, and David Birney. There’s also a cameo by Orson Scott Card. This audiobook is terrific. There’s also a long but interesting author’s note at the end, read by Orson Scott Card. He talks about the book, the audiobook production, and the upcoming movie (set for release on March 15, 2013). I’m looking forward to that movie. —Kat Hooper

Speaker for the Dead

It’s been 3000 years since Ender Wiggin, as a child, was tricked into committing xenocide. While he and his sister Valentine traveled the universe and benefited from the effects of space-time relativity, Ender’s name has been reviled on Earth and all the inhabited planets. He is infamous for his childhood deeds, but almost everyone thinks he’s been dead for centuries. They don’t realize that the man who holds the respected position of Speaker for the Dead is actually Ender Wiggin. And they don’t know that the Hive Queen of the Buggers still lives and that Ender has vowed to find her a new home. When Ender is called to the planet Lusitania to speak the death of a beloved xenologer, he thinks he may have finally found a suitable place for the Hive Queen to resurrect her race.

In the author’s afterward to Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card explains that this was the novel he had always intended to write and that Ender’s Game, its more famous and popular prequel, was just an introduction. I’m sure that’s why, as much as I loved Ender’s Game as a thrilling action-packed YA adventure, I liked Speaker for the Dead even more. This is a more mature, thoughtful, and far-reaching story.

Card explains that he wanted to explore this question: “What do we do about dead people whose lives were really crummy? What do we do about people who were vicious... What do you say at the funeral?” He suggests that we deal with this by lying, or by erasing the person they really were, re-making them, after their death, into the person we wish they had been. To address this human tendency, Card created the function of Speaker for the Dead — an objective outsider who would learn about the person who had died and would then speak the truth about him. This would involve uncovering not only the person’s good and bad deeds, but also the background that would let his acquaintances understand why he became the person he was. Card effectively uses the role of Speaker for the Dead to show us that there may be a very good reason why a “bad” person turns out that way. Not that this excuses his behavior, but it at least makes it understandable and may help us see how our own behaviors could have contributed to it. Perhaps then we can be more forgiving.

There is way more going on in Speaker for the Dead than this, though. Card explores the sciences of cultural anthropology and genetics as researchers on Lusitania are learning about the native alien species that live there. In so doing, he manages to touch on ecology, biodiversity, virology, xenophobia, cultural elitism, our motivations for scientific study of other species, and how advancing technologies drastically change a culture. He asks us to consider when we should disobey our government and when we should abandon the ethical principles we’ve sworn to uphold. He asks us to constantly question all of our previous knowledge.

Though this is a meaty and thought-provoking work, Speaker for the Dead is populated with characters you can love, hate, or otherwise relate to, and Card holds it all together with a heart-wrenching story about loneliness, bullying, abuse, hate, jealousy, adultery, incest, companionship, guilt, forgiveness, redemption, love, and death. There’s a lot going on here.

At the conclusion of Speaker for the Dead Ender finds that, once again, he has both destroyed and saved lives, and he is severely misunderstood by most of his fellow humans. He has accomplished much in Speaker for the Dead, but there is more trouble literally on the horizon. I can’t wait to see how he deals with it in the third ENDER WIGGIN novel, Xenocide.

Speaker for the Dead was published in 1986 and, like its prequel Ender’s Game, it won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Orson Scott Card the first author to win both awards two years in a row. It also won the Locus Award. I listened to Audio Renaissance’s full-cast audio production of Speaker for the Dead. It’s excellent and highly recommended. —Kat Hooper

The Tales of Alvin Maker — (1987-2003) Young Adult. Historical Fantasy. Available for download at Audible.com. Publisher: From the author of Ender's Game, an unforgettable story about young Alvin Maker: the seventh son of a seventh son. Born into an alternative frontier America where life is hard and folk magic is real, Alvin is gifted with the power. He must learn to use his gift wisely. But dark forces are arrayed against Alvin, and only a young girl with second sight can protect him.

Orson Scott Card The Tales of Alvin Maker: Seventh Son, Red Prophet, Prentice Alvin, Alvin Journeyman, Heartfire, The Crystal City

Seventh Son

As the SF world collectively held its breath for the third Ender novel, Orson Scott Card switched gears and delivered the first volume of an alternate history/fantasy saga that would grow to be as nearly revered as Ender's. Seventh Son has some of the most heartfelt and emotionally genuine writing of Card's whole career. The first tale of Alvin Maker is both gentle and comforting, like a parent's embrace, and foreboding. It's a story of destiny set in a nation that, like the book's protagonist, is in its childhood, born in strife, with all of its hard lessons and growing pains yet to come.

Superficially, one notes an immediate resemblance to Ender's Game. With that novel, and other stories like his stunning novelette "Unaccompanied Sonata," Card's favorite thematic obsessions at this time tended to involve the loss of innocence in the face of the world's cruelty. Seventh Son is about another gifted child, Alvin Miller, born under hardship to a pioneer family in an alternate America at the onset of the 19th century. As per the title, Alvin Junior is the seventh son of a seventh son, born with unusual powers in a world where natural magics are common, if held in mistrust and outright fear by the conventionally religious.

The novel's first five chapters comprise the Hugo-and-Nebula-nominated novella "Hatrack River," establishing Alvin's birth as a individual destined for both greatness and adversity. The story is one of fantasy's most overt religious allegories, yet it's not an exercise in proselytizing. And many readers might be surprised at how a religious conservative like Card could portray such characters as the passionate minister Reverend Thrower as a pitiful, dogmatic, and easily terrorized fanatic. But look closely, and you'll see that even Reverend Thrower is no shallow stereotype. In his way, he's as deeply sympathetic a character as anyone else in the story, a man who sincerely believes what he believes and, as misguided as he is, only wants the best for his community and cannot see how the very dogma to which he's subscribed can only have the opposite effect.

While the story avoids stereotypes, though, it positively basks in archetypes. But this choice is established clearly by Card from its opening. We know what we're getting, and that we aren't being patronized. The narrative intent here is to explore archetypes, and why they are important in building the myths that define cultures. Alvin learns he is a Maker, able to shape items at the molecular level, including performing healings. A childish prank leads to a hard lesson in using his powers in the service of others and not petty personal gain. He also learns that there is a force attempting to destroy him — associated with water; Alvin's oldest brother was drowned on the day of Alvin's birth while protecting their mother — and one attempting to protect him.

Midway through the story, Alvin is met by the poet William Blake, who appears here as the nomadic Taleswapper. Taleswapper becomes part mentor and part apostle to Alvin. He is the one who will chronicle Alvin's story for the ages, the storyteller — like Homer and the authors of the Gospels — whose task it is to put into words the lives of mythic figures who in turn serve as examples to later generations. Through Taleswapper's influence, Alvin learns of the efforts of the Unmaker to destroy him, and that he has a great if yet undetermined destiny to fulfill in bettering his world. Alvin's father learns to confront his anger and resentment towards the boy, whom he still holds somewhat responsible for his oldest son's death. But there is little understanding from the pathetic Reverend Thrower, whose efforts to cleanse the boy of "evil" are, unbeknownst to him, fully manipulated by the Unmaker.

All of this mythmaking is brought to vivid life when set against the backdrop of early America, even if it is an alternate one. There's a texture to the setting that makes the struggles and hopes of all of Card's characters real — at times, heart-wrenchingly so. In the end, for all its trading in the symbology of religious experience and Campbellian myth, Seventh Son is a humanistic story, revealing a deep love for humanity and its indomitable drive to overcome even the hardest struggles and persevere. Alvin's birth at the story's opening is like that of this or any country, a defiant affirmation of survival against nature. No person or nation is born without a little blood being shed. And if, in reality, we don't actually have any Alvin Makers out there to make our road easier, wishing that there might be one can give us a strength in ourselves we didn't know we had. —Thomas Wagner
This review by Thomas M. Wagner is reprinted from his website SFReviews.net by special arrangement.

Maps in a Mirror — (1992-1993) Fantasy/Sci-fi story collections. Publisher: Maps in a Mirror brings together nearly all of Orson Scott Card's short fiction written between 1977 and 1990. For those readers who have followed this remarkable talent since the beginning, here are all those amazing stories gathered together in one place, with some extra surprises as well. For the hundreds of thousands who are newly come to Card, here is chance to experience the wonder of a writer so versatile that he can handle everything from traditional narrative poetry to modern experimental fiction with equal ease and grace. The brilliant story-telling of the Alvin Maker books is no accident; the breathless excitement evoked by the Ender books is not a once-in-a-lifetime experience. In this enormous volume are forty-six stories, plus ten long, intensely personal essays, unique to this volume. In them the author reveals some of his reasons and motivations for writing, with a good deal of autobiography into the bargain.

Orson Scott Card short stories Maps in a Mirror, The Changed Man, Flux, Cruel Miracles, Monkey Sonatas

Homecoming — (1992-1995) Publisher: High above the planet Harmony, the Oversoul watches. Its task, programmed so many millennia ago, is to guard the human settlement on this planet — to protect this fragile remnant of Earth from all threats. To protect them, most of all, from themselves. The Oversoul has done its job well. There is no war on Harmony. There are no weapons of mass destruction. There is no technology that could lead to weapons of war. By control of the data banks, and subtle interference in the very thoughts of the people, the artificial intelligence has fulfilled its mission. But now there is a problem. In orbit, the Oversoul realizes that it has lost access to some of its memory banks, and some of its power systems are failing. And on the planet, men are beginning to think about power, wealth, and conquest.

Orson Scott Card Homecoming 1. The Memory of Earth 2. The Call of Earth 3. The Ships of Earth 4. Earthfall 5. Earthborn

Empire — (2006-2009) Publisher: The American Empire has grown too fast, and the fault lines at home are stressed to the breaking point. The war of words between Right and Left has collapsed into a shooting war, though most people just want to be left alone. The battle rages between the high-technology weapons on one side, and militia foot-soldiers on the other, devastating the cities, and overrunning the countryside. But the vast majority, who only want the killing to stop, and the nation to return to more peaceful days, have technology, weapons and strategic geniuses of their own. When the American dream shatters into violence, who can hold the people and the government together? And which side will you be on? Orson Scott Card is a master storyteller, who has earned millions of fans and reams of praise for his previous science fiction and fantasy novels. Now he steps a little closer to the present day with this chilling look at a near future scenario of a new American Civil War.

Pathfinder — (2010-2012) Young adult. Publisher: A powerful secret. A dangerous path. Rigg is well trained at keeping secrets. Only his father knows the truth about Rigg's strange talent for seeing the paths of people's pasts. But when his father dies, Rigg is stunned to learn just how many secrets Father had kept from him — secrets about Rigg's own past, his identity, and his destiny. And when Rigg discovers that he has the power not only to see the past, but also to change it, his future suddenly becomes anything but certain. Rigg’s birthright sets him on a path that leaves him caught between two factions, one that wants him crowned and one that wants him dead. He will be forced to question everything he thinks he knows, choose who to trust, and push the limits of his talent… or forfeit control of his destiny.

YA young adult fantasy book reviews Orson Scott Card Pathfinder

Pathfinder

Rigg is a 13-year-old boy who lives in seclusion with his father, surviving as a trapper and only occasionally going to the nearest town to sell animals’ pelts. He is successful as a trapper in part because he has a unique ability: he can see the “paths” people and animals have taken, in the form of a colored trail that stretches behind them, showing where they’ve been. This way, he can track almost anything — “almost” because the only person who doesn’t have a trail is his father...

Of course, many readers will be able to predict where the story is going when they encounter a young boy with a mysterious ability being raised in relatively poor circumstances... and while Orson Scott Card does take a page out of the standard fantasy rulebook here, he also adds enough unique and surprising elements to the story to make Pathfinder a successful YA novel.

The first indication that this is not your standard Ugly Duckling fantasy are the short scenes that open every chapter, telling the story of a spaceship leaving a doomed Earth to try and start a human colony on a new planet, thirty-one lightyears away. There are enough hints scattered throughout the novel to show that there’s a connection between these science fiction scenes and the main story, but a large part of the fun of reading Pathfinder is discovering exactly how the two narratives relate to each other, so I won’t reveal more about this here and let you discover the surprising nature of the Pathfinder’s SF/fantasy universe and its magic system by yourself. Let’s just say that Orson Scott Card introduces some really neat concepts here, especially given that this a YA novel.

When Rigg inevitably leaves his humble beginnings to find his destiny, he is accompanied by his friend Umbo, who also has a unique skill: he is seemingly able to slow down time. When Umbo combines this ability with Rigg’s, they discover that they are able to travel back in time and that their actions in the past affect the present. This leads to some nifty twists and turns in Pathfinder’s plot, but also to some overly convoluted attempts to explain causality and time travel paradoxes, e.g. Umbo saying things like this: “I have to do it because I know I already did, only when I did it, it was the future, so I have to get to the future in order to come back and do what I already did.” While this was probably necessary early on to help YA readers with this relatively challenging concept, it happens a few times too often and starts to get annoying after a while.

Aside from this, the novel is fortunately a fast-moving and entertaining story that’s simply hard to put down. Orson Scott Card gradually reveals more of the fantasy world (and, as mentioned before, how it connects to the SF chapter openings), and a large part of the fun is the slow trickle of information that leads to a complete picture by the end of the book. The cast of characters is mostly engaging and easy to empathize with (although you may have to suspend disbelief quite a bit when you see Rigg’s transformation early on in the novel). There’s occasionally some repetitiveness in the dialogue, especially the ongoing friendly bickering between Umbo, Rigg and their companion Loaf, but all in all this story rarely gets boring and should keep you eager to find out how it all ends.

However, be warned: despite there being no indication of this on the cover, the ending of the book and the author’s afterword make it clear that Pathfinder is actually the opening volume in a series. While the novel has a solid resolution, by the end it’s clear that there’s more to the story. It would certainly have been nice to know that this is not a standalone! Let’s hope the next volume will remain as engaging at this one, now the mystery of some of the world-building has been revealed and the book will have to rely more on plot and characters.

Pathfinder is the kind of book that would have blown my mind when I was 13 or so, and as such, it’s a very successful YA novel that may just lead some younger readers to explore more SF and fantasy. As an adult reader, you’ll probably still have a great time with this book if you’re willing to suspend some disbelief and forgive some repetitiveness, but with its neat world-building and fast-paced, engaging plot, Pathfinder makes a great holiday gift if you want to steer your YA readers towards SF and fantasy. —Stefan Raets

Mither mages — (2011- ) Young adult. Stonefather is a novella set in the same world. Publisher: Danny North grew up in a family of gods — or at least the poor remnants of the mages who once went by names like Odin, Thor, and Freya. When the gates that led to their home world of Westil were closed by Loki in 632 A.D., the Families lost much of their power. Despite this loss of power, the Families still consider themselves far superior to drowthers, the name they use for humans. Drekka — mages that possess no magical talent — are considered little better than drowthers, and Danny North fears he is one. But when Danny finally does manifest his ability, it is unfortunately not a cause for celebration. For Danny is a gatemage, which is considered even worse than drekka, and if any of the Families were to learn of him, then he would be immediately killed. So Danny flees the family compound to make his own way in the world, at least until he learns to control his rare gift and hopefully reopen a gate between Mittlegard (Earth) and Westil. It won’t be easy though. Not onlydoes he face the ordinary dangers of a teenager trying to survive on his own in America, while hiding from mages who would kill him on sight, but there is also the mysterious Gate Thief, who seems determined to keep all gates to Westil closed by stripping gatemages of all their power...

Forthcoming: The Gate Thief

Orson Scott Card Stonefather Mither Mages

Related novella

The Lost Gate

FORMAT/INFO: The Lost Gate is 384 pages long divided over 23 titled/numbered chapters and an Afterword. For two thirds of the novel, narration is in the third-person via the teenage gatemage, Danny North. For the rest of the novel, narration is in the third-person omniscient, mostly following the adventures of the mysterious Wad. The Lost Gate comes to a satisfying stopping point, but is the first volume in the Mither Mages series. January 4, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of The Lost Gate via Tor.

ANALYSIS: The last — and only — time I read an Orson Scott Card novel, was Ender’s Game over ten years ago. Since then, I haven’t been interested in reading any more of the author’s work, until I heard about “Stonefather” — a short story that first appeared in the Wizards anthology edited by Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois, and then published in limited edition format by Subterranean Press — which acted as a preview to Orson Scott Card’s upcoming Mither Mages fantasy saga. Intrigued by the brief, yet enticing taste that “Stonefather” had to offer, I’ve been looking forward to starting the Mither Mages series for a couple of years now, which finally begins with The Lost Gate...

The Lost Gate introduces readers to a magic system that is over 30 years in the making and, in the author’s own words, would explain everything:

Elves and fairies, ancient mythical gods of every Indo-European culture, ghosts and poltergeists, werewolves and trolls and golems, seven-league boots and mountains that move, talking trees and invisible people — all would be contained within it.

The concept behind the magic system is fairly simple. There is Earth, or “Mittlegard” as it is called by the mages, and then there is the planet Westil, home of the mages, which includes mages of every kind: beastmages, plantmages, stonemages, seamages, firemages, et cetera. Connecting the two worlds are the Great Gates. By passing through a Great Gate, a mage’s power is “magnified a hundred times,” turning the mages of Westil into gods when they came to Mittlegard. Unfortunately, Loki sealed off all of the Great Gates in 632 A.D., and because of his actions, gate magic became forbidden. And without gate magic, no more Great Gates could be created. So now, over thirteen and a half centuries later, the “gods” of Mittlegard have become a faint shadow of their former selves.

From this setup, readers are treated to two storylines in The Lost Gate. The first concerns Danny North, a thirteen-year-old boy who believes he is a drekka — a mage with no magical talent — only to discover that he is actually a powerful, but forbidden gatemage. From here, the novel follows Danny as he attempts to make it on his own in the drowther — human — world, which includes begging and stealing, all the while trying to avoid the Families who would either kill him or use him, learning to live among the drowthers without arousing suspicion, and figuring out how to control his gate making abilities. Along the way, Danny meets his supporting cast — Eric, Stone, Marion and Leslie Silverman, Victoria Von Roth (Veevee), Hermia — including a Keyfriend and Lockfriend who help him with his powers...

For the most part, the Danny North portion of The Lost Gate — which reminded me of a Charles de Lint urban fantasy novel crossed with Harry Potter, Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, and Stephen Gould’s Jumper — was a lot of fun to read. Granted, the author utilizes a number of familiar young adult/coming-of-age elements in the book, and there were times I felt too much talking was going on, but Orson Scott Card has a real knack for writing a young protagonist, which is evident from Danny’s likable personality and the way that he talks, acts and thinks like a real teenager. Plus, the chapters move along at a fast pace, the dialogue, despite my feelings, was entertaining, and I just loved the whole gate magic concept and had a blast learning about gate magic as Danny does, including its rules, its benefits (healing, power magnification, etc.), and its dangers like the mysterious Gate Thief.

The second storyline takes place in the kingdom of Iceway, and focuses on another gatemage, a strange boy who can’t remember his past and is named Wad by the castle’s night cook. This portion of the novel has a fairy tale meets medieval fantasy vibe going on, complete with a king, queen, competing heirs, a concubine, royal bastards, assassinations and assassination attempts, betrayals, court intrigue, and wondrous magic. The themes and subject matter contained in this storyline are a bit darker and weightier than those found in the Danny North one, but as a whole, The Lost Gate is the kind of book that I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending to both teens and older readers alike.

Of these two storylines, I actually enjoyed reading about Wad more than I did Danny North and wish the author had spent more time on the strange gatemage — the majority of The Lost Gate focuses on Danny North — but I really like the way the two storylines overlap at the end of the book, resulting in some interesting revelations, while setting the stage for exciting developments to be explored in the next Mither Mages novel.

CONCLUSION: Because of familiar ideas and themes, not to mention shallow supporting characters and world-building, I’m not sure Orson Scott Card’s The Lost Gate has what it takes to become another classic like Ender’s Game. That said, The Lost Gate is without question a fun and entertaining journey that readers will definitely want to continue. I for one, can’t wait to read more about Danny, Wad, gate magic, and the Mither Mages. —Robert Thompson

The Lost Gate

In the fictional universe of Orson Scott Card’s latest novel The Lost Gate, what we think of as gods were actually people from another planet (called Westil), who arrived here through magical “Gates.” Passing back and forth through these Gates gave people with minor or latent magical powers huge boosts to their skills, resulting in god-like abilities — and as a result, they were often thought of as actual gods and entered Earth’s mythology. Some time in the 7th century, the trickster Loki closed all the gates between Earth and Westil, trapping all the “gods” here on Earth. Fast forward to the 21st century. Descendants of the Westillian “gods” still live on Earth, although greatly diminished in power. The North family are the many-times-removed children of the Norse gods, now living on a secluded compound in Virginia. Danny North, an adolescent member of the family and son of the current Odin (or family leader), grew up thinking he’s a “drekka” — meaning he seems to have no magical power at all, but early on in the book it becomes clear that Danny has some mysterious powers that indicate he may actually be a Gatemage. The ability to create Gates is the most powerful and most feared skill, because any family capable of creating Gates would quickly become strong enough to eliminate its rivals.

So starts The Lost Gate, the opening volume in the MITHER MAGES, Orson Scott Card’s newest fantasy series. In an interesting afterword, Card explains that the idea for the series goes back several decades but was put on hold, partly because, back then, fantasy wasn’t quite as popular yet as it is now — and in addition, the author had a huge hit SF series going with his ENDER books. Now that the MITHER MAGES has finally been taken off the back burner, it turns out to be an interesting but slightly disappointing entry in the fantasy genre.

The Lost Gate follows two parallel story lines, but the largest part of the novel is taken up by Danny’s story. As Danny flees his family, he takes up with a small-time criminal, ends up in Washington DC, meets some odd characters, and gradually discovers more about his powers. Danny is unfortunately a fairly annoying protagonist, filling the novel with juvenile humor and smart-alec back-and-forth banter that frankly becomes grating as the story continues. Fortunately Danny matures somewhat as the story continues, but for the majority of the time, he’s just not a very enjoyable character to follow.

The second story line follows a mysterious, nameless young man on the planet Westil, who arrives, sans most of his memories, in the middle of a courtly power struggle. Given the name Wad by the palace cook (after “Wad of Dough”), he gradually gets more embroiled in the intrigue between the King, the Queen and their lovers and hangers-on. Wad goes through a growing process that’s much more interesting and complex than Danny’s, but as we get to see much more of the Earth plot than the Westil plot, it’s not quite enough to make The Lost Gate a complete success.

On the plus side, The Lost Gate has an interesting magical system. The various “gods” have affinity with a specific element (be it animals, stone, plants, wind...) and, within each affinity, there are various levels of strength. Orson Scott Card never provides a Brandon Sanderson-style chart of the various abilities, and instead gradually introduces the various options as the story progresses. Even more interesting is the setup of the fictional universe, with the two worlds, connected in the past but now separated, influencing each other. The way Card explains the history of the various religions and fictional creatures on Earth by fitting them into his magic system is very nifty.

Other positives include Orson Scott Card’s reliably easy-flowing, page-turning prose style. The dialogue is often fun and snappy, although as mentioned before, there’s some juvenile humor and repetitive banter that I could have done without. Card also uses some plot devices that are simply too convenient and transparent to be plausible. You just can’t help thinking ‘wow, isn’t that a huge coincidence?’ at several points in the novel.

Still, despite an annoying main character and some iffy plot elements, this remains a fast and entertaining read with a level of depth that’s intriguing and promising for future books in the series. Orson Scott Card recently released Pathfinder, another novel about a young protagonist with unique powers, and in many ways it’s a more successful book than The Lost Gate. As The Lost Gate is only the first installment in a new series, it’ll be interesting to see how Orson Scott Card develops this intriguing fantasy universe. —Stefan Raets

Stonefather

Runnel isn’t appreciated by his family or his little village. His father abuses him, his siblings taunt him, and even his mother doesn’t seem overly fond. So one day he walks to the edge of his village and just keeps going. He’s never been outside of his village before, so everything is new. Eventually he comes to a city whose walls and bridges are crumbling. He’s told that this is the city of the water mages, the magicians who cast out the stone mages that built the beautiful city. After the mage war, the victorious water mages will only allow one stone mage in the town. He lives in a grand house and is treated with respect, but he is spied upon and mistrusted because if he ever brings his colleagues back into the city, the water mages fear that they’ll lose their ruling positions.

After meeting a friendly girl at the city’s well, Runnel follows her home and finds employment in the home of the stone mage. There he learns about the history and politics of this strange city, and he learns a lot about himself, too. It seems that Runnel may have an affinity for stone.

Stonefather is a novella that introduces Orson Scott Card’s MITHER MAGES series, which is aimed at young adults. As I’ve come to expect from Card, this story is beautifully written and contains deep and likable characters, a well-developed world with interesting magic, and an intriguing setting. This is a simpler, lighter and more relaxed read, though, than Card’s ENDER series, which was full of drama, tension and, best of all, lots of ideas. Stonefather doesn’t reach that level — it’s mostly a pleasant coming-of-age story — but it did occur to me that the mage war may be an allegory for the Christian and Muslim conflict in Jerusalem. I have no idea if this is Orson Scott Card’s intention, though.

As far as YA fiction goes, this is a good choice for a reader looking for a lovely low-stress read. In many ways it’s similar to the YA fantasy of Ursula K. Le Guin and Shannon Hale. I think Stonefather bodes well for the MITHER MAGES series and I will likely give the first novel, The Lost Gate, a try.

Stonefather has been published by Subterranean Press. The cover art, by Tom Kidd (one of my favorites) is stunning. I read the book in audio format (published by Blackstone Audio). It’s narrated by Janice Card, Orson Scott Card’s daughter. She does a terrific job with Stonefather. The gorgeous cover art is viewable when you download the audio version with an Audible app.
—Kat Hooper

Stand-alone novels:

Hart's Hope — (1982) Young adult. Available for download at Audible.com.
Publisher: A dark and powerful fantasy from the bestselling author of Ender’s Shadow. Enter the city of Hart’s Hope, ruled by gods both powerful and indifferent, riddled with sorcery and revenge. The city was captured by a rebellious lord, Palicrovol, who overthrew the cruel king, Nasilee, hated by his people. Palicrovol, too, was cruel, as befitted a king. He took the true mantle of kinghood by forcing Asineth, now Queen by her father’s death, to marry him, raping her to consummate the marriage. (But he was not cruel enough to rule.) He let her live after her humiliation; live to bear a daughter; live to return from exile and retake the throne of Hart’s Hope. But she, in turn, sent Palicrovol into exile to breed a son who would, in the name of the God, take back the kingdom from its cruel Queen.

Lost Boys — (1992) Young adult. Available for download at Audible.com. Publisher: For Step Fletcher, his pregnant wife DeAnne, and their three children, the move to tiny Steuben, North Carolina, offers new hope and a new beginning. But from the first, eight-year-old Stevie's life there is an unending parade of misery and disaster. Cruelly ostracized at his school, Stevie retreats further and further into himself — and into a strange computer game and a group of imaginary friends. But there is something eerie about his loyal, invisible new playmates: each shares the name of a child who has recently vanished from the sleepy Southern town. And terror grows for Step and DeAnne as the truth slowly unfolds. For their son has found something savagely evil... and it's coming for Stevie next.

Treasure Box — (1996) Young adult. Publisher: A shattering childhood tragedy left Quentin Fears devastated and unable to cope with the world and its citizens. It didn't, however, prevent him from making millions through brilliant investments. And now the enigmatic recluse has experienced the extraordinarily unexpected: love at first sight. But a whirlwind courtship and marriage to Madeleine — beautiful, witty, and equally ill-at-ease with reality — is bringing Quentin something other than the bliss he anticipated, for now he must meet his new wife's family. A bizarre, dysfunctional collection of extreme characters, they are guarding a secret both shocking and terrifying — as is Madeleine herself. And suddenly Quentin Fears must prevent his dream woman from unleashing an ageless malevolence intent on ruling the world.

Homebody — (1998) Young adult. Publisher: Damaged Houses. A master craftsman, Don Lark could fix everything except what mattered, his own soul. After tragedy claimed the one thing he loved, he began looking for dilapidated houses to buy, renovate, and resell at a profit — giving these empty shells the second chance at life he denied himself. Damaged Souls. Then in a quiet Southern town, Lark finds his biggest challenge: a squalid yet sturdy mansion that has suffered decades of abuse at the hands of greedy landlords and transient tenants. While two charming old neighbor ladies ply him with delicious cooking, they offer dire warnings about the house's evil past. But there is something about this building that pushes Lark on, even as its enchantments grow increasingly ominous. Will finishing the house offer Lark redemption, or unleash the darkest forces of damnation upon him?

Enchantment — (1999) Young adult. Available for download at Audible.com. Publisher: As one of the most consistently exciting writers to emerge in the last twenty-five years, Orson Scott Card has been honored with numerous awards, immersing readers in dazzling worlds only he could create. Now, in Enchantment, Card works his magic as never before, transforming the timeless story of Sleeping Beauty into an original fantasy brimming with romance and adventure. The moment Ivan stumbled upon a clearing in the dense Carpathian forest, his life was forever changed. Atop a pedestal encircled by fallen leaves, the beautiful princess Katerina lay still as death. But beneath the foliage a malevolent presence stirred and sent the ten-year-old Ivan scrambling for the safety of Cousin Marek's farm. Now, years later, Ivan is an American graduate student, engaged to be married. Yet he cannot forget that long-ago day in the forest — or convince himself it was merely a frightened boy's fantasy. Compelled to return to his native land, Ivan finds the clearing just as he left it. This time he does not run. This time he awakens the beauty with a kiss... and steps into a world that vanished a thousand years ago. A rich tapestry of clashing worlds and cultures, Enchantment is a powerfully original novel of a love and destiny that transcend centuries... and the dark force that stalks them across the ages.

Magic Mirror — (1999) Ages 9-12. Publisher: Orson Scott Card weaves a tale of a mythical familys upheaval, showing the consequences of misplaced hopes and what happens when people let themselves become disconnected from one another. Somewhere between medieval fantasy and contemporary fairy tale, a dark story turns into light. Ultimately, we see that is never too late to escape from a dream gone bad. This is truly a fable for our time.

Magic Street — (2005) Available for download at Audible.com. Publisher: Orson Scott Card has the distinction of having swept both the Hugo and Nebula awards in two consecutive years with his amazing novels Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead. For a body of work that ranges from science fiction to nonfiction to plays, Card has been recognized as an author who provides vivid, colorful glimpses between the world we know and worlds we can only imagine. In a peaceful, prosperous African American neighborhood in Los Angeles, Mack Street is a mystery child who has somehow found a home. Discovered abandoned in an overgrown park, raised by a blunt-speaking single woman, Mack comes and goes from family to family–a boy who is at once surrounded by boisterous characters and deeply alone. But while Mack senses that he is different from most, and knows that he has strange powers, he cannot possibly understand how unusual he is until the day he sees, in a thin slice of space, a narrow house. Beyond it is a backyard–and an entryway into an extraordinary world stretching off into an exotic distance of geography, history, and magic. Passing through the skinny house that no one else can see, Mack is plunged into a realm where time and reality are skewed, a place where what Mack does and sees seem to have strange affects in the “real world” of concrete, cars, commerce, and conflict. Growing into a tall, powerful young man, pursuing a forbidden relationship, and using Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night Dream as a guide into the vast, timeless fantasy world, Mack becomes a player in an epic drama. Understanding this drama is Mack’s challenge. His reward, if he can survive the trip, is discovering not only who he really is... but why he exists. Both a novel of constantly surprising entertainment and a tale of breathtaking literary power, Magic Street is a masterwork from a supremely gifted, utterly original American writer — a novel that uses realism and fantasy to delight, challenge, and satisfy on the most profound levels.

Hamlet's Father — (2011) Publisher: We all know Shakespeare's classic ghost story — the young prince Hamlet's dead father appears to him, demanding vengeance upon Hamlet's uncle Claudius, who has usurped the throne and, to add insult to injury, married Hamlet's mother. Hamlet dithers and delays, coming up with reason after reason to postpone his vengeance. But it's not for the reason Shakespeare told us. It's because Hamlet keeps discovering evidence that things are not quite what they seem in the Kingdom of Denmark — and never have been, throughout Hamlet's entire life. Once you've read Orson Scott Card s revelatory version of the Hamlet story, Shakespeare's play will be much more fun to watch — because now you'll know what's really going on.

Hamlet's Father

Those of us who majored in English in college have all read Shakespeare’s Hamlet at least once, and we’ve all seen at least one performance. Some of us go to as many performances as we possibly can, enjoying every new spin on the old tale. I’ve seen at least three movies made from the play and seen it staged at least five times. I’ve studied the text of the play in detail, and one thing never changes: Claudius murders King Hamlet in order to bed the king’s wife, Gertrude, out of good old heterosexual lust; and out of a lust for power, for the right to take the throne rather than see it go to Hamlet the younger when King Hamlet dies.

Trust Orson Scott Card, noted for his outspoken condemnation of homosexuality, to turn Shakespeare on his head and make his new novella, Hamlet’s Father, all about King Hamlet’s homosexuality. And not just his homosexuality, but his pedophilia. This transparent political and religious argument masquerading as a “revelatory version of the Hamlet story,” according to the copy on the back cover, never rises above its polemic to become a genuine story worth reading.

In this version of the tale, King Hamlet ignores his young son and takes the prince’s companions on hunts and other outings instead. Although it’s unstated early in the novella, it’s clear from the context that King Hamlet isn’t hunting much except little boys on these outings. As might be expected, this makes King Hamlet rather unpopular with his queen and his subjects, especially those at court. But no one ever tells Hamlet about his father’s perversion, allowing him to grow up thinking his father respects, loves and honors all males but him. It turns Hamlet into the broody fellow we know from Shakespeare, especially when he returns home to find his father is dead. And more, his father is a ghost calling out to him for revenge.

Hamlet famously hesitates, passing up opportunities to kill Claudius and rebuke his mother until a final scene of carnage that leaves almost nobody alive on stage. But in Card’s version, Hamlet hesitates because every time he turns around there is new evidence that his father wasn’t such a fine man after all. In the process of investigating his father’s murder, Hamlet manages to kill Polonius and drive Ophelia to suicide, but in Card’s version he is entirely innocent of any wrongdoing toward either of them. Even the identity of King Hamlet’s murderer is a mystery in this version of Shakespeare’s story, and there is never any play given by traveling players that pricks the conscience of King Claudius — who, of course, is sweet and innocent and married Gertrude just because she was free at last of that horrible old Hamlet.

Card’s writing is as smooth and readable as ever. But his political agenda is what drives every page of Hamlet’s Father, and it completely perverts the story. This isn’t a new and exciting retelling; it’s a right wing rant against homosexuality. My advice: stick with Shakespeare.
—Terry Weyna

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