A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Steven H Silver
This is a short novella set in the Ender universe during the time that Ender was at the Battle
School and before he became Ender the Xenocide. Although Ender appears and plays a pivotal role, the focus of the story
is on Zeck Morgan, the Battle School's only pacifist. Zeck sees himself as a victim and a martyr, and here
he tries to avenge his perceived persecution on the others students.
Space Boy by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Todd is a thirteen-year-old boy who yearns to slip the surly
bonds of Earth and explore the vastness of space. Unfortunately, Todd is intelligent enough to understand that he doesn't have
enough aptitude in math or the physical requirements to become an astronaut. Instead he spends his days as a typical teenager.
Life doesn't begin to get strange for him until the day that he sees a dwarf appear from thin air in his backyard.
Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Orson Scott Card published his first short story, "Ender's Game," in 1977. He later expanded the story into a Hugo and
Nebula Award winning novel and turned his attention to sequels. Now, twenty-eight years after "Ender's Game" first appeared,
Card has published the eighth novel about Ender and his companions.
The Crystal City by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Steven H Silver
This is the sixth novel in Orson Scott Card's long-running Alvin Maker series, begun in
1987 with The Seventh Son. This episode opens with Alvin sent by his wife to Neuva Barcelona, at the mouth of the Mizzippy
River, for undisclosed reasons. By the end of the novel, Alvin is much closer to his dream of realizing the Crystal City, even if he
isn't entirely sure what the exact purpose of the Crystal City is.
Wyrms by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
Patience has been trained since she could talk in the arts of diplomacy, and can properly address a politically sensitive letter with one hand while
looping a thin strand of plastic around someone's throat with the other. As one of the highest ranking slaves to the king, she has tried not to let the
fact that her father, Lord Peace, is the true Heptarch, color her actions.
Songmaster by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Alma A. Hromic
Alma first met Ansset and the Songhouse via the excerpts published in Analog magazine as novella-length
stand-alone stories, and immediately fell in love with both the characters and the milieu. Her first encounter with
Orson Scott Card as a writer and it is on the strength of this book, this story, that she went on to buy many more of his works.
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Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Donna McMahon
The street kids in Rotterdam named him Bean because the starving four-year-old was so tiny. But Bean
was smart -- in fact, so phenomenally intelligent that he changed the whole social structure of the
street and drew himself to the attention of Sister Carlotta, a nun who also happened to be a recruiter
for Earth's International Fleet. At five, Bean became the youngest recruit ever sent into orbit to
Battle School to join an elite team of children being trained to fight the Buggers -- aliens who threatened
to destroy the whole human race.
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Ender Wiggin has proved to be a character strong enough to survive through 3
sequels. But the support characters in Ender's Game were relegated to
the periphery. Card has now gone back to his original material to bring one
of these characters, Bean, to the forefront. Bean's story is a novel in its
own right, rather than a mere re-telling or a cashing in on Card's earlier
successes.
Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Ken Newquist
This is a time-travelling story showing what happens when the fairy tale
ends. In traditional tales, the knight kisses the princess, she wakes up, and they
live happily ever after. In Enchantment, that's just the beginning.
Heartfire by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Steven feels that this long-awaited fifth book sets the Alvin
Maker series back on the right track. An overriding theme to
Heartfire is Card's examination of the degradation of people. By
looking for their heartfires, Alvin's wife Peggy discovers the vastly
different circumstances of the enslaved peoples she is struggling to free.
Homebody by Orson Scott Card
reviewed by Marc Goldstein
Call it a ghost story or a gothic romance, one thing is certain about this
novel: it is not science fiction. One of the most celebrated SF authors of
the last twenty years, Card has a passion for characterization and
spirituality that makes him exceptional in any genre. In this novel, he
skillfully builds the paranoia and suspense, cranking it up to fever pitch
for the breathless finalé.
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