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Pathfinder #1
Pathfinder
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.
657 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2010
About the author
Orson Scott Card
871 books19.7k followersOrson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
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July 9, 2021
Pathfinder (Pathfinder, #1), Orson Scott Card
Pathfinder is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card.
The novel tells the story of Rigg and his unusual ability to perceive the "paths" of living things throughout time. It is the first book in the completed Pathfinder series, and is followed by Ruins and Visitors.
People from Earth have colonized a new planet, giving it the name "Garden".
This is accomplished with the assistance of human-like machines known as expendables.
A select few of the colonists have gained unusual abilities, such as the ability to slow down time or the ability to jump forward into time.
The narrative focuses on a boy named Rigg who has the ability to see the paths traveled in the past by any being, living or dead.
After losing his father and mentor, Rigg sets out to meet his sister and mother he has never known. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز هفتم ماه جولای سال 2021میلادی
عنوان مسیریاب کتاب نخست از سه گانه مسیریاب؛ نویسنده: اورسون اسکات کارد؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا سده - 21م
مردمان زمین سیاره ای را استعمار، و نام آن را «باغ» بگذاشته اند؛ استعمارگرها تواناییهایی، همانند توانایی کاهش سرعت، یا توانایی پرش به جلو در زمان را دارند؛ داستان پسری به نام «ریگ» است، که توانایی دیدن مسیرهای گذشته در هر موجود زنده، یا مرده را، دارد؛ «ریگ» پس از آنکه پدر و مربی خود را، از دست میدهد، برای دیدار خواهر و مادرش که هرگز آن دو را ندیده، رهسپار میشود
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 17/04/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Pathfinder is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card.
The novel tells the story of Rigg and his unusual ability to perceive the "paths" of living things throughout time. It is the first book in the completed Pathfinder series, and is followed by Ruins and Visitors.
People from Earth have colonized a new planet, giving it the name "Garden".
This is accomplished with the assistance of human-like machines known as expendables.
A select few of the colonists have gained unusual abilities, such as the ability to slow down time or the ability to jump forward into time.
The narrative focuses on a boy named Rigg who has the ability to see the paths traveled in the past by any being, living or dead.
After losing his father and mentor, Rigg sets out to meet his sister and mother he has never known. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز هفتم ماه جولای سال 2021میلادی
عنوان مسیریاب کتاب نخست از سه گانه مسیریاب؛ نویسنده: اورسون اسکات کارد؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا سده - 21م
مردمان زمین سیاره ای را استعمار، و نام آن را «باغ» بگذاشته اند؛ استعمارگرها تواناییهایی، همانند توانایی کاهش سرعت، یا توانایی پرش به جلو در زمان را دارند؛ داستان پسری به نام «ریگ» است، که توانایی دیدن مسیرهای گذشته در هر موجود زنده، یا مرده را، دارد؛ «ریگ» پس از آنکه پدر و مربی خود را، از دست میدهد، برای دیدار خواهر و مادرش که هرگز آن دو را ندیده، رهسپار میشود
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 17/04/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
June 20, 2013
Book readers, you know that feeling of reading a book and falling in love from the first few pages, gazing lovingly at a books words. Holding the book to your chest as you exclaim: THIS IS SUCH A GOOD BOOK, IT IS ONE OF THE BEST I'VE READ, IT'S GREAT and you just want to keep reading it and devouring it?
Yeah, this isn't that book. I'm trying, but I just can't do it. It's too dull. The characters are not interesting. They are flat, 2 dimentional. All they do is banter. OSC goes on about bodily functions you don't need the details of and includes heaps of other stuff you're better off not knowing.
And just when you think he can get through ONE BOOK without ranting about marriages and babies, you realize he can't, because a character expresses his desire to get married and have babies.
You realize you could be with another book, laughing and clapping with glee.
I must try to give up.
But I really want it to get better!
The problem with OSC is I suspect he's not so much writing for the sheer love and passion of writing but to ca$h another cheque and to send 10% of the LDS church.
Yeah, this isn't that book. I'm trying, but I just can't do it. It's too dull. The characters are not interesting. They are flat, 2 dimentional. All they do is banter. OSC goes on about bodily functions you don't need the details of and includes heaps of other stuff you're better off not knowing.
And just when you think he can get through ONE BOOK without ranting about marriages and babies, you realize he can't, because a character expresses his desire to get married and have babies.
You realize you could be with another book, laughing and clapping with glee.
I must try to give up.
But I really want it to get better!
The problem with OSC is I suspect he's not so much writing for the sheer love and passion of writing but to ca$h another cheque and to send 10% of the LDS church.
January 22, 2011
Pathfinder is centered on Rigg, a thirteen year old boy who lives an isolated life hunting and poaching with his enigmatic father. Rigg has a strange ability; he can see paths, tracks in time that are remnants of every living thing ever to have lived. The only person whose path he cannot see is his father's, who dies one day in an accident. His father's last wish is for Rigg to find the sister he never knew he had. This leads Rigg to undergo a fascinating journey, with every step of the way leading him to uncover more secrets about his father and his own special abilities. Meanwhile, in a parallel story, there is Ram, another young man with mysterious abilities, who is responsible for a time-traveling ship searching for a new home in the universe.
Owww. This book made my brain hurt. There is time-traveling, parallel time lines, paradoxes, and all other sorts of sci-fi fun. In order to get the full effect of the story, you have to work with it, actively putting pieces together as you go along. I loved that. I was able to crack the mystery about how the two stories come together half-way through the book, but it took a lot of deduction on my part. Also, nothing is ever as simple as "magic". There is a specific convoluted scientific reasons for all the special abilities in the book, which Card does not hesitate to dive into. Dude, books like this make me feel stupid. How do people think of this stuff! It did not help that the main characters were geniuses in their own right. My favorite part of this book was easily the story itself. It was well-concieved and quite epic. Although the book is over 600 pages long, the pages flip by relatively quickly if you don't get too hung up on trying to figure out the finer point of the space-time continuum.
I've only read one other book by Orson Scott Card, the famous Ender's Game, and I saw some definite similarities. They both had adolescent main characters with a genius IQ and intense responsibilities, and the writing was quite the same. The dialogue was witty, and the characters were fun, but I never really felt connected with the story. This happens to me often with third-person narration. The characters can be perfectly well-developed and complex, but if its in 3rd-person, I just don't feel emotionally invested. Card's writing was also cool and calculating, much like his characters, and didn't lend much to descriptions. I still don't have any idea what the characters look like except for the vaguest notions, and the scenery was pretty much left entirely to the imagination.
Overall, this was a great read for lovers of YA sci-fi, and while this novel had some sense of closure, I can't wait to see what is next in the trilogy. Hopefully, Card remains in good enough health to finish it.
Owww. This book made my brain hurt. There is time-traveling, parallel time lines, paradoxes, and all other sorts of sci-fi fun. In order to get the full effect of the story, you have to work with it, actively putting pieces together as you go along. I loved that. I was able to crack the mystery about how the two stories come together half-way through the book, but it took a lot of deduction on my part. Also, nothing is ever as simple as "magic". There is a specific convoluted scientific reasons for all the special abilities in the book, which Card does not hesitate to dive into. Dude, books like this make me feel stupid. How do people think of this stuff! It did not help that the main characters were geniuses in their own right. My favorite part of this book was easily the story itself. It was well-concieved and quite epic. Although the book is over 600 pages long, the pages flip by relatively quickly if you don't get too hung up on trying to figure out the finer point of the space-time continuum.
I've only read one other book by Orson Scott Card, the famous Ender's Game, and I saw some definite similarities. They both had adolescent main characters with a genius IQ and intense responsibilities, and the writing was quite the same. The dialogue was witty, and the characters were fun, but I never really felt connected with the story. This happens to me often with third-person narration. The characters can be perfectly well-developed and complex, but if its in 3rd-person, I just don't feel emotionally invested. Card's writing was also cool and calculating, much like his characters, and didn't lend much to descriptions. I still don't have any idea what the characters look like except for the vaguest notions, and the scenery was pretty much left entirely to the imagination.
Overall, this was a great read for lovers of YA sci-fi, and while this novel had some sense of closure, I can't wait to see what is next in the trilogy. Hopefully, Card remains in good enough health to finish it.
January 10, 2011
Sometimes, the cleverness and incredible adeptness and genius of the main character, Rigg, surpasses my ability to suspend disbelief. Not the spaceships and spacetime-jumping folds creating duplicate persons. Not the ability to become invisible or see the paths of all beings or slowing down time. Not even a ridiculous confluence of events. However, if I were to be trained since birth on game theory, different languages, etc. I could be half as able. Ok, no joke. One third. I do so wish that I could be as witty and clever as Rigg (although, not necessarily his situation).
My one minor gripe about the book is when the characters talk about the paradoxes of time travel. I understand why they do it (since they're figuring out how it works), but man, it can get confusing real quick. (As is the point, I suppose.)
This book is another great start of a trilogy by Card. He's promised to pump out a Pathfinder book a year until it's done (along with a Mithermage book a year until that series is done) but I'll believe it when I see it. Plus, he just had a mild stroke on New Year's day, and I wish him a speedy recovery. I'd rather the books be delayed than Card no longer be able to write - that's for sure. Besides, he's promised not to die until he's done with both trilogies. So there. HE PROMISED.
I loved this book and the two separate stories. I particularly found the Ram story line distinctly intriguing - especially in how it fits together with Rigg's. But I suppose that's because Ram's part is so much shorter and always ends with cliffhangers. It's hard not to like that one more. I thoroughly enjoyed figuring this story out and trying to grasp at all the goodies and clues Card throws in to help the reader along. He does not disappoint. Plus, if you're totally confused at the end, Card does explain what happens in the acknowledgments.
I can't wait for the others in the series. Awesome book. Oh, and the book broke my brain.
My one minor gripe about the book is when the characters talk about the paradoxes of time travel. I understand why they do it (since they're figuring out how it works), but man, it can get confusing real quick. (As is the point, I suppose.)
This book is another great start of a trilogy by Card. He's promised to pump out a Pathfinder book a year until it's done (along with a Mithermage book a year until that series is done) but I'll believe it when I see it. Plus, he just had a mild stroke on New Year's day, and I wish him a speedy recovery. I'd rather the books be delayed than Card no longer be able to write - that's for sure. Besides, he's promised not to die until he's done with both trilogies. So there. HE PROMISED.
I loved this book and the two separate stories. I particularly found the Ram story line distinctly intriguing - especially in how it fits together with Rigg's. But I suppose that's because Ram's part is so much shorter and always ends with cliffhangers. It's hard not to like that one more. I thoroughly enjoyed figuring this story out and trying to grasp at all the goodies and clues Card throws in to help the reader along. He does not disappoint. Plus, if you're totally confused at the end, Card does explain what happens in the acknowledgments.
I can't wait for the others in the series. Awesome book. Oh, and the book broke my brain.
August 24, 2013
I was once in a discussion about religion with a friend who happens to be an atheist and fellow science fiction and fantasy writer. He’s a great guy. The blog posts he wrote about the passing of the woman he loved who was lost to cancer were poignant and wonderful–full of beauty. I read them and wanted to be a better man. Still, he and I disagree about God.
I remember telling him that science fiction is the one genre that makes God more plausible than any other. At least, it makes my view of God more plausible. Now, I do not want to talk religion in this essay. But it’s just hard for science fiction to leave the idea of creation and Adam and Eve alone. Witness the many stories over the years about these very things.
Heck, even the recent movie Oblivion has references—are not Jack and Victoria much like Adam and Eve? Just think about it. Their paradise together as a team, the knowledge, the fall. The echoes are simply marvelous.
Well, I just read another science fiction tale that provided a wonderful opportunity to think about these things. It’s Orson Scott Card’s novel Pathfinder. Now, the story isn’t about God. It’s not a biblical allegory. It’s not dressed-up doctrine. It’s a tale about a boy named Rigg with special abilities on a quest to find his real family and who he is. Along the way we meet some interesting people, especially one character named Loaf who leavened the whole tale. So there’s an interesting adventure and speculations about faster-than-light travel. But one of the chief delights for me was the questions and ideas this story raised in my mind about the creation of our own world—“Garden,” the name of the world, just begged for it.
For example, a long-time staple of science fiction is the idea of terraforming—changing face of the flora, fauna, atmosphere, and climate of the planet to be hospitable to your species. If you believe in a God that is more a being of advanced technology than one of unknowable fantasy, doesn’t that present a new and interesting way of viewing the creation story? It does for me, and Pathfinder sparked ideas about this.
The book also led me to think about life. First, Card has these characters called “Expendables.” They’re robots, but not really. They’re artificial intelligence. But not really. The way Card presents the expendables, you don’t think of silicon and steel and gears. You think of biology.
You think of mosquitoes.
You think about the fact that if we humans use intelligent machines, surely God must use intelligent machinery. So what kind of intelligent machinery does God employ? (Dude, that idea is just pregnant with stories!)
Are viruses and bacteria machines? Are mosquitoes and beetles (please, let there be no mosquitoes in heaven)?
The book prompts me to wonder. It prompts me to look at the life about me on our wonderful world with new eyes. It prompts me to think differently about some of my core definitions. In fact, there are some exchanges between a character and an expendable where they talk about the difference between humans and expendables and the definition of what it means to be human, especially given evolution.
This is a book about an adventure, but also a book about ideas, which is as it should be. Science fiction is the one genre, more than any other, that marries character and plot with exploration of ideas. If you’re looking for an interesting tale that will make you think about our world differently, give Pathfinder a try.
I remember telling him that science fiction is the one genre that makes God more plausible than any other. At least, it makes my view of God more plausible. Now, I do not want to talk religion in this essay. But it’s just hard for science fiction to leave the idea of creation and Adam and Eve alone. Witness the many stories over the years about these very things.
Heck, even the recent movie Oblivion has references—are not Jack and Victoria much like Adam and Eve? Just think about it. Their paradise together as a team, the knowledge, the fall. The echoes are simply marvelous.
Well, I just read another science fiction tale that provided a wonderful opportunity to think about these things. It’s Orson Scott Card’s novel Pathfinder. Now, the story isn’t about God. It’s not a biblical allegory. It’s not dressed-up doctrine. It’s a tale about a boy named Rigg with special abilities on a quest to find his real family and who he is. Along the way we meet some interesting people, especially one character named Loaf who leavened the whole tale. So there’s an interesting adventure and speculations about faster-than-light travel. But one of the chief delights for me was the questions and ideas this story raised in my mind about the creation of our own world—“Garden,” the name of the world, just begged for it.
For example, a long-time staple of science fiction is the idea of terraforming—changing face of the flora, fauna, atmosphere, and climate of the planet to be hospitable to your species. If you believe in a God that is more a being of advanced technology than one of unknowable fantasy, doesn’t that present a new and interesting way of viewing the creation story? It does for me, and Pathfinder sparked ideas about this.
The book also led me to think about life. First, Card has these characters called “Expendables.” They’re robots, but not really. They’re artificial intelligence. But not really. The way Card presents the expendables, you don’t think of silicon and steel and gears. You think of biology.
You think of mosquitoes.
You think about the fact that if we humans use intelligent machines, surely God must use intelligent machinery. So what kind of intelligent machinery does God employ? (Dude, that idea is just pregnant with stories!)
Are viruses and bacteria machines? Are mosquitoes and beetles (please, let there be no mosquitoes in heaven)?
The book prompts me to wonder. It prompts me to look at the life about me on our wonderful world with new eyes. It prompts me to think differently about some of my core definitions. In fact, there are some exchanges between a character and an expendable where they talk about the difference between humans and expendables and the definition of what it means to be human, especially given evolution.
This is a book about an adventure, but also a book about ideas, which is as it should be. Science fiction is the one genre, more than any other, that marries character and plot with exploration of ideas. If you’re looking for an interesting tale that will make you think about our world differently, give Pathfinder a try.
March 26, 2012
This book was not terrible, but, frankly, it just didn't quite work for me. Nothing was quite as good as it could have been.
The characters were sometimes interesting, but sometimes unbelievable; as for example, Rigg seemed to know everything about everything, even at 13; or Umbo would randomly switch from jovial to jealous to insecure.
The plot sometimes moved well and kept my interest, but sometimes nothing would happen but them debating what to do for 50 pages.
The mystery of this world, what exactly is going on, was, as a whole, clever and interesting, but Card took way too long to reveal that information. I felt like Card didn't even start giving solid hints until around page 250 or so.
Another aspect that could have been better was how Card tries really, really hard to make their time-traveling make sense scientifically, but ironically in the end his over-emphasis on explaining it just makes things more confusing. A good suspension of disbelief will cover more ground than constantly pausing to have the characters ponder how time-travel works.
The best aspects of the book were the short snippets at the beginnings of each chapter describing the secondary story line, that of Ram and the expendable in space. These were my favorite parts and always entertaining, although, unfortunately, the downside here is they made me wish the book was primarily about Ram, not Rigg.
The characters were sometimes interesting, but sometimes unbelievable; as for example, Rigg seemed to know everything about everything, even at 13; or Umbo would randomly switch from jovial to jealous to insecure.
The plot sometimes moved well and kept my interest, but sometimes nothing would happen but them debating what to do for 50 pages.
The mystery of this world, what exactly is going on, was, as a whole, clever and interesting, but Card took way too long to reveal that information. I felt like Card didn't even start giving solid hints until around page 250 or so.
Another aspect that could have been better was how Card tries really, really hard to make their time-traveling make sense scientifically, but ironically in the end his over-emphasis on explaining it just makes things more confusing. A good suspension of disbelief will cover more ground than constantly pausing to have the characters ponder how time-travel works.
The best aspects of the book were the short snippets at the beginnings of each chapter describing the secondary story line, that of Ram and the expendable in space. These were my favorite parts and always entertaining, although, unfortunately, the downside here is they made me wish the book was primarily about Ram, not Rigg.
August 28, 2011
Originally posted here
I had to distance myself away from this book before I wrote this review. If I did not, I would have just hit the caps lock and type, THIS IS THE COOLEST YA BOOK EVER!! Shift 1. Shift 1. I just did exactly that, didn’t I? Oops. After being blown away by Ender’s Game last year, you think I’ve learned my lesson and expect nothing less from Orson Scott Card? I didn’t, but I know a lot better now.
Rigg can see path human and animals made whether it’s from the distance past or the near present. He has been living most of his life isolated in the woods with only Father as his companion. Father taught him a lot things, most of which Rigg believes he will never need. That changed when Father suddenly died leaving him a task to find his sister, 19 jewels and his name. A name that could also be his death sentence. Rigg soon realized that Father prepared him for something bigger than what he can ever fathom and there’s more to his ability than just seeing people’s path. At the beginning of each chapter, we follow the character of young Ram as he command a ship journeying from Earth to a distant planet for human to colonize. It will only take you half-way through the book before you can put two and two together and see the larger picture.
Orson Scott Card combines tropes commonly found from young adult fantasy and science-fiction and produced a book that proves his mastery of both genre. Although marketed as a young adult novel, Pathfinder possess a very complex and sophisticated narrative involving space and time-travel and filled with secrets and intrigues that will keep the reader turning the pages. At the acknowledgement page, the author stated that he started writing the book knowing that he’ll challenge common rules of time travel, and he did. I don’t consider myself an expert on time-travel but neither am I a novice. I started reading Pathfinder with my preconceptions on how time-travel works. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the rules Card set for this novel. But after I suspend my preconceptions, everything made sense and needless to say, I love every bit of it. I guess it would not be an empty statement if I say that Pathfinder has a very intelligent plot the we rarely get to see in young adult novels. Pathfinder doesn’t force you to think so you can follow the narrative or else you’ll get left behind. It dares you to and that’s one of the many the beauties of it.
Space time travel plays a huge part in this book but it is not the only thing this book can offer. The main storyline(Rigg’s) was set in a land called Aressa Sessamo. This land was previously ruled by a monarchy that was decreed to be ruled only by the females until an uprising came that turned the government into People’s Revolution. Fast forward to present time, there are factions who want to maintain the Revolution but there are some that wants the female-ruling monarchy back and a few in favor for a male-ruling monarchy. The political intrigue in this novel is very complicated and for an unfortunate reason, Rigg is in the centre of all of it. For some this could mean that Card has got into his political babble once again. Not for me. The political situation of Aressa Sessamo is a consequence of what happened in the land’s past therefore will play a vital part on our heroes future.(Excuse the vagueness of that statement. I am carefully treading on a spoiler-mined land here.) And I’ll be honest, it was really fun figuring out whose on which side of the fence.
Genius is what Pathfinder is. The only reason I can think of for you not to enjoy this is if you hold bias over the author’s opinion on certain topics before reading the book. I am also in opposition with some of the author’s perspectives. He can have his opinion and I can have mine, but this won’t stop me from enjoying his books. It’s not like he is exploiting his fans like otherfan-fiction writer authors do. Having an opinion is not a crime, is it? A great storyteller is a great storyteller no matter what. There’s a reason why Orson Scott Card has been in this business for a very long time and Pathfinder is definitely one of those. If you haven’t tried any Orson Scott Card novel yet(my god, what’s wrong with you?), this is a good place to start.
I had to distance myself away from this book before I wrote this review. If I did not, I would have just hit the caps lock and type, THIS IS THE COOLEST YA BOOK EVER!! Shift 1. Shift 1. I just did exactly that, didn’t I? Oops. After being blown away by Ender’s Game last year, you think I’ve learned my lesson and expect nothing less from Orson Scott Card? I didn’t, but I know a lot better now.
Rigg can see path human and animals made whether it’s from the distance past or the near present. He has been living most of his life isolated in the woods with only Father as his companion. Father taught him a lot things, most of which Rigg believes he will never need. That changed when Father suddenly died leaving him a task to find his sister, 19 jewels and his name. A name that could also be his death sentence. Rigg soon realized that Father prepared him for something bigger than what he can ever fathom and there’s more to his ability than just seeing people’s path. At the beginning of each chapter, we follow the character of young Ram as he command a ship journeying from Earth to a distant planet for human to colonize. It will only take you half-way through the book before you can put two and two together and see the larger picture.
Orson Scott Card combines tropes commonly found from young adult fantasy and science-fiction and produced a book that proves his mastery of both genre. Although marketed as a young adult novel, Pathfinder possess a very complex and sophisticated narrative involving space and time-travel and filled with secrets and intrigues that will keep the reader turning the pages. At the acknowledgement page, the author stated that he started writing the book knowing that he’ll challenge common rules of time travel, and he did. I don’t consider myself an expert on time-travel but neither am I a novice. I started reading Pathfinder with my preconceptions on how time-travel works. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the rules Card set for this novel. But after I suspend my preconceptions, everything made sense and needless to say, I love every bit of it. I guess it would not be an empty statement if I say that Pathfinder has a very intelligent plot the we rarely get to see in young adult novels. Pathfinder doesn’t force you to think so you can follow the narrative or else you’ll get left behind. It dares you to and that’s one of the many the beauties of it.
Space time travel plays a huge part in this book but it is not the only thing this book can offer. The main storyline(Rigg’s) was set in a land called Aressa Sessamo. This land was previously ruled by a monarchy that was decreed to be ruled only by the females until an uprising came that turned the government into People’s Revolution. Fast forward to present time, there are factions who want to maintain the Revolution but there are some that wants the female-ruling monarchy back and a few in favor for a male-ruling monarchy. The political intrigue in this novel is very complicated and for an unfortunate reason, Rigg is in the centre of all of it. For some this could mean that Card has got into his political babble once again. Not for me. The political situation of Aressa Sessamo is a consequence of what happened in the land’s past therefore will play a vital part on our heroes future.(Excuse the vagueness of that statement. I am carefully treading on a spoiler-mined land here.) And I’ll be honest, it was really fun figuring out whose on which side of the fence.
Genius is what Pathfinder is. The only reason I can think of for you not to enjoy this is if you hold bias over the author’s opinion on certain topics before reading the book. I am also in opposition with some of the author’s perspectives. He can have his opinion and I can have mine, but this won’t stop me from enjoying his books. It’s not like he is exploiting his fans like other
January 7, 2013
While I really liked the premise and the story of Pathfinder, I found it to be WAY too long and in desperate need of an editor.
I don't need gigantic explanations about how the banking system works. I don't need to be told time and time again the rules of the special powers. And I especially don't want to sit through these lengthy, logical reasons for each of the characters' actions every time they do something.
Orson Scott Card has this obsession with creating characters who can navigate through social conflicts with a kind of godlike logic and power over emotion. It's, quite frankly, a bore to sit through. "If I say this with a certain tone, then the people of the city will most definitely react this way, which is to my advantage," or "I'm going to tell the truth, which since someone is expecting the lie, they will have no idea that the truth is what's true."
I guess those bits just took me completely out of the story, because nobody in real life has that kind of power over their own emotions. Card's main characters, being so powerful, are only ever forced to confront conflicts that feel inorganic and contrived in their complexity.
Still, I was quite proud that I figured out the "plot twist" of this particular book long before it was revealed, and found myself excited about reading the next book in the series. So while Pathfinder is certainly not one of Card's best books, it did its job.
I don't need gigantic explanations about how the banking system works. I don't need to be told time and time again the rules of the special powers. And I especially don't want to sit through these lengthy, logical reasons for each of the characters' actions every time they do something.
Orson Scott Card has this obsession with creating characters who can navigate through social conflicts with a kind of godlike logic and power over emotion. It's, quite frankly, a bore to sit through. "If I say this with a certain tone, then the people of the city will most definitely react this way, which is to my advantage," or "I'm going to tell the truth, which since someone is expecting the lie, they will have no idea that the truth is what's true."
I guess those bits just took me completely out of the story, because nobody in real life has that kind of power over their own emotions. Card's main characters, being so powerful, are only ever forced to confront conflicts that feel inorganic and contrived in their complexity.
Still, I was quite proud that I figured out the "plot twist" of this particular book long before it was revealed, and found myself excited about reading the next book in the series. So while Pathfinder is certainly not one of Card's best books, it did its job.
October 2, 2012
A fantastic sci-fi/fantasy time travelling romp. I loved it, and was engrossed by the disparate ideas and eager to learn how the two collided. It managed to be mysterious without being formulaic, have interesting insights into science and human nature, and a good set up for an epic series. I was heartbroken when I learned the second book isn't out yet. In addition to all of this, it seems that Card is revisiting the "genius child" that he explored in Ender's Game. Highly recommended.
May 9, 2013
This book was straight-up terrible. If I hadn't read it in audiobook I probably would have dropped it (although many a time did I wish that it had it in dead tree form so I could skim the endless, boringly repetitive discussions of time-travel paradox.) The characters have the same conversations over and over again; when they're separated, they have to go through the same process of figuring out the same problems, and then talk about them again. Each time someone joins the party they have to explain it to the newbie. Meanwhile, the reader (me) is just going, I know, I know, can we just say "And then we explained everything to the guardsman and got back to the plot?!" I get that time travel paradoxes can be hard to explain, and you don't want your audience criticizing later inconsistencies--but the solution is not to explain and re-expain ad nauseam.
Combine that with thin characterization and children acting like no child has ever behaved (doing stupid things while convinced of their own genius) with banter that only occasionally manages to add a gloss of interest or comraderie to the conversation, and you have this clunky, stupid and incomprehensible book that in spite of its interminable explanations still fails to make sense--or worse, entertain.
Combine that with thin characterization and children acting like no child has ever behaved (doing stupid things while convinced of their own genius) with banter that only occasionally manages to add a gloss of interest or comraderie to the conversation, and you have this clunky, stupid and incomprehensible book that in spite of its interminable explanations still fails to make sense--or worse, entertain.
October 31, 2012
I am AT TIMES an Orson Scott Card fan....AT TIMES. This isn't one of those times. I'm forced to a one star rating here because that's the default rating when I can't make myself finish a book without threats...."keep reading or else". What I'd do to myself I'm not sure. To keep me interested in this thing it would have to be something pretty terrible.
Mr. Card is capable of writing an excellent book. I'm waiting for him to go on with one series and picked this one up as I waited. As has happened before it's a book I just couldn't get into. I went all the way into the second chapter without skimming or skipping. The book is laid out in a way that's supposed to lead us into a story with a certain amount of mystery or some questions. The young protagonist Rigg being raised by his "father" tells us of his "special ability" as he and the "man" he knows as his father go about their business trapping.
The ideas behind the book are good, the synopsis is interesting and having gotten enough to know how and where the book went I think it could and should have interested me. It's why I picked it up and I see others who liked it. I wish the plot had been in a book that didn't make me want to scream.
What's the problem? For me it's the way it's told. Constant unnecessary monologues and really, really, really lllooonnnggg and boooorrrriiinnnggg internal dialogues. Riggs "reasoning" and "thought processes go on for ever...and ever....and ever. The book assumes you can't follow the simplist of ideas and plot lines so it goes on and on laying things out. By chapter 2 I started skimming and finally just threw in the towl and went to the end. I don't plan to follow the series.
This is sad because as I said, I like the premise, I like the idea I even like where the plot went in a way (though you've seen much of it before) I just couldn't take the slow almost pedantic story telling. If you like it I'm happy for you, I really am...just definitely not one for me.
Mr. Card is capable of writing an excellent book. I'm waiting for him to go on with one series and picked this one up as I waited. As has happened before it's a book I just couldn't get into. I went all the way into the second chapter without skimming or skipping. The book is laid out in a way that's supposed to lead us into a story with a certain amount of mystery or some questions. The young protagonist Rigg being raised by his "father" tells us of his "special ability" as he and the "man" he knows as his father go about their business trapping.
The ideas behind the book are good, the synopsis is interesting and having gotten enough to know how and where the book went I think it could and should have interested me. It's why I picked it up and I see others who liked it. I wish the plot had been in a book that didn't make me want to scream.
What's the problem? For me it's the way it's told. Constant unnecessary monologues and really, really, really lllooonnnggg and boooorrrriiinnnggg internal dialogues. Riggs "reasoning" and "thought processes go on for ever...and ever....and ever. The book assumes you can't follow the simplist of ideas and plot lines so it goes on and on laying things out. By chapter 2 I started skimming and finally just threw in the towl and went to the end. I don't plan to follow the series.
This is sad because as I said, I like the premise, I like the idea I even like where the plot went in a way (though you've seen much of it before) I just couldn't take the slow almost pedantic story telling. If you like it I'm happy for you, I really am...just definitely not one for me.
December 29, 2011
This is the sort of science fiction that will satisfy fantasy readers who particularly crave books that take place in pre-industrial societies. The main characters in Pathfinder - young teenagers Rigg and Umbo, plus their adult friend and protector Loaf - have adventures as they journey from village to town, occasionally eating or staying in smoky, atmospheric, dangerous inns. There are magical abilities galore, and even a plot involving a dethroned royal family and a long-lost prince.
But wait - this is Orson Scott Card. Therefore, the reader finds out fairly quickly that the world Rigg and his friends inhabit was colonized more than 11,000 years ago by 19 spaceships from Earth. And those magical abilities? They are all variations of a genetic mutation one of the colonists passed on to his descendants.
And that genetic mutation involves the ability (voluntarily or involuntarily) to manipulate time. Various characters possess different versions of the talent - Rigg can see the paths of all people past and present; Umbo can speed people up (or slow time down), and can also go back in time; and so on.
Card loves to mull over concepts, and so his characters do this quite a bit in Pathfinder, especially concerning the nature of time and paradox. This no doubt interferes with plot momentum (and makes for a VERY long book), but I found it fascinating. Those for whom When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead provided much fodder for thought will feel the same about Pathfinder.
Could have had more action, less pondering, and more believable characters (they are all archetypes without much depth) - but I liked Pathfinder very much.
But wait - this is Orson Scott Card. Therefore, the reader finds out fairly quickly that the world Rigg and his friends inhabit was colonized more than 11,000 years ago by 19 spaceships from Earth. And those magical abilities? They are all variations of a genetic mutation one of the colonists passed on to his descendants.
And that genetic mutation involves the ability (voluntarily or involuntarily) to manipulate time. Various characters possess different versions of the talent - Rigg can see the paths of all people past and present; Umbo can speed people up (or slow time down), and can also go back in time; and so on.
Card loves to mull over concepts, and so his characters do this quite a bit in Pathfinder, especially concerning the nature of time and paradox. This no doubt interferes with plot momentum (and makes for a VERY long book), but I found it fascinating. Those for whom When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead provided much fodder for thought will feel the same about Pathfinder.
Could have had more action, less pondering, and more believable characters (they are all archetypes without much depth) - but I liked Pathfinder very much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2012
3.5 but I rounded up. Time travel gives me a headache though and Rigg is more like a 50 year old with a degree in astrophysics than a 14 year old boy, but I care enough about the characters to see what happens next. I have always been a fan of Card's work. This book is a little dry for my tastes. I'm also not sure that even though the main characters are children that this book is actually a young adult novel. I don't think Card's best work, Ender's Game, was originally meant to be a young adult book either, but it works in that genre. This novel has more in common with Contact or some other work of Carl Sagan than what you would normally find in the teen literature section. I mean "My God!" there are no vampires, werewolves, zombies, fairies, etc..... If one of my students reads this book I will have to try to explain about quatum physics and since I have a degree in English literature I am not sure how successful I will be. Just remember that space and time are the same thing. We are just too stupid to perceive the difference. Some objects in space have mass which creates gravity. Objects with really large mass create gravity fields which warp time and the circle goes around and around like a comsic game of rock, paper, scissors. The characters in this novel though can somehow perceive time and space in ways that allow them to manipulate it. This allows the colonists to travel vast distances and Rigg and his friends to slip in and out of the past, skip into the future so quickly that they are invisible, and see the paths all living things have travelled up to the present. Like I said "headache" but a good one.
January 21, 2011
Hadn't even heard of it till I saw it at Costco and luckily this spontaneous purchase paid off. It was the perfect rebound book after the ultra disappointing end to the hunger games series. Pathfinder starts off feeling very similar, in fact, with a kind of futuristic/post-apocalyptic vibe. It wasn't as nail-biting or gruesome as hunger games, but the political intrigue is there and quite a bit of mystery--very much like Ender's Game. I read it just as fast those, too-- little more than a day. Really, it's a good blend of H.G. and E.G. with a little Psych, a bit of the Westmark trilogy, and maybe even a smidge of LOTR. The bummer is, this is the first book in the series, which I didnt know until the end, and I usually avoid a series until it's all published so I don't have to wait around. However, Card freely admits in the acknowledgements at the end (which contains important info about the story, btw, so don't skip it!) he writes his books in only a few weeks, so I'm expecting at least 2 more books this year. And I need them soon, so I can continue to get over HG.
December 11, 2010
group read for Erodorks.
Geez, this book is listed as young adult. Kind of humiliating to admit how I struggled with the time-folding, space-traveling, and quantum physics involved. And I mean really, really struggled. I skimmed some parts because no matter how many times I read and reread certain chapters, I never did get clarity.
Still, I’m giving this 4 big stars. The verbal swordplay is hysterical, the characters are likeable and, for me, the story line is fresh.
Rigg can see the paths others leave behind. This power allows him to interact with the past. When Rigg’s father dies, he makes his son promise he will seek out the sister he never knew he had. Other companions who have special gifts of their own join Young Rigg. At the same time….or maybe before….or maybe after (????), Ram is traveling in a space ship with the expendables on a quest to ensure human survival.
Confusing? Yes. Worth reading? Oh, yes!
------
One of my favorite quotes:
Ram is feeling hurt because the expendables made some decisions without his consent.
Expendable: “First, we have no record of any human being ever dying directly from ego-depletion…”
Geez, this book is listed as young adult. Kind of humiliating to admit how I struggled with the time-folding, space-traveling, and quantum physics involved. And I mean really, really struggled. I skimmed some parts because no matter how many times I read and reread certain chapters, I never did get clarity.
Still, I’m giving this 4 big stars. The verbal swordplay is hysterical, the characters are likeable and, for me, the story line is fresh.
Rigg can see the paths others leave behind. This power allows him to interact with the past. When Rigg’s father dies, he makes his son promise he will seek out the sister he never knew he had. Other companions who have special gifts of their own join Young Rigg. At the same time….or maybe before….or maybe after (????), Ram is traveling in a space ship with the expendables on a quest to ensure human survival.
Confusing? Yes. Worth reading? Oh, yes!
------
One of my favorite quotes:
Ram is feeling hurt because the expendables made some decisions without his consent.
Expendable: “First, we have no record of any human being ever dying directly from ego-depletion…”
January 11, 2018
My reading year has had a very weird start! Luckily I have already read a few books I really enjoyed as well.
Pathfinder wasn't for me. It was so overly confusing and had a weird sci-fi thing going on. I like long books, but this time I just wanted it to end.
Also, I knew before reading this that Orson Scott Card is a bigot, but I looked into it more and WOW. Dude's an ass.
Pathfinder wasn't for me. It was so overly confusing and had a weird sci-fi thing going on. I like long books, but this time I just wanted it to end.
Also, I knew before reading this that Orson Scott Card is a bigot, but I looked into it more and WOW. Dude's an ass.
August 16, 2018
Es Card (vale, a quien no hayáis leído las dos palabras anteriores no os valen una mierda, lo sé. Seguid leyendo, please). Y como buen Card nos regala una novela con bastante ritmo conseguido a partir de no muchos personajes y mucho diálogo. Y una historia original, bastante buena.
Lo malo –para mí- es que desbarra bastante sobre las paradojas espacio-temporales. Nada muy nuevo en sus elucubradas y aún así se alarga bastante cuando los personajes “piensan” sobre ellas. Y bueno, algún retazo de sus mormónicas y puritanas ideas sobre la relación entre los sexos (¿o falta de ella casi?). Impagable cuando tiene que dormir dos adultos, dos niños y una niña, todos ellos perseguidos por los malos … ya aún así duermen los cuatro varones juntos y mandan a la niña a dormir a una habitación separada. En fin, con la religión/Card hemos topado, no tiene solución.
Los personajes, sin estar demasiado bien d.efinidos, son atractivos de leer. Y los “poderes” que aparecen tienen su punto de interés
Me quedo con que las historias de Card me suelen atrapar y disfruto leyéndolas. Este primer libro de la saga Pathfinder tb lo consigue. Ruego al Señor de los Mormones (vaaaaale, Santos de los Últimos Días) que cuando quiera que cierre la saga lo haga mejor que varias de las suyas que he leído. De momento creo que hay tres libros…y yo paso ya al segundo.
¿Recomendable? Si te gusta Scott Card, sí. Si eres virgen respecto a este caballero (qué mal suena esa frase), yo comenzaría a catarle con otra novela suya (El juego de Ender, Un planeta llamado Traición, Maestro Cantor, …)
Lo malo –para mí- es que desbarra bastante sobre las paradojas espacio-temporales. Nada muy nuevo en sus elucubradas y aún así se alarga bastante cuando los personajes “piensan” sobre ellas. Y bueno, algún retazo de sus mormónicas y puritanas ideas sobre la relación entre los sexos (¿o falta de ella casi?). Impagable cuando tiene que dormir dos adultos, dos niños y una niña, todos ellos perseguidos por los malos … ya aún así duermen los cuatro varones juntos y mandan a la niña a dormir a una habitación separada. En fin, con la religión/Card hemos topado, no tiene solución.
Los personajes, sin estar demasiado bien d.efinidos, son atractivos de leer. Y los “poderes” que aparecen tienen su punto de interés
Me quedo con que las historias de Card me suelen atrapar y disfruto leyéndolas. Este primer libro de la saga Pathfinder tb lo consigue. Ruego al Señor de los Mormones (vaaaaale, Santos de los Últimos Días) que cuando quiera que cierre la saga lo haga mejor que varias de las suyas que he leído. De momento creo que hay tres libros…y yo paso ya al segundo.
¿Recomendable? Si te gusta Scott Card, sí. Si eres virgen respecto a este caballero (qué mal suena esa frase), yo comenzaría a catarle con otra novela suya (El juego de Ender, Un planeta llamado Traición, Maestro Cantor, …)
September 2, 2016
Pathfinder is the first book in Orson Scott Cards Serpent World series published by Simon & Schuster in 2010. Well known in the Sci-fi world for the Ender Saga (notably Ender's Game), and the Homecoming Saga, Card seems to be branching more and more into the fantasy genre with better results each time. With Pathfinder, Card has taken a number of the more complex sci-fi elements and used them to create a quality YA fantasy story that is original, easy to understand, and fun to read.
The story centers around a young boy named Rigg who has the ability to see the paths left behind by every living creature, an ability that essentially allows him to see into the past. Growing up in the wilderness with only his father, Rigg shows he is also a gifted scholar and with the help of his father he is able to learn about science of the world and gain control of his ability. After falling victim to a fatal accident, Rigg's father tells Rigg that he must seek out his mother and sister who are in fact both alive and living the capital. As he journeys to the capital, Rigg and his companions start to realise that the world they thought they knew is not what it seems as they starts to uncover secrets about both Rigg's life and the history of the world.
Within this story there is a second story about a man named Ram, pilot of a spaceship which is using experimental space folding technology to transport a human colony from Earth to a new habitable planet 32 light years away. As is the case with Sci-fi stories that make use of experimental technology, nothing seems to go to plan for Ram but the unintended consequences appear to be a blessing in disguise. As the story progresses, Ram becomes more familiar with the experimental technology and it seems certain that he will be able to pilot the ship to its intended destination, but at what cost?
Pathfinder is a well rounded original story with solid characters and complex plot devices all set in a world that continues to grow in size as Ender, I mean Rigg *TIC*, uncovers more and more secrets. About halfway through this book stops being about Rigg and starts focusing its efforts on world building and by the of the book I was blown away by just how big, complex and intricate this world is. Because of the change in focus the plot starts to stutter due to a lack of direction, however, it all comes together for an ending that somehow manages to be satisfying despite asking more questions than it answers.
Time-travel can be very confusing and Card has taken a big risk by taking traditional time-travel elements and giving them a twist, but I think he has managed to make it work and in the process he has constructed a solid foundation to really build on in future books. While I appreciate that these books are written for the YA audience and that some of the complex plot devices can be confusing, I think Card goes a little too far as he provides an explanation for just about everything which at times felt like he just didn't trust us to come up with the right conclusion. Because of this, I feel that there is a fair bit of fat that could have either been trimmed from the story altogether, or replaced with a bit more interaction between Rigg and his father.
I am a big fan of the "story within a story" format as it allows the author to give the reader plenty of background information through the secondary story to enhance the experience of the primary story without disrupting its flow. In Pathfinder, I thought the pacing and interaction between both stories was just right with the subtle hints given by each story as helpful as they were misleading. Having thought I had figured the whole story out early on, I continued to be surprised as both stories made unexpected twists and turns right up until the last few chapters where I finally had that lightbulb moment and everything fell into place. I think this says a lot about the quality of foreshadowing in this book, but i shouldn't be surprised by this as quality foreshadowing seems to be a feature of all books by Orson Scott Card.
There seems to be a massive focus on the YA market at the moment and with books like Pathfinder, Leviathan, and The Spook's Apprentice, it is easy to see why. While the constant explanation of plot devices can be belittling at times, especially for adult readers, it does make the more complex plot devices easier to understand without too much disruption to the flow of the story. While this book works on its own, it is obvious that this book has been written with the rest of the series in mind and I am really looking forwards to seeing the direction that Card chooses to take.
The story centers around a young boy named Rigg who has the ability to see the paths left behind by every living creature, an ability that essentially allows him to see into the past. Growing up in the wilderness with only his father, Rigg shows he is also a gifted scholar and with the help of his father he is able to learn about science of the world and gain control of his ability. After falling victim to a fatal accident, Rigg's father tells Rigg that he must seek out his mother and sister who are in fact both alive and living the capital. As he journeys to the capital, Rigg and his companions start to realise that the world they thought they knew is not what it seems as they starts to uncover secrets about both Rigg's life and the history of the world.
Within this story there is a second story about a man named Ram, pilot of a spaceship which is using experimental space folding technology to transport a human colony from Earth to a new habitable planet 32 light years away. As is the case with Sci-fi stories that make use of experimental technology, nothing seems to go to plan for Ram but the unintended consequences appear to be a blessing in disguise. As the story progresses, Ram becomes more familiar with the experimental technology and it seems certain that he will be able to pilot the ship to its intended destination, but at what cost?
Pathfinder is a well rounded original story with solid characters and complex plot devices all set in a world that continues to grow in size as Ender, I mean Rigg *TIC*, uncovers more and more secrets. About halfway through this book stops being about Rigg and starts focusing its efforts on world building and by the of the book I was blown away by just how big, complex and intricate this world is. Because of the change in focus the plot starts to stutter due to a lack of direction, however, it all comes together for an ending that somehow manages to be satisfying despite asking more questions than it answers.
Time-travel can be very confusing and Card has taken a big risk by taking traditional time-travel elements and giving them a twist, but I think he has managed to make it work and in the process he has constructed a solid foundation to really build on in future books. While I appreciate that these books are written for the YA audience and that some of the complex plot devices can be confusing, I think Card goes a little too far as he provides an explanation for just about everything which at times felt like he just didn't trust us to come up with the right conclusion. Because of this, I feel that there is a fair bit of fat that could have either been trimmed from the story altogether, or replaced with a bit more interaction between Rigg and his father.
I am a big fan of the "story within a story" format as it allows the author to give the reader plenty of background information through the secondary story to enhance the experience of the primary story without disrupting its flow. In Pathfinder, I thought the pacing and interaction between both stories was just right with the subtle hints given by each story as helpful as they were misleading. Having thought I had figured the whole story out early on, I continued to be surprised as both stories made unexpected twists and turns right up until the last few chapters where I finally had that lightbulb moment and everything fell into place. I think this says a lot about the quality of foreshadowing in this book, but i shouldn't be surprised by this as quality foreshadowing seems to be a feature of all books by Orson Scott Card.
There seems to be a massive focus on the YA market at the moment and with books like Pathfinder, Leviathan, and The Spook's Apprentice, it is easy to see why. While the constant explanation of plot devices can be belittling at times, especially for adult readers, it does make the more complex plot devices easier to understand without too much disruption to the flow of the story. While this book works on its own, it is obvious that this book has been written with the rest of the series in mind and I am really looking forwards to seeing the direction that Card chooses to take.
January 30, 2011
Torn on this one. Card writes very ambitiously for children, expecting them to keep up with a lot of information that's bound to be way over their heads, and usually that's an excellent thing. In "Pathfinder", I felt like something was missing, or something was too much. Mainly that the characters were drawn in big hacking brushmarks, while the time-travel was a little blinding. I came away interested in the themes (well, -ish), and sort of baffled by the actual plot.
I've just reread "Ender's Game" and it holds up brilliantly from when I was a teenager. And though I appreciated Graff and Sister Carlotta ("Ender's Shadow", mostly) when I was a kid, now I love them. Their banter is fantastic, sharp and witty but also restrained, and the sly asides and parries made me laugh out loud as I read. Unfortunately, here ALL of the characters speak to each other in that same sharp, edgy language, and it loses its charm when it's used so frequently. I just don't believe that everyone in this universe either speaks in that sort of way or understands how to respond to it, especially the book's children. So that's one hurdle: everyone in the book is sarcastic and witheringly witty, and when they're all like that it's no fun. It's not real.
Card writes very political characters, and their emotions are buried under intellect and logic. It's a cool way of writing, but it's a one-trick pony when your characters are then removed from a political or emotional situation. In "Pathfinder", there's a lot of watching and not much maneuvering, and that's a problem when you rely on action or reaction to give characters dimension.
And now, the time-travel bit: Okay. Depending on your generation, you have probably used the back of a napkin to draw out the timelines for either "Back to the Future" or the new "Star Trek" movie. This book spends a lot of time figuring that same sort of timeline math out, and it tries to bring the reader along for the ride. Is this effective for kids who've never really grappled with paradox theories or time travel scenarios? No idea. But I found it pretty difficult to chart out the timelines (as it was being discussed by the characters) at the same time as the plot was moving forward. They float a lot of theories, and then disprove them, and it feels like chaff thrown in the wind for no real reason.
It's a very odd choice, to spend so much of the book reading about two kids mulling over time travel as an intellectual exercise. The book grinds to a halt time and again to do this. There's no action, no real urgency to push this experimentation from a plotting standpoint - Card basically ditches any pretense of plot to just ramble. And at the end, it turns out the math is about the same as my back-of-the-napkin Marty McFly conclusions. After 500 pages of extended discussion, it's sort of like getting excited about opening a giant box on Christmas and finding out your brother actually just did the box-in-a-box-in-a-box trick, so instead of getting a bike you end up holding a pair of socks.
All in all I'd say this isn't so much a story about a time-travelling kid, it's much more a basic and usable theory of time travel that's inexplicably been dressed up with lots of flair, with various characters scattered about to prop up the plot. I think Card just wanted to talk about time travel, and if you were sitting next to him he'd probably be able to sneak about 40% of the book's lines into normal conversation about paradoxes without anyone being the wiser. Lecture-as-fiction, and I don't think it worked too well. Apparently it's going to be a series, so we'll see what happens now that everyone seems to have sorted out their superpowers - but I really hope the characters get a little more life to them, and the political exercises take a break until there's more doing than watching.
I've just reread "Ender's Game" and it holds up brilliantly from when I was a teenager. And though I appreciated Graff and Sister Carlotta ("Ender's Shadow", mostly) when I was a kid, now I love them. Their banter is fantastic, sharp and witty but also restrained, and the sly asides and parries made me laugh out loud as I read. Unfortunately, here ALL of the characters speak to each other in that same sharp, edgy language, and it loses its charm when it's used so frequently. I just don't believe that everyone in this universe either speaks in that sort of way or understands how to respond to it, especially the book's children. So that's one hurdle: everyone in the book is sarcastic and witheringly witty, and when they're all like that it's no fun. It's not real.
Card writes very political characters, and their emotions are buried under intellect and logic. It's a cool way of writing, but it's a one-trick pony when your characters are then removed from a political or emotional situation. In "Pathfinder", there's a lot of watching and not much maneuvering, and that's a problem when you rely on action or reaction to give characters dimension.
And now, the time-travel bit: Okay. Depending on your generation, you have probably used the back of a napkin to draw out the timelines for either "Back to the Future" or the new "Star Trek" movie. This book spends a lot of time figuring that same sort of timeline math out, and it tries to bring the reader along for the ride. Is this effective for kids who've never really grappled with paradox theories or time travel scenarios? No idea. But I found it pretty difficult to chart out the timelines (as it was being discussed by the characters) at the same time as the plot was moving forward. They float a lot of theories, and then disprove them, and it feels like chaff thrown in the wind for no real reason.
It's a very odd choice, to spend so much of the book reading about two kids mulling over time travel as an intellectual exercise. The book grinds to a halt time and again to do this. There's no action, no real urgency to push this experimentation from a plotting standpoint - Card basically ditches any pretense of plot to just ramble. And at the end, it turns out the math is about the same as my back-of-the-napkin Marty McFly conclusions. After 500 pages of extended discussion, it's sort of like getting excited about opening a giant box on Christmas and finding out your brother actually just did the box-in-a-box-in-a-box trick, so instead of getting a bike you end up holding a pair of socks.
All in all I'd say this isn't so much a story about a time-travelling kid, it's much more a basic and usable theory of time travel that's inexplicably been dressed up with lots of flair, with various characters scattered about to prop up the plot. I think Card just wanted to talk about time travel, and if you were sitting next to him he'd probably be able to sneak about 40% of the book's lines into normal conversation about paradoxes without anyone being the wiser. Lecture-as-fiction, and I don't think it worked too well. Apparently it's going to be a series, so we'll see what happens now that everyone seems to have sorted out their superpowers - but I really hope the characters get a little more life to them, and the political exercises take a break until there's more doing than watching.
November 29, 2012
SHORT REVIEW: A two star rating cannot be quibbled with.
LESS SHORT REVIEW: What is this story about? Quibbling. Lots of quibbling from every character in every scene. Not debating, not hypothesizing, not conflicting, just quibbling over every issue that is in front of them, large or small. Which leads to problem 2. All the characters are exactly the same. They may be described differently, but they all quibble exactly the same.
What else? This is where I can quibble with myself because there is still some good stuff in here. Mysterious madness inducing walls, quests, chases, space travel, time travel. The time travel stuff alone almost, almost, makes me want to give this another star.
MORE LESS SHORT REVIEWING: Two stars. That is my final answer, in all possible forwardly linear parallel time-streams. And here is why. Despite the neat concepts on time travel, the story doesn't work. Its beats are the same as Ender’s Game – young prodigy advised by authoritarian father-figure goes on a quest, children are killed, quibbling happens – but the stakes are never presented. None of the main characters knows why they are doing what they are dong, nor do they really care once they accidently complete their quest. Neither does the audience. None of the characters change, emotionally or intellectually, from start to end and none of their random adventures are particularly gripping.
ADDITIONAL FUN READING TIP: I found it more entertaining/palatable to think of all the characters as Vulcans from a pre-warp powered Star Trek universe. Wow… I really wanted to like this story more.
LESS SHORT REVIEW: What is this story about? Quibbling. Lots of quibbling from every character in every scene. Not debating, not hypothesizing, not conflicting, just quibbling over every issue that is in front of them, large or small. Which leads to problem 2. All the characters are exactly the same. They may be described differently, but they all quibble exactly the same.
What else? This is where I can quibble with myself because there is still some good stuff in here. Mysterious madness inducing walls, quests, chases, space travel, time travel. The time travel stuff alone almost, almost, makes me want to give this another star.
MORE LESS SHORT REVIEWING: Two stars. That is my final answer, in all possible forwardly linear parallel time-streams. And here is why. Despite the neat concepts on time travel, the story doesn't work. Its beats are the same as Ender’s Game – young prodigy advised by authoritarian father-figure goes on a quest, children are killed, quibbling happens – but the stakes are never presented. None of the main characters knows why they are doing what they are dong, nor do they really care once they accidently complete their quest. Neither does the audience. None of the characters change, emotionally or intellectually, from start to end and none of their random adventures are particularly gripping.
ADDITIONAL FUN READING TIP: I found it more entertaining/palatable to think of all the characters as Vulcans from a pre-warp powered Star Trek universe. Wow… I really wanted to like this story more.
Read
January 13, 2016I love the name Rigg. Cool things should happen to people with that name. Wildly inventive. I really appreciated the author's note at the end. It really helped clarify where the story was going. Very interesting to see how the kids' powers worked together.
January 3, 2011
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.
(This review was also published at www.fantasyliterature.com)
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.
(This review was also published at www.fantasyliterature.com)
November 26, 2012
Orson Scott Card's Pathfinder is a fantastic science fiction/fantasy adventure story that slowly unfurls in such a way as to make it difficult to describe without ruining the pleasure a reader would derive from reading it all themselves. I'll try to avoid spoilers, but aim to do better than the vague jacket copy, reproduced verbatim at the top of the book's Goodreads record.
Pathfinder tells two stories simultaneously. Each chapter begins with a little bit of Ram Odin's story. He's commanding a spaceship loaded up with humans in stasis, traveling to a distant habitable planet so that, should something horrible happen on Earth, the humans won't go extinct. The ship is run by AI--computers handling the complex calculations required to make an experimental leap through a fold in space and the expendables (robots) who provide artificial human interaction to help keep Ram sane, as well as act as interpreters between the ship's computers and Ram. Ram's ship is supposed to arrive at the new planet before the others, and should the experiment jump through the space fold work, it will take much less time than the hundreds of years the other ships are expected to take. But something doesn't go quite as planned during the jump through the fold.
After Ram's story, each chapter then follows a young man named Rigg, who at the beginning of the story works as a fur trapper with his father. As the two go about laying and checking traps, his father schools him on languages, sciences, history, culture, and more, much to Rigg's annoyance. What goes does it do a fur trapper to understand the banking industry in the distant capital, Aressa Sessamo?
That's not the only odd thing about Rigg's life. He also has something like a magical ability. He can see the paths that people and animals leave. Seeing isn't the right word--he can sense them, as well as their age and vaguely the sort of person or creature who made them. Almost. He can't see his father's path.
It's not long after you meet Rigg that he finds himself traveling with village friend Umbo off to bigger cities to discover more about himself and his past. His father had kept secrets from him, and while this story does not build up to big reveals, it is definitely more fun for you to read the story and learn about these secrets yourself.
Card's characters are excellent and the adventure is fun. The world he's built in Pathfinder is fascinating and stirs the imagination--I would wonder after putting the book down "what would it be like if this happened," and enjoy the Card's answer to it. There's also an enjoyable amount of speculation about time/space travel and physics that have the potential to make readers curious enough to seek out other information on the topic. I'd recommend this to teens and adults who enjoy adventure stories, especially those who like fantasy and/or science fiction adventures. If you're in this category, be warned that you may get sucked into this story and need to exercise some self-control to put it down and do chores or go to sleep. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Ruins.
Pathfinder tells two stories simultaneously. Each chapter begins with a little bit of Ram Odin's story. He's commanding a spaceship loaded up with humans in stasis, traveling to a distant habitable planet so that, should something horrible happen on Earth, the humans won't go extinct. The ship is run by AI--computers handling the complex calculations required to make an experimental leap through a fold in space and the expendables (robots) who provide artificial human interaction to help keep Ram sane, as well as act as interpreters between the ship's computers and Ram. Ram's ship is supposed to arrive at the new planet before the others, and should the experiment jump through the space fold work, it will take much less time than the hundreds of years the other ships are expected to take. But something doesn't go quite as planned during the jump through the fold.
After Ram's story, each chapter then follows a young man named Rigg, who at the beginning of the story works as a fur trapper with his father. As the two go about laying and checking traps, his father schools him on languages, sciences, history, culture, and more, much to Rigg's annoyance. What goes does it do a fur trapper to understand the banking industry in the distant capital, Aressa Sessamo?
That's not the only odd thing about Rigg's life. He also has something like a magical ability. He can see the paths that people and animals leave. Seeing isn't the right word--he can sense them, as well as their age and vaguely the sort of person or creature who made them. Almost. He can't see his father's path.
It's not long after you meet Rigg that he finds himself traveling with village friend Umbo off to bigger cities to discover more about himself and his past. His father had kept secrets from him, and while this story does not build up to big reveals, it is definitely more fun for you to read the story and learn about these secrets yourself.
Card's characters are excellent and the adventure is fun. The world he's built in Pathfinder is fascinating and stirs the imagination--I would wonder after putting the book down "what would it be like if this happened," and enjoy the Card's answer to it. There's also an enjoyable amount of speculation about time/space travel and physics that have the potential to make readers curious enough to seek out other information on the topic. I'd recommend this to teens and adults who enjoy adventure stories, especially those who like fantasy and/or science fiction adventures. If you're in this category, be warned that you may get sucked into this story and need to exercise some self-control to put it down and do chores or go to sleep. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Ruins.
November 4, 2014
I would give this book a 3.5* rating which is not bad but not brilliant either and unfortunately the reason for that somewhat average rating is because I feel that this book suffered a bit from 'first book syndrome'. I read this as a co-read with Amanda and we read it in various chunks and analysed it as we went which really helped break down the story and weigh the true quality of the book whilst also being fun for us to catch up and talk about books!
This is the story of two parallel storylines; the first focuses on Rigg who is a young boy living mostly in the woods with his father. His father is constantly testing and quizzing Rigg about anything and everything and Rigg, whilst he enjoys the challenge, sometimes finds his father's ideas annoying and somewhat pointless as he's never really left the woods and sees no reason why he would in the future... The second storyline focuses on Ram who is the only human on a ship of robots heading to a new world. We don't initially know much about Ram's purpose or place in the main storyline but slowly things begin to be revealed and uncovered.
The main storyline is Rigg's and when his father suddenly has an accident it's up to Rigg and his unwilling friend Umbo to head out into the wide world on an adventure with all sorts of magical sf powers and time travel!
I very much enjoyed the character of Rigg to begin with but as the story went on I began to find him more irksome and irritating. He's a very intelligent character which makes him a somewhat snobbish one at times and I felt that this was not always a necessary trait.
Umbo I liked as he was quite an endearing and sweet character who often came out with some funny and laughable lines.
One issue I did have with the book is that it seemed to be 'talking down' to the reader when explaining things like Time Travel and whilst this was probably intended to help the reader I found it to be an overcomplication and annoyance at many intervals.
The story as a whole is fairly exciting with mystery being a key element and adventurous fun a secondary feature. The characters are forced to figure things out and test what they know whilst also trying to evade the 'bad guys'.
I would recommend this story to you if you're fairly new to Sf and want an easy read. I'd say that this is much more of a YA or Children's book than an adults but it's still exciting and fun at many points and I am interested in what happens next so I may well pick up the next volume in this series soon. We shall see...!
This is the story of two parallel storylines; the first focuses on Rigg who is a young boy living mostly in the woods with his father. His father is constantly testing and quizzing Rigg about anything and everything and Rigg, whilst he enjoys the challenge, sometimes finds his father's ideas annoying and somewhat pointless as he's never really left the woods and sees no reason why he would in the future... The second storyline focuses on Ram who is the only human on a ship of robots heading to a new world. We don't initially know much about Ram's purpose or place in the main storyline but slowly things begin to be revealed and uncovered.
The main storyline is Rigg's and when his father suddenly has an accident it's up to Rigg and his unwilling friend Umbo to head out into the wide world on an adventure with all sorts of magical sf powers and time travel!
I very much enjoyed the character of Rigg to begin with but as the story went on I began to find him more irksome and irritating. He's a very intelligent character which makes him a somewhat snobbish one at times and I felt that this was not always a necessary trait.
Umbo I liked as he was quite an endearing and sweet character who often came out with some funny and laughable lines.
One issue I did have with the book is that it seemed to be 'talking down' to the reader when explaining things like Time Travel and whilst this was probably intended to help the reader I found it to be an overcomplication and annoyance at many intervals.
The story as a whole is fairly exciting with mystery being a key element and adventurous fun a secondary feature. The characters are forced to figure things out and test what they know whilst also trying to evade the 'bad guys'.
I would recommend this story to you if you're fairly new to Sf and want an easy read. I'd say that this is much more of a YA or Children's book than an adults but it's still exciting and fun at many points and I am interested in what happens next so I may well pick up the next volume in this series soon. We shall see...!
December 23, 2020
Notes:
1st Read (Hardback): 03/10/2011
2nd Read (Audiobook): 12/22/2020
Recommend Reading a Print Copy vs Audiobook
The audiobook has a talented crew of narrators & production. However, the flaws of the story are more apparent while listening vs reading. The changes in POV was less awkward when I read the book vs listening to it.
I enjoy the concepts a lot, there are interesting characters with cool abilities, and just enough mystery to keep you going into the series.
Overall, a fun, YA adventure story.
1st Read (Hardback): 03/10/2011
2nd Read (Audiobook): 12/22/2020
Recommend Reading a Print Copy vs Audiobook
The audiobook has a talented crew of narrators & production. However, the flaws of the story are more apparent while listening vs reading. The changes in POV was less awkward when I read the book vs listening to it.
I enjoy the concepts a lot, there are interesting characters with cool abilities, and just enough mystery to keep you going into the series.
Overall, a fun, YA adventure story.
February 19, 2017
Started off wondering what the voice of the astronaut and the story of Rigg had to do with each other...then wow!
This was such an excellent, well-written and totally original feeling book! Totally loved it!
This was such an excellent, well-written and totally original feeling book! Totally loved it!
August 15, 2022
When my boyfriend suggested me this book, I thought it was just a typical YA fantasy. I couldn't be more wrong.
January 9, 2011
This book asks you to be a smart reader, or at least, not a lazy one; the powers the characters possess are interesting; the logic the characters employ to figure out situations in the book is fun to work through; and the sci-fi parts didn't overwhelm the characters and relationships (which is good if you're not really a sci-fi fan).
The basic premise is that Rigg can see the past--anywhere an animal or human (with one exception) has been leaves a path that he can see. He discovers, though, that he can manipulate the past--add to that a quest that takes him into the heart of political intrigue to search for a long lost sister...oh, and the fact that he's brilliant and able to blend into all levels of society and has to use those skills to escape from a series of perilous events (his street skills and brains alone would make him an awesome character)...and you have an action packed story.
As I read this book I realized that normally when reading fiction I'm a lazy reader. Why should I work to figure out the plot when (a) by completing the book I'll learn all I need to know; (b) if I figure out the plot beforehand it ruins the excitement of not knowing what will happen next (ok, and (c)it takes effort, and fiction is supposed to be relaxing).
The problem is that with Pathfinder, if you don't take the time to make sure you understand what's happening, you actually miss out on the story--sure, you'll find everything out in the end, but you'll have missed out on part of the fun. That's one of the things that makes this story good: it's got enough levels to it that you can actually work at it, and think about it, and even try to analyze things without finding holes in the story or the logic. (I think I should add a (d) to my reasons for being a lazy reader of fiction: I'm worried that if I dig too deep into the plot or the characters I'll come up wanting because either something doesn't make sense or is stupid, thereby ruining the book.)
Despite not being interested in sci-fi, I found this book to be exciting (it's an adventure story) and fun to read. The sci-fi parts were bearable because I cared about the characters and their relationships enough to overcome my annoyance at having to deal with science and space time issues. I wish this author would write some "chick lit" thereby giving the world another Jane Austen type experience (one that you can think through, but instead of space/time issues, it's relationships).
Also, fair warning: if you've read Ender's Game and didn't like it because of language or inappropriate content, then you'll probably have similar squabbles with this book. I'm not saying I think Ender's Game has inappropriate content, only that I know people who dislike the book for those reasons, so I wanted to issue a caveat for them before they read this book. That said, just think of Pathfinder as a book for adults until you've read it so you can make your own decision as to its appropriateness for the children or young adults in your life.
The basic premise is that Rigg can see the past--anywhere an animal or human (with one exception) has been leaves a path that he can see. He discovers, though, that he can manipulate the past--add to that a quest that takes him into the heart of political intrigue to search for a long lost sister...oh, and the fact that he's brilliant and able to blend into all levels of society and has to use those skills to escape from a series of perilous events (his street skills and brains alone would make him an awesome character)...and you have an action packed story.
As I read this book I realized that normally when reading fiction I'm a lazy reader. Why should I work to figure out the plot when (a) by completing the book I'll learn all I need to know; (b) if I figure out the plot beforehand it ruins the excitement of not knowing what will happen next (ok, and (c)it takes effort, and fiction is supposed to be relaxing).
The problem is that with Pathfinder, if you don't take the time to make sure you understand what's happening, you actually miss out on the story--sure, you'll find everything out in the end, but you'll have missed out on part of the fun. That's one of the things that makes this story good: it's got enough levels to it that you can actually work at it, and think about it, and even try to analyze things without finding holes in the story or the logic. (I think I should add a (d) to my reasons for being a lazy reader of fiction: I'm worried that if I dig too deep into the plot or the characters I'll come up wanting because either something doesn't make sense or is stupid, thereby ruining the book.)
Despite not being interested in sci-fi, I found this book to be exciting (it's an adventure story) and fun to read. The sci-fi parts were bearable because I cared about the characters and their relationships enough to overcome my annoyance at having to deal with science and space time issues. I wish this author would write some "chick lit" thereby giving the world another Jane Austen type experience (one that you can think through, but instead of space/time issues, it's relationships).
Also, fair warning: if you've read Ender's Game and didn't like it because of language or inappropriate content, then you'll probably have similar squabbles with this book. I'm not saying I think Ender's Game has inappropriate content, only that I know people who dislike the book for those reasons, so I wanted to issue a caveat for them before they read this book. That said, just think of Pathfinder as a book for adults until you've read it so you can make your own decision as to its appropriateness for the children or young adults in your life.
February 27, 2011
I couldn't put this down for the last few days, a fact that has considerably inhibited my school work and screwed up my sleep schedule. If you love time-travel stories as much as I do, then you will love the mind-bending maze of paradox Card has constructed here. Plenty of wry and witty dialogue keeps it from ever getting tedious. I also enjoyed the blend of fantasy and science fiction, which reminded me somewhat of Card's earlier Treason and Homecoming novels.
As usual in Card's novels, the world he has constructed is rich, and the characters are even richer. I was particularly entertained by the robot servants of humanity who continually try to steer a middle course between obedience and paternalism. Theirs are both the funniest and the most profound voices in the novel. However, the other characters were genuinely likable, too-- even the "villains", if there can be said to be any.
I was somewhat relieved to find that Card avoided harping on some of his usual themes-- particularly the idea that fulfillment in life can only come from getting married and having children. This is promoted in nearly all his novels, sometimes with tiresome heavy-handedness. Nary a word about it in Pathfinder, though-- nor about Card's other controversial religious and political views. This is good, clean escapist fiction.
I did notice a few continuity issues, and I'm not convinced the science was always consistent. But these are minor quibbles. The book's virtues far outweigh its shortcomings. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.
As usual in Card's novels, the world he has constructed is rich, and the characters are even richer. I was particularly entertained by the robot servants of humanity who continually try to steer a middle course between obedience and paternalism. Theirs are both the funniest and the most profound voices in the novel. However, the other characters were genuinely likable, too-- even the "villains", if there can be said to be any.
I was somewhat relieved to find that Card avoided harping on some of his usual themes-- particularly the idea that fulfillment in life can only come from getting married and having children. This is promoted in nearly all his novels, sometimes with tiresome heavy-handedness. Nary a word about it in Pathfinder, though-- nor about Card's other controversial religious and political views. This is good, clean escapist fiction.
I did notice a few continuity issues, and I'm not convinced the science was always consistent. But these are minor quibbles. The book's virtues far outweigh its shortcomings. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.
August 16, 2023
4th time editing my review.
This book had some really good parts. The very beginning was set up pretty well, and did make me want to read on. The beginnings of the chapter were also very good. They were like a bit of a sub-story that I found entertaining to read, mainly because it was very different from the main story line.
There were really two big things that I didn't like about this book. One was the characters. I didn't like any of them. I thought that they were all fairly dumb and made irrational choices. I didn't really cared about what happened to them. Another thing about the characters that I didn't like was the fact that some of them had kind of crappy introductions. One of the main characters in particular always bothered me because his introduction was really awkward and didn't set up his part very well.
The other major thing that I didn't like about this book was the plot line. I could tell where the author wanted the story to go for the rest of the series, but the way that he made the story line go felt unnatural and forced.
I will read the next one, because I think that since the story line has been established it'll be better than the first. As for the characters, I guess that I just have to hope that I will learn to like them.
This book had some really good parts. The very beginning was set up pretty well, and did make me want to read on. The beginnings of the chapter were also very good. They were like a bit of a sub-story that I found entertaining to read, mainly because it was very different from the main story line.
There were really two big things that I didn't like about this book. One was the characters. I didn't like any of them. I thought that they were all fairly dumb and made irrational choices. I didn't really cared about what happened to them. Another thing about the characters that I didn't like was the fact that some of them had kind of crappy introductions. One of the main characters in particular always bothered me because his introduction was really awkward and didn't set up his part very well.
The other major thing that I didn't like about this book was the plot line. I could tell where the author wanted the story to go for the rest of the series, but the way that he made the story line go felt unnatural and forced.
I will read the next one, because I think that since the story line has been established it'll be better than the first. As for the characters, I guess that I just have to hope that I will learn to like them.
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