Book Review: Pathfinder

Pathfinder

by: Orson Scott Card

672 pages

published in 2010

5/5 stars 

Synopsis:

Is this science fiction? Or is it fantasy? I'm not sure. Orson Scott Card twists the two so well that it really doesn't matter. I love Debbie Carton's review of Pathfinder for Booklist, and try as I might, I couldn't do better, so here it is: 

The first in a series, Card’s latest title has much in common with his Ender Wiggins books: precocious teens with complementary special talents, callously manipulative government authorities, endlessly creative worlds, and Card’s refusal to dumb down a plot for a young audience. Here he takes the notions of folding space and time, embracing paradox, “adopting a rule set in which . . . causality . . . controls reality, regardless of where it occurs on the timeline.” Thirteen-year-old Rigg is a Pathfinder, one who sees the paths of others’ pasts. Rigorously trained and thoroughly educated by his demanding father, Rigg is horrified when Father dies unexpectedly after a final order to find the sister he never knew he had. Rigg is accompanied on this journey by a small group of friends who have powers of bending and manipulating the flow of time. Card also skillfully twines a separate story line into the plot, featuring earth’s colonization of distant planets, led by the idealistic young pilot Ram Odin. Fast paced and thoroughly engrossing, the 650-plus pages fly by, challenging readers to care about and grasp sophisticated, confusing, and captivating ideas. As in L’Engle’s Time Quartet, science is secondary to the human need to connect with others, but Card does not shy away from full and fascinating discussions of the paradoxical worlds he has created. Grades 8-12. --Debbie Carton

My review:

You already know how I feel about Orson Scott Card. I think he's a genius--not just sort of a genius, but a Benjamin Franklin, Mensa should be so lucky-type. I think this is one of his best. I was so excited about Lost Gate, but after reading this one I remember what genius is. Debbie Carton was right to compare Rigg to Ender. This book still hasn't toppled my triumvirate of OSC books (Ender's Game, Speaker For The Dead and Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus) but Pastwatch is teetering...

The Lost Gate

THE LOST GATE

by: Orson Scott Card
378 pages
published in 2010
Genre: Fantasy


Summary: 
The trickster god Loki has imprisoned several warring clans of gods on Earth for centuries, where they have forged a fragile truce. Without access to their homeland, their magic has become diluted. Everyone in the North family knows that Danny is a drekka--a god stuck on Earth without any magic at all. But then Danny realizes he is a gatemage, with the power, but not the skill necessary to reopen the gate to their homeland of Westil. As he flees for his life from those who would either kill him or force him to work for them, he discovers that the clans were not the only people stranded on Westil when the gates closed.

This novel is really two stories, set on alternate worlds. Danny's story takes up the majority of the novel, but meanwhile, the story of a boy called Wad is unfolding on Westil. To the average observer, Wad seems like the least important person in the kitchens at the castle, yet his power and influence will determine the destiny of the whole country.


Review:
First of all, Orson Scott Card is such a hero of mine that I nearly find myself tongue-tied at my own audacity. How can I review one of his books when his characters have been the inspiration for so much of my own life? I see other reviewers calling him "Card" and it makes me wince at the disrespect. Crazy, I know. So here goes...



Orson Scott Card's characters are usually super intelligent, but they still make lots of mistakes. They usually learn to screw up more thoughtfully the next time and they never give up. As their ability to achieve their objectives evolves, their ability to empathize with the people around them grows as well, and that is the charm of his books. I love, love, love falling into one of OSC's worlds, and this was no exception.


At first, I was hopeful that OSC had finally created another Ender (Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1)just for me. And then Danny seemed more like Bean (Ender's Shadow (Ender, Book 5) which was also acceptable. But by the end of the book, he was just Danny--still gifted like Ender and Bean, but with his own personality--as sly as Bean, but much more comfortable with his own sense of humor.


Because The Lost Gate takes place in such a complicated world, much of the novel is explanation and exposition. But OSC is a master storyteller. He weaves the physics of gatemaking almost seamlessly into the narrative. I enjoyed every page.


The Lost Gate is a crossover novel--marketed to both teenagers and adults. I recommend it only for very mature teens. The writing is complex and Danny and Wad find themselves in some adult situations. Although my kids loved Ender's Game, I'm not ready to recommend this one to them yet.
 

Howl's Moving Castle

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
by: Diana Wynne Jones
429 pages
published in 1986

I was between stacks of reading material this week, so I reread one of my favorites. This book is full of chapters called things like "Chapter 5, Which Is Far Too Full of Washing" and "Chapter 6, In Which Howl Expresses His Feelings With Green Slime". Plus it's got Howl, the consummate talented, vain and charming man with a well-hidden heart of gold. Diana Wynne Jones is a prolific and talented author, and this is probably her best work. No one else could have pulled it off.

Sophie is a beautiful young lady until the Witch of the Waste curses her with old age.To break the curse, she makes a deal with a fire demon named Calcifer--if she can free him from the heartless wizard Howl, Calicifer promises to break the enchantment that makes her old. From the very beginning I wanted this to be a love story--but how could it be, when she calls all the eligible bachelors "young man" and works as Howl's cleaning lady?

I give this my highest recommendation.

A Kiss In Time

A KISS IN TIME

by: Alex Flinn

371 pages

published in 2009

Synopsis:

Talia is your typical Sleeping Beauty. Jack is your typical red blooded American boy. After he breaks the curse that has kept her asleep for 316 years, they flee from the wrath of her father. Where do they go? To Florida of course. Talia has lots to learn about modern day life, and Jack has lots to learn about women.

Review:

This is the last book in my stack of overdue library books, and I saved the best for last. This book was complete fun. It was such a fluffy, silly plot, but I love to watch good characters grow.  This is a book for mature teenagers. In one party scene they drink beer and Talia innocently gets drunk from jell-o shots and is nearly taken advantage of. This book could generate some interesting discussions about underage drinking or about how our perceptions of beauty have changed over time, and what beauty really is.

Radiant Darkness

RADIANT DARKNESS
by: Emily Whitman
270 pages
published in 2009

Synopsis:
All you scholars of ancient myths, listen up! They've been telling Persephone's story wrong for centuries. Her mother is a goddess, and she created a paradise for Persephone, but Persephone was trapped there, doomed to be her mother's child forever. The book begins with the words, "I hate eternity." But then HE comes, and tames her as carefully as he would his wild horses, and makes her the queen of the underworld. But her love for the world of the dead may cause the destruction of the world of the living.

Review:
Another book out of the pile my daughter forced me to read over Christmas vacation. I really ought to start listening to that girl. This is a beautiful book. Too often, I fall in love with the hero of the story, and am left wondering what he sees in the cardboard heroine. But I love Persephone. More often than not, she makes the same decisions I think I would make if my mother was immortal and wanted me to stay twelve years old for eternity. Or if I realized I fell in love with Hades, the god of the underworld. And I'm pretty cool. ;^)

I think this book is appropriate for most teenagers. There is some kissing, but although Persephone and Hades are married, references to anything beyond that are very, very veiled.

My Fair Godmother

MY FAIR GODMOTHER
by: Janette Rallison
311 pages
published by Walker & Co: A Division of Bloomsbury Publishing Co.

Synopsis: 
Savannah is shocked when her boyfriend breaks up with her for her quiet sister Jane. It's even more humiliating when they try to find her a date to prom. Enter Chrysanthemum Everstar, Savannah's teenage diva of a fairy godmother. If only "Chrissy" would pay attention to Savannah's wishes. Instead, Savannah's first two wishes send her back in time, first as Cinderella and then as Snow White. Her last wish is even more disastrous and Savannah must find a way to rescue Tristan, the cute boy from school who gets sent to the middle ages.

Review:
This is completely not my usual kind of book. I bought it for my teenage daughter for Christmas, and she forced me to read it. I'm so glad she did. It is incredibly funny, especially chapter 2, when the top of Savannah's swim suit falls off at the pool. To the chagrin of the rest of my family, my daughter and I have read it out loud to each other twice now. It's hysterical.


The first few chapters are amazing, but Savannah's stints as Cinderella and Snow White are a little dull.  But Savannah is growing and changing, and once she goes to rescue Tristan, it's hard to even set the book down. I love that it was not the studious older sister who needed the fairy godmother, but the beautiful and socially adept Savannah. It was disconcerting but lovely that Savannah was neither the hero of her own story nor the traditional damsel in distress. Instead, she and Tristan have to rescue each other.


The sequel, My Unfair Godmother, is coming out in April. It won't have the same characters, except the airheaded Fair Godmother, Chrissy. I have my fingers crossed that she gets a taste of her own medicine.

The Lost Hero

THE LOST HERO 
by: Rick Riordan
From the Heroes of Olympus series
Pages: 533
Published by Disney/Hyperion Books in 2010

Synopsis:
Jason has a problem: he doesn't remember anything--not his own name, the name of the girl he is holding hands with, or how he wound up on a school bus full of "bad kids". As if that wasn't disorienting enough, monsters attack his school bus and he and his friends are rescued and taken to Camp Half-Blood. Soon, he is leading a quest to rescue Hera--the goddess who stole his memories.

Review:
THE LOST HERO is my favorite book written by Rick Riordan. It is told from the point of view of three demigods. Jason is the son of  Jupiter (the Roman name for Zeus). Piper is the girlfriend he can't remember. Leo is my favorite character. It's both his sense of humor and his tragic life story that raise this story above the Percy Jackson series for me.

Percy is not in this book, but his very absence adds to the suspense. He's vanished, and Annabeth is searching for him. There are so many tantalizing hints about where he's gone that I'm already antsy for book 2, which is coming out in Fall 2011. It's called THE SON OF NEPTUNE, so I've got my fingers crossed that it's the story of what's been happening to Percy while Annabeth is searching for him.

You don't need to have read the PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS series to enjoy this book, although I recommend it. Knowing the backstory definitely adds a sheen to THE LOST HERO.