Review: Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card

This will be more of a mini-review, since it's been a few months since I read this novel with a few other books read in between.

A bit of background.  This is one of the many sequels to Ender's Game, which is divided into two sagas:

 

Ender's Game Saga:
Ender's Game (1985)
Speaker for the Dead (1986)
Xenocide (1991)
Children of the Mind (1996)
Ender in Exile (2008)
Earth Unaware (To be released July 2012)

Ender's Shadow Saga:
Ender's Shadow (1999)
Shadow of the Hegemon (2001)
Shadow Puppets (2002)
Shadow of the Giant (2005)
Shadows in Flight (2012)
Shadows Alive (To be released)

The story takes place where Shadow of the Giant left off.  Bean leaves his wife Petra and his 'normal' children and goes off into space with the three children that have Anton's Key turned on.  Anton's Key is a genetic defect which gives these children mental capabilities far surpassing their age, and also makes them very tiny physically.  Eventually, their bodies will continue to grow and they will experience giganticism and die in their twenties when their heart can no longer pump blood to their extremities and generally keep up with the oxygen needs for their massive bodies.

The three children and Bean ('The Giant') cruise around space in an effort to keep Bean alive to help them figure out a solution to turn off Anton's Key so the children (dubbed a new species), can survive.  Andrew (named after 'Ender') is the scientist, Carlotta is the ship's operations controller/engineer and Sergeant is the child versed in war.  They eventually meet a bugger ship in space which helps them unlock the Anton Key secret and Bean ends up dying in peace aboard the bugger ship.

To be honest, this book feels a lot like a money grab for Card, and this has been going on for awhile.  The book is a small one at 237 pages and is not the regular book size at 8.5" by 5.5".  The writing is generously spaced as well, though the price is on par of that for a novel and not a novella. 

The story is a must read only for those that have read most or all of the other Ender works by Card.  It fills in a hole left at the end of Shadow of the Giant and gives you a more complete understanding of the overall story.  The humour is typical Card, shown through children with an advanced understanding of life.  Despite the intelligence, the children still act like children.  Their minds are growing and so is their wit, and this wit is present throughout the work.  I would say that Card over does it a bit, going on ad nausea for pages, and it just feels like he's trying to make the work longer.

This is definitely my least favourite of all the Ender works and I would hope that fans get something better in the next two releases for this series. 

I'll leave off with the only quote I wrote down.  I've never found myself looking for a pen when reading Card, though I would assume that the best two books for quotes are Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead.  This is from Shadow's in Flight:

"Love makes you a bad observer - you put the best interpretation on everything.  Hate is as blinding - you assume the worst." 237

Review: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

First book “review” of 2012 – it’s been a spell (reading old books makes me want to use old lingo) since I finished this one, so my memory is already getting hazy. I decided to take another trek down the old science fiction route, since it was short and very different from ‘The Tale of Genji’ which I was reading concurrently.

It seems as though the most popular novels by Herbert George (H.G.) Wells were during the beginning of his career. Of these, I have read all the popular ones (in bold).

• The Time Machine (1895)
• The Wonderful Visit (1895)
• The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)
• The Wheels of Chance (1896)
• The Invisible Man (1897)
• The War of the Worlds (1898)

This may mean that I’m done with my Wells’ experience for some time, similar to my proclamation of being done reading the most popular works of Jack London. I’m thinking that from an old science fiction perspective, I’m going to delve more into Jules Verne, whom I think it a much better writer/storyteller than Wells (both are referred to as a ‘Father of Science Fiction’).

*Summary Spoilers Only*

The Island of Doctor Moreau (TIODM) was an account of an 11 month and four day habitation on an unknown island close to Hawaii by Edward Prendicks. The story begins with the sinking of the ship “Lady Vain”, and the pick-up of Prendicks aboard his schooner by another merchant ship. This ship is transporting animals (leopards, apes, etc) to the unknown island. Aboard is a strange man with a black face – who the captain rages against. He refuses to transport what he calls “the ugly devil”, feeling that something is not right about this man. Prendicks is not allowed to return to ship or continue onto the island (a man named Montgomery is very hesitant on inviting him), so he is cast out to see on his schooner. Fearful of death, eventually Montgomery concedes and Prendicks is brought to the island.

He finds out that there is a doctor who was banished from England, performing experiments on the island. In addition, there are numerous strange creatures lurking in the dark and we get the feeling that there is something very suspicious about the doctor and the inhabitants of the island.

*End of Summary Spoilers*

According to Wikipedia, this book was written in response to some controversial thoughts on vivisection in Great Britain at the time:

“When the novel was written in 1896, there was much discussion in Europe about degeneration and animal vivisection. Interest groups were formed to address the issue: the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection was formed two years after the publication of the novel."

I’m also going to quote Wikipedia in reference to themes, which it proclaims are “pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity, and human interference with nature.” I could not agree more with this. There is a lot of talk by Dr. Moreau about how to get rid of pain and why it’s important in the type of work he is doing. The animals he is operating on, however, are very afraid of pain after going under the knife. Moreau attempts to convince Prendicks against cruelty in the pursuit of science.

Moral responsibility and human interference with nature are still important topics in society today, and I would argue the movements for the former probably peaked (at least in North America) during the hippy 60-70’s and movements against the latter have become stronger over time and will probably continue as we get further into the 21st century. Both topics are fairly straightforward in reference to vivisection at the hands of Dr. Moreau.

There were a few moral points which I believed were made against drinking, and in one case the drink lead to multiple deaths. Also, there was a strong slant in this work towards the teachings of Christianity – that men’s morals are kept in check by religion – something I would disagree with as a general rule.

Without giving it all away, the re-integration into society by Prendicks was the most interesting part of the novel. The experience jaded him and he had a hard time with seeing the beast in people, converting him to a recluse.

This book was an interesting read, but there was nothing in it that made you think too hard. The writing was average and while I would rather read a work of science fiction from over 100 years ago than one written within the 21st century, this was one of those books that you shouldn’t feel guilty for not having read… but a decent book if you’re looking for something light which still contains important themes.

Review: The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

I have recently discovered that I really enjoy old science fiction classics. I’m a little upset that my parents didn’t see my fascination with The Hardy Boys mysteries (I should read a few to see how horribly they translate as an adult) and Tolkien fantasy in grade school and turned me on to some science fiction from the likes of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. I’m sure I’ve stated this in Verne posts prior to this review on “The Time Machine”, but there is something for everyone in these types of novels.


As a child, the adventure present in these works is very appealing and the book provides a completely different perspective on life and our place in the universe which was mind expanding during youth. However, due to a primitive understanding of the universe and how humans function within it, much of the subtleties of this work in particular would have gone over my head.

“The Time Machine” is a short novel by H.G. Wells that details the first created time machine and a professor’s experiment with time travel. As I understand it, the term “time machine” was originally introduced to society through this work. Can you imagine how intriguing it would have been to hear the term for the first time prior to reading the book and prior to humans being aware of what existed on planets like the moon? But I digress.

**SMALL DEGREE OF SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT**

This story was published in serial and reads like it. Each chapter has a very specific point, and as I read I wrote a one line synopsis for each one. The first chapter relates the professor’s initial trial with a model time machine and in the second chapter, the time traveler comes back to join his educated friends for dinner after a long time spent in the future – an event that comprises the whole of a novel through the re-telling of the story.

The professor travels forward in time to the year 802,701AD, where he encounters a very different earth. All the people are 4 feet tall, elegantly dressed and seem to spend all their time in leisure. They are slightly dimwitted, produce no goods and eat only fruit. Conversely, there is a subterranean race which only comes to the surface at night, eats meat and is very resourceful.

The theory postulated by the professor is that at some time, the working class was sent underground because the rich ended up owning all the surface land. Consequently, the surface people consumed and the subterranean produced and this happened for generations. Thus, the surface people devolved (physically and mentally) and Wells’ states the reasons for this quite eloquently: “There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change.” Ch10

The evolution of the subterranean people was like most organisms that live in caves. They lose their pigmentation and their eyes become very sensitive to light (I digress here, but after an even longer period most eyes are lost through evolution because they become superfluous). Due to the fact that they continued to produce and think, they became very intelligent and intuitive. Here’s what Wells states about the reasoning behind the evolution of the subterranean world:

“…industry had gradually lost its birthright in the sky. I mean that it had gone deeper and deeper into larger and ever larger underground factories, spending a still-increasing amount of its time therein, till, in the end—! Even now, does not an East-end worker live in such artificial conditions as practically to be cut off from the natural surface of the earth?” Ch5

I also love the fact that Wells’ blasts the functioning of modern society here, still applicable today in most areas of the globe. I have spent probably ¾ of my life indoors... and during this time in the fall/winter season, I no longer see the sun as I drive to and from work in the dark.

The concept of skills is also still practical today. I feel myself as if I have no tangible skills because I am not really producing any products, while people that earn far less than me are working in factories creating items for consumption or use. I have lost a large portion of natural intelligence because I do not need to do things like fix my car, because someone else will do it for me. Of course, I am still doing something... so I am not likely to lose all intelligence altogether. Think of for how many people are striving for a concept of spending their time NOT working but instead in leisure. That’s pretty much the definition of retirement for many people. In addition, this produces an interesting commentary about the trend of society at the time and foreshadows the growing divide between the rich and the poor.

My favourite line comes at the very end of the work, in the epilogue where Wells’ makes his most important and optimistic opinion of mankind when he states:

“And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers—shriveled now, and brown and flat and brittle—to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.” EPILOGUE

I will not delve into the meaning behind this, because it would ‘take the piss out of the whole thing’ – but even with the horror existent in such a society, there was still present the beauty of humanity. I wonder if the publisher made him change the ending to have an optimistic slant, to sell more books? ;)

Wells’ writing style was very simplistic and I didn’t find myself writing down literary devices used. It was more of a straight forward portrayal of ideas while making a commentary on the society at large and the direction the human race was going. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an easy but mind expanding read – probably a really interesting beach book for those of you who don’t really enjoy popular fiction. And if you have children in grade school, it may be a good idea to slip this book onto their bookshelf or next month, into their Christmas stocking.


Other works I’ve read by Wells:
“The Invisible Man” - read in grade school
“The War of the Worlds” – read between high school and university.

I remember the passion I had for 'The Invisible Man' as a child due to the story (reminds me now slightly of 'Dr. Jekyll and Hyde' which I read afterwards), but my thoughts on 'The War of the Worlds' have not withstood the test of time.

Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury

"Fahrenheit 451" was one of those sci-fi, distopian fiction novels that I was ashamed not to have read.  I finally got around to doing so, and all I can say is "Wow!"  This novel completely blew me away; I wasn't expecting it to be so good.

The story is about Guy Montag, a fireman, who lives in a futuristic society where firemen do not put out fires... they create them.  The goal of a fireman is to destroy records, particularly books.  The concept of the novel is summed up rather nicely in this line by Fire Captain Beatty: ""Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

The premise is to turn people into happy idiots by taking away books and introducing television.  People's "families" are really their television characters that talk to them and they spend all day looking at televisions that take up entire walls of rooms.  Montag is continually pressured by his wife to earn more money to buy a fourth wall - so she can be encapsulated completely in her television universe.  What's really interesting is that this novel was written in 1951, way before the concept of reality television was put into practice.  This book paints an eerie picture of what can happen when this type of programming gets out of hand.

Of course, the novel is not solely about television.  It's just a medium, to which, the people in society can seek pleasure without thinking.  The goal of the society is to produce people who are happy, and happiness is found in complete ignorance and lives solely based on leisure.  The concept is not a new one, and is often a critism of the United States.  Sports and doing everything quickly without having time for reflection (such as racing cars) are used to inhibit thinking.

The largest way of controlling society is by inhibiting information exchange, in this case, by burning books.  This is similar to the treatment of the Chinese by their communist government - everything (especially media) is regulated and watched.  Bradbury presents a very simplistic viewpoint of this, which mainly results from members of society giving up their neighbours or spouses for the possession of books.

When Montag is turned in for his collection of books, he narrowly escapes - a chace with a mechanical dog that can distinguish his scent, that is all recorded on reality television.  In the end, without giving it away, he encounters some more of his own kind who tell him the secret to keeping books alive.

This was one of the best books I have read in a long time and I encourage everyone reading this review to run out and get a copy.  Remember to store it in a well hidden place - just in case.

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QUOTATIONS
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"Do you know why books such as this are so important?  Because they have quality.  And what does the word quality mean?  To me it means texture.  This book has pores.  It has features.  This book can go under the microscope.  You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion.  The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more 'literary' you are.  That's my definition anyway.  Telling detail.  Fresh detail.  The good writers touch life often.  THe mediocre ones run a quick hand over her.  The bad ones raper her and leave her for the flies." 111

"The things you're looking for, Montag, are in the world but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine percent of them is in a book." 114

"But remember that the Captain belongs to the most dangerous enemy to truth and freedom, the solid, unmoving cattle of the majority."  136

"The moved along the bank of the river, going south.  Montag tried to see the men's faces, the old faces he remembered from the firlight, lined and tired.  He was looking for a brightness, a reslove, a triumph over tomorrow that hardly seemed to be there.  Perhaps he had expected their faces to burn and glitter with the knowledge they cared, to glow as lanterns glow, with the light in them.  But all the light had come from the cmpfire, and these men had seemed no different than any others who had run a long race, serached a long search, seen good things destroyed, and now, very late, were gathered to wait for the end of the party and blowing out of the lamps.  The weren't at all certain that the things they carried in their heads might make every future dawn glow with a purer light, they were sure of nothing save that the books were on file behind their quiet eyes, the books were waiting, with their pages uncut, for the customers who might come by in later years, some with clean and some with dirty fingers."  180

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my frandfather said.  A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made.  Or a garden planted.  Some thing your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there.  It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away.  The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said.  The law-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime." 182

" 'Stuff your eyes with wonder,' he said, 'live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds.  See the world.  It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.  Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal.  And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away.  To hell with that,' he said, 'shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.' " 183

"We'll go on the river.  He looked at the old railroad tracks.  Or we'll go that way.  Or we'll walk on the highways now, and we'll have time to put things into ourselves.  And some day, after it sets in us a long time, it'll come out our hands and our mouths.  And a lot of it will be wrong, but just enough of it will be right.  We'll just start walking today and see the world and the way the world walks around and talks, the way it really looks.  I want to see everything now.  And while none of it will be me when it goes in, after awhile it'll all gather together inside and it'll be me.  Look at the world out there, my God, my God, look at it out there, outside me, out there beyond my face and the only way to really touch it is to put it where it's finally me, where it's in the blood, where it pumps around a thousand times ten thousand a day.  I'll get hold if it so it'll never run off.  I'll hold onto the world tight some day.  I've got one finger on it now; that's a beginning." 187

"There was a silly damn bird called a Phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burned himself up.  He must have been first cousin to Man.  But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again.  And it looks like we're doing the same thing, over and over, but we've got one damn thing the Phoenix never had.  We know the damn silly thing we just did.  We know all the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, some day we'll stop making the goddam funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them.  We pick up a few more people that remember, every generation."  189

"To everything there is a season.  Yes.  A time to break down, and a time to build up. Yes.  A time to keep silence and a time to speak.  Yes, all that." 190

I, Robot | Isaac Asimov

There is no doubt that Isaac Asimov was one of the best and most innovative Science Fiction writers of all-time.  My passion for his "Foundation" series cannot be equalled for anything else in the genre.  However, "I, Robot" fell a little short based on prior Asimov expectations.

Know first that the book is a collection of short stories written in different periods and tied together through discussions between "robo-psychologist" Susan Calvin, and a reporter.  The connection between the stories makes logical sense, but doesn't flow like a REAL novel would.  While the Asimov skill for storytelling doesn't really come through in these works, his knowledge and innovation on robotics theory does.

These stories, written in 1950, begin with Asimov's three laws of robotics:

1) A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.


2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
 
The stories go on to show some of the problems that arise out of robot interpretation of these laws.  The typical plot structure is as follows:
 
A) A more advanced type of robot is created
B) A human order is given to said robot
C) Robot interprets order in a different way than the human order was intended
D) This creates some sort of problem for humanity
E) Humans try to figure out what's wrong by means of trial and error mixed with ingenuity
 
While this becomes somewhat formulaic in most stories, others are more enlightening.
 
"Robbie" is a tale of robot emotions, and the power of love - especially of children.
"Reason" shows us that creating something "more intelligent" then ourselves could lead to disastrous results.  In addition, there is a great theme explored on the power of blind faith - hinted to be religion (God = "Master)
"Evidence" tells the story of a political figure that may or may not be a robot and asks "Who cares?  As long as they do a good job!"
"The Evitable Conflict" flashes forward to a time where we are run by "machines."  There is a great point on whether human thinking becomes obsolete or if machines make human thought even more valued. 
 
All the tales in general touch on the inefficiency of humans, but yet point out how much strength and versatility we have in our minds (if not our bodies).
 
The one thing that I found excruciatingly, was the use of bad futuristic slang such as "we've been stuck with pretty lousy jobs in our time, but this takes the iridium asteroid" 69, or "holy howling Jupiter" 74, "Jumping Space!" 82, "Jumping Jupiter!" 88, "Great Galaxy" 156.  I found this in bad taste, but maybe it's indicative around the humour of the time or maybe I just need to lighten up - as bad slang is present in all recent human history.
 
On the whole, while the book lacked a cohesive story, it did provide some enlightenment on the human condition and presented a believable history of robots.  Each story provided an additional step of the evolution but really lacked man's reaction [other than specialists] to the times.  In addition, the novel assumed that each time humans were able to correct the situation.  Over the course of history, it's been shown that some of the things man does to nature cannot be corrected by man at all - look at the poisonous cane frog that was introduced in Australia to kill aphids (or some other creature) who were destroying the crops.  Now the cane frogs are taking over.  I would assume that it's more likely that the robots take over and control humans and we get the same dilemma as in "Frankenstein."  Is the monster the product or the creator?
 
QUOTATION:
"Our entire technical civilization has created more unhappiness and misery than it has removed.  Perhaps an agrarian or pastoral civilization, with less culture and less people would be better.  If so, the Machines must move in that direction, preferably without telling us, since in our ignorant prejudices we only know that what we are used to, is good - and we would then fight change.  Or perhaps a complete urbanization, or a complete caste-ridden society, or complete anarchy, is the answer.  We don't know.  Only the Machines know, and they are going there and taking us with them.
 
'But you are telling me, Susan, that the 'Society for Humanity' is right; and that Mankind has lost its own say in its future.'
 
'It never had any, really.  It was always at the mercy of economic and sociological forces it did not understand - at the whims of climate, and the fortunes of war.  Now the Machines understand them; and no one can stop them, since the Machines will deal with them as they are dealing with the Society, - having, as they do, the greatest of weapons at their disposal, the absolute control of our economy.'
 
'How horrible!'
 
'Perhaps how wonderful!  Think, that for all time, all conflicts are finally inevitable.  Only the Machines, from now on, are inevitable!' " 223-224

Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, First Meetings in the Enderverse | Orson Scott Card

Well I completed the last books I had in the Ender saga.

Shadow of the Hegemon was truly forgettable. The book was about life after the Bugger War, and consisted about military strategy on Earth. As always, some interesting dialogue between characters but nothing with the pinash of the first two books, or even Ender's Shadow.

Shadow Puppets was about the relationship between Bean and Petra, two soldiers from Battle school. Book was slightly entertaining, but it was not a blow you away like Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead and Ender's Shadow. Just one of the novels you should read, if you're into the whole series.

First Meetings is a book for nerds. It gives you more background to the characters (ie: how one character would meet another). At first, I was disappointed that the first publication of Ender's Game (as a novella) was in this book, but after reading it, it gave me even more an appreciation for the novel. I think Card changed some characters and some important points. To me, that is useful knowledge. He created the bones first, but it's the flesh that he surrounded it with that morphed the book into a masterpiece.

So, I still have to read Shadow of the Giant, but I don't own it yet so it will take me a little more time to obtain a copy. I'm going back in time a little bit (but still on a war kick) to "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Hemingway. It's time for me to get back to classic literature. Now that I have finally brought my books home, I can make decisions that seem right to me at the time. Reading the book that your mind feels ready for, in my opinion, is always helpful.

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QUOTATIONS
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"Binding yourself to another person and to the children you make together, that's life. And you can't do it if your life is centered on your ambitions. You'll never be happy. It will never be enough, even if you rule the world." -Shadow of the Hegemon, pg. 155.

"We're all tools in somebody's kit. But that doesn't mean we can't make tools out of other people. Or figure out interesting things to use ourselves for." - First Meetings In the Enderverse

Ender's Shadow | Orson Scott Card

The Ender's Shadow experience is now over. What a truly powerful and inspiring novel. I would recommend reading Ender's Game first, but you don't really need to read the rest of the books in the series to enjoy Ender's Shadow. I will talk later on how the concept of a parallel novel inspired me, as I have often thought of the idea on creating a novel based on expectations and perceptions of reality.

With all great novels, I feel lucky to have completed this novel during my lifetime... but sad that is it ultimately over. Since I'm already 5 books through, I'll read the last two but I am not really all that excited about them. I don't think they will compare at all... so I guess I will be expecting something closer to Children of the Mind, or Asimov's Foundation and Earth. Nothing spectacular, but a decent read.

With so many great novels that I still have yet to experience, I find myself scared that I will not get to every one of them. Even if I am able to read 2 books a month, that will only equate to 24 books a year and 240 books in 10 years. Hard to prioritize which ones will get my attention.

I also have a tendency to read the less 'pretty' books that I own, because I don't want to damage them. Also, there is probably a small part of me that looks at them all as if they were the 'green light' in Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. After I read them, they will be over and I will never experience them the same way again... and the longing to read them will be gone. There is also, arguably, a greater worry in that they will not live up to the asinine expectations that I have of them. I guess that is part of the excitement though... will they live up to the expectations or will they fizzle like the "great" Sound and the Fury.

Time will tell.

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QUOTATION
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"In the military you don't get trusted positions just because of your ability. You also have to attract the notice of superior officers. You have to be liked. You have to fit in with the system. You have to look like what the officers above you think that officers should look like. You have to think in ways that they are comfortable with.

The result was that you ended up with a command structure that was top-heavy with guys who looked good in uniform and talked right and did well enough not to embarrass themselves, while the really good ones quietly did all the serious work and bailed out their superiors and got blamed for errors they had advised against until they eventually got out."

-Ender's Shadow, pg 170

Children of the Mind | Orson Scott Card

Well, I must say that this book is infinitely better than Xenocide. Fresh ideas, fresh character development and less of a scientific approach. It was well worth plugging through Xenocide to get to it.

Still didn't have the pinash that the first two books did. Speaker of the Dead was an amazing concept and Ender's Game had such a nice way of framing the struggles of a boy who was learning who he was in the world and what he was capable of. Children of the Mind focused more on ammending one's view, even if it turns out to be the only thing you felt comfortable that you knew as the truth. You could tell that there was no one master point, like in the first two novels, but it was a much more enjoyable read than the tech-speak of it's predecessor.

Now, on to Ender's Shadow. Will let you know how it turns out.

Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide | Orson Scott Card

So I'm reading the Ender's Game series. First book I read in Venice while the 2nd and 3rd I have read recently.

In Ender's Game, I feel strongly connected to Ender when he played that video game that he never could win. The point is, he always thought he could win. He wanted to control the situation. I seem to enjoy attempting to control the situation against all odds. Maybe the secret is in relinquishing control. Letting your senses guide you. Maybe that is the answer to life... little to no investments and letting your senses take over.

In Speaker for the Dead, the entire concept was fascinating. Having one person speak about the dead's life, not as it was seen to everyone, but how it actually was. Probably one of the reason's I really like the movie, The Aviator so much. Now, were talking Hollywood here, and by no means does it truly compare, but you get my gist. Telling everything, even if it is hurtful. I hope someone that understands me tells everyone who I was when I die. I'm not sure that many people know. Maybe that's what this blog is about.

Xenocide was an interesting book, but not as good as the first two. Poor Orson Scott Card got bogged down in physics too much. He has a wonderful way of presenting both sides of an argument through dialogue, but the physics speak took away a little from the book. He has some amazing ideas, but the book was too much like a mathematical proof. Just do the math man, I don't want you to prove EVERYTHING.

Next book is Children of the Mind. I'm not that excited about it, given Xenocide... but I will push through it so I can get to Ender's Shadow, which I really want to read. Asimov did some beautiful work with his latest add-ons to the Foundation series and I have a feeling Card will too. Both experienced lulls towards the later part of their series. Time will tell.