I've just finished reading Treason! What a GREAT book. I loved every minute of it, and might start reading it again right away. One of your best Mr. Card... one of THE best I've read actually.
It was interesting how many similarities there were between Lanik and Alvin, in terms of their abilities , and in a sense, their characters. Looking at both, obviously they started out vastly different, but throughout the book Lanik became more Alvinesque. Though I guess I should say, given Lanik came first (though I read Alvin first), Alvin has many similarities to Lanik. Thoughts? Opinions?
At any rate, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Thanks to those that recommended it when I posted here for suggestions a couple of weeks ago. I think the Worthing Saga in next on the list.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
There are several characters in Card's early books that almost seem like beta versions of later characters.
Lanik Mueller is like a beta Alvin Maker. Annset is like a beta Ender. Mikhail is like a beta Peter (the Peter in EG, not in the Shadow series).
Posted by Jack Bauer (Member # 9182) on :
Annset in the short story Mikal's Songbird was patterned after Ender in the original short story--or at least, IIRC, the story was Card trying to recreate some of the elements he'd thought had caused such a stir with the Ender's Game short story.
So he drew on Ender's Game to write Mikal's Songbird, and then he drew on his experience novelizing Mikal's Songbird into Songmaster to novelize Ender's game.
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
Jack is right about the direct link between Ender and Ansset.
with Lanik and alvin, there was no conscious connection at all. Treason was a 'cool stuff' novel - I just made stuff up about what each family on Treason might have specialized in so they could have something to trade off world (or to keep them from needing to trade off world). The character of alvin had a completely separate history, beginning with a narrative poem allegorically based on the life of Joseph Smith (Prentice Alvin and the no-good plow), though it then grew beyond the JS plotline to an extravagant degree, being mostly about american history now. but since Lanik and alvin came out of the same writer's mind, it's no surprise that they moved in similar directions.
At the same time, when you try to tie "magic" to things that are at least conceivable in the real world - i.e., to have a rationalized magic system - you're going to keep stumbling over similar ideas.