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I felt that Pathfinder was very similar to the Homecoming series. Something about a new planet where humans are mentally controlled by computers until one human can break through a crazy mind affecting wall... anyone else feel this way?
Posts: 1 | Registered: Jan 2011
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I did feel that elements of the book felt familiar, but I wouldn't really compare the two per se. The AI aspect is really where the similarities end.
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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I did notice similarities both with Homecoming and the Worthing stories. It's not the first time that Card's used very similar ideas in different stories.
I don't think it detracted or made Pathfinder seem derivative at all.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: I did notice similarities both with Homecoming and the Worthing stories. It's not the first time that Card's used very similar ideas in different stories.
I don't think it detracted or made Pathfinder seem derivative at all.
The entire time I was reading Path I kept thinking, "This is just a young adult Worthing Saga." I also thought I saw a hint of the Asimov's Prelude to Foundation with the interaction between Rig and his "father."
Posts: 3 | Registered: Dec 2010
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1. In both Homecoming and Pathfinder, humans have long since left the Earth to establish a colony on another planet. 2. In both Homecoming and Pathfinder, the colonists have long forgot about their homeworld. The time that has elapsed is very different (40 million years in Homecoming, 11,191 years in Pathfinder), but the point is more or less moot since its function in the plot is to make enough time for the humans to forget about their planet of origin. 3. In both Homecoming and Pathfinder, there is an artificially-intelligent man-made computer that keeps the humans confined in some way, with the Oversoul confining humans on Harmony and the expendables confining humans in the Walls. 4. In both Homecoming and Pathfinder, the protagonists all have some sort of special power, with sensitivity to the Oversoul (including prophecy and "raveling") or some variant of time-manipulation. 5. In both Homecoming (The Call of Earth in this instance) and Pathfinder, there is an evil, but intelligent general that causes a lot of the story's conflict.
Yeah, I can see where you'd see the similarities. But by no means is Pathfinder a derivative work. If anything, it is one of the most original novels I have recently read, in the way it deals with time travel, character interaction, and the logistics of colonization.
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