Hatrack River Forum: SOTG- 1st Three Chapters

This is topic SOTG- 1st Three Chapters in forum Discussions About Orson Scott Card at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by David Bowles (Member # 1021) on :

I am intrigued, but once again the whole (admittedly intended to smoke out council members) conversation between Alai and Peter was entirely too full of commentary about the present situation in the Middle East for me. It's not that the views bother me, but that it takes me out of the story. That's my problem with all the Shadow books. Having them set only a century or so away (when reading EG, I'd always imagined that several centuries had passed) from the present makes them too obviously thinly veiled political commentaries rather than books crafted with story in mind. The Han Tzu sequence also was tinged with this sort of barely concealed commentary.

Posted by David Bowles (Member # 1021) on :

I would like to add that the return of

SPOILER!
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Mazer Rackham was really badass!

[ February 23, 2005, 03:21 PM: Message edited by: David Bowles ]

Posted by 0range7Penguin (Member # 7337) on :

You make a good point. One thought is it thinly vieled commentary in the sence that OSC is trying to get his points across or is it just OSC trying to get us to think about things that we have not before. Like ways that these other countries could think and react to the things the United States does.
Also I do feel that the political feel of the shadow series has dampened it a somewhat. I like the Ender series better and now that you have pointed it out, I think the politics running through the shadow series is one of the reasons that I like it less. Still like it though, just less.

Posted by HappyPanda (Member # 7326) on :

I like the political aspect.

It feels like I'm watching a giant game of Axis and Allies being played out.

I can sympathise with your point of view though... Since I pretty much agree with all of OSC's essays, I'm bound to like the politics of his books.

( :

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

"One thought is it thinly vieled commentary in the sence that OSC is trying to get his points across or is it just OSC trying to get us to think about things that we have not before."

What would be the difference, exactly?

The issue is not whether he's trying to get us to think, but rather whether he's being didactic in so trying. [Smile]