posted
I found A Planet Called Treason at my local library and a paperback copy of Treason at a used bookstore. At the store I frequent, you can put in requests for a specific book, author, or series and if they come across the item, they will notify you and give you first dibs!
Posts: 26 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
The main reason Treason doesn't read like my other books is that it's entirely in first person. That was a mistake (it's too limiting; third person is far freer and more immediate), but I still like the story.
Not every story will please every reader, and only a foolish writer even hopes they will. I write many different kinds of stories knowing perfectly well that some readers will be in the audience for only one of those kinds, not the others. I'm happy when some readers of my Women of Genesis books, for instance, cross over and sample my sci-fi and like it; but most of the natural audience for Sarah and Rebekah and Rachel&Leah is not going to be thrilled with Hart's Hope or Treason <grin>.
Heck, I'm just glad that anybody likes ANY of the books - and that there are enough of those people that I can support my family without actually working.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I actually like the fact that Treason is written in the first person, it's such a change from the rest of them. If someone had handed it to me with the author's name removed from every page I don't think I would peg the book as being by OSC. It's the third non series OSC book that I'm reading in a row (previously having read Treasure Box and Homebody, which I could tell were written by the same author, though maybe not the same author as the Ender series).
Posts: 2867 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Well, Lovelock was first-person and still excellent, but then, the pov was one of the more insignificant differences between that book and all the others.
Oh, yeah: Get back to work on Rasputin! No more ice cream until it's done!
Posts: 293 | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Today I got Maps In the Mirror, Lovelock, and Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus via library loan.
I started to read the first story of Maps, but I just couldn't or maybe I didn't want to get into it. lol. I may try to read it again though.
So, anyway, I decided, 'what the heck? I'll go read the Lost Boys story." So I read the Lost Boys short story.
And I got to say, I like the short story better. Of course, the Lost Boys novel is much more emotional and you get to know the characters better and its much more sad and depressing, but what I liked so much about the short story was that it was told from OSC's point of view, the first person narrative. Not only that but we get details about OSC's life, like writing Hart's Hope and Ender's Game, life with his family, and his job. This makes the story feel more real and since the story is so short, we get a much faster paced story (one of my complaints about the Lost Boys novel was that it was very slow paced at times) and I liked that.
And finally I could see what some people were talking about with Lost Boys the novel (that I didn't see there). In this short story, its a sad ending, yet its not a downer. Its a short about loss, but the ending is amazing and beautiful. Its perfect.
I think with Lost Boys, I just had much more time to see all the characters and get to know them, so when the ending hit me in the book it was like, " Oh man.." and I was sad and a bit depressed. But with the short story, its much more like "its sad that the family lost their child, but its so amazing that they could handle it like that and that they got to say goodbye and so did the other Lost Boys parents."
I just liked the short story much better.
Or maybe its just the fact that I already knew the ending. So I just wasn't so depressed and sad about it this time. Who knows.
This was a better experiance for me though. I enjoyed reading it more then I enjoyed the book.
Anyway, I'm not sure what story I'm going to read next. I was going to read them in order, but I'll prob be skipping around in the book alot. lol.
I do want to try and read them all though. Or at least most of them.
And I definitly want to read Pretence Alvin and the No-Good Plow. In fact..I might read that next!
Edit: I just read the No-Good Plow and I have to say it was one of the best poems I've ever read. Of course, I like the Alvin series quiete a bit, so maybe I'm biased. lol. But wow. It was a really good poem. I'm glad I got to read it!
It makes me want to read Master Alvin even more *hint**hint* to OSC.
DF2506 " I'm at work and I only have the short story book here with me. I may start reading Lovelock when I get home though and put the short story book aside for awhile."
posted
re. _maps in a mirror_ it took me a long time to get through it (and not only because it's a long book!). for some reason, one of my favorite stories was the really gory "a thousand deaths." i also loved "unaccompanied sonata." being a music major, that work was particularly poignant for me.
re: _lost boys_ i remember reading it and really liking it. sad, but memorable. i had a hard time rereading it, though.
re _treason_ it was very disturbing the first time i read it, but i love it. i got my copy from a friend i met online a long time ago, so i was lucky. i absolutely adore it, though...the different powers and cultures of the people on the planet. if only a hint of that kind of creativity flowed through *my* veins!
re _homebody_ ok, so i own this book. i didn't realize it one time while i was at the library. i borrowed it because i thought, "hey, orson scott card i haven't read yet." clearly, it didn't make a very big impression on me. lol
enough for now...i need to stop rambling. thanks for at least giving me the opportunity to.
*love and sunshine* jessyka
Posts: 8 | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I started to read Lovelock last night and I read some of it today too. Its an interesting book.
Despite the fact that, sometimes, the main character can be gross, you do get to like him and root for him. I am interested in seeing what happens to Lovelock.
Anyway, I plan to read Pastwatch after this and then after that, I'll get back to Maps in a mirror. I actually have Maps in the Mirror till the 21 of July, while the other two books have to be back the 19th. SO I've definitly have more time to read Maps then the others.
I'm looking forward to reading all three books.
After I've finished these books, I'll prob check out Enchantment. Not sure what else yet. lol.
DF2506 " If I get the chance, I'm going to try and buy Speaker For the Dead next month. IF I do, I'll definitly re-read that soon! "
Posts: 128 | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I read Treason... I liked it overall, but it's not the book I would re-read on purpose for going philosophical or something alike. Then I read Wyrms, and I would re-read that most definitely.
I think those two books have much in common (I felt insecure enough when reading both of them, and the rawness of them both makes it more interesting). And I really liked that idea with cross dress of Lanik and Hypomene (well, Lanik already was part-girl, but that doesn't count)- characters in disguise are real fun, with so much people around them mistaken (at least for a little bit). And I really loved that those weren't dumb characters who thought they're invisible just because they're wearing the clothes of the opposite sex, and rather cared how to act and the way of they speech. Something I don't encounter in fantasy too commonly (it's maybe because I don't read the right branch of fantasy)
Posts: 32 | Registered: Mar 2006
| IP: Logged |
But with my hands tied by the rules of point of view (what, was I going to have the narrator step in and say, "Little did they know ..."?), I tried a quick-and-dirty "fix" of the problem - I put that two-page prologue at the beginning from the point of view of "Boy." I hoped that would be vile enough to let you know that this fictional world was inhabited by somebody dangerous and sick.
Instead, the opening simply repelled a lot of readers who thought that that vile point of view would keep coming up (it never does), and I don't think it helped other readers at all.
I already knew the plot from the short story, but if I hadn't I think that without that opening I would have been very confused as to where the story was going. Currently I'm in the middle of Chapter 6; and the story seems to have been split pretty evenly between Step and DeAnne, with no particular problem standing out as the main problem of the story. Because of this I often have trouble motivating myself to pick the book up, although it's very well written and interesting throughout. I can imagine that if I had no idea about the serial killer I'd have probably given up by now. As it is, I'm spending a lot of time wondering when we're going to get to him (though it's neat that at least two people have jumped out as possibilities).
Posts: 781 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought Homebody was magnificent. It's one of my favorites. I think Homebody and Lost Boys are the only OSC books that got me to cry.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hey, Chris, where does Lost Boys go in that list?
Nearly a year later I finally notice this
Lost Boys would, for me, probably fall between Pastwatch and Wyrms, right along with Songmaster. It's actually harder for me to reread than it was the first time because since I know what's going to happen, the events of the book are that much more painful. But I love the family, all the things about them that are so very different from my own combined with the things I found so very familiar.
Example: mention is made of Mrs. Fletcher being nervous around a parent who didn't watch her kids as closely. Teres and I hate going to malls because we find ourselves acting as unpaid and unrequested guardians of every unattended kid that goes anywhere near an escalator. When we saw the movie Eyes Wide Shut we were heckling (pretty much start to finish) but at the end, when the main characters are having their big moment, we were openly yelling at the screen. "Where's your kid? You're in a busy toy store in New York City, where's your freaking kid keep an eye on your kid why aren't you watching your kid!"
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
I almost did. At first, I didn't understand as I read the part when Step realizes it. It's like I didn't want to accept it. Wah~! Li'l Steeevie! *sigh*
And I must say, if OSC did actually base Step's family on his own, I love it. Them. I love the love. Even if I know nothing, or next to nothing, about them.
Posts: 7 | Registered: Mar 2006
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
