posted
I haven't read it yet, but i know that a lot of time has passed in the story. Why did Card make the decision to skip so far ahead on the timeline? I also didn't really like Shedemei. I am a little dissapointed that this book doesn't involve Nafai. Am I assuming too much. Is the story just as good without the original characters?
Posts: 41 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
I didn't read Earthborn for a long time. When I finally did, I liked it a lot. Shedemei was not a major character (though she wasn't a negative in my mind.) I think in a way Earthborn is a great story because the hero, Akma, travels an arc. Whereas Nafai was just always going to be good no matter what.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
There's such a big gap between Earthfall and Earthborn because OSC was following the general plot and structure of the first part of the Book of Mormon, and that big gap is in the Book of Mormon.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Lol... I wasn't raised Mormon, I was raised Catholic. I fell in love with this series and was so startled when I found out it followed the book of Mormon (though "Woman of Destiny" also known as "Saints") that I actually dug out a dusty old copy of the book of Mormon I had stashed away somewhere to read. However, in many ways Earthborn was one of the best books of the series, though I probably still like "Ships of Earth" a bit more. It was sad that all our favorite characters are dead and gone. Like everyone else I loved Nafai, and really wanted to know more about Chveya and Oykib. However Shedya really turns around in this book. Even if you didn't like her before, I think you'll like what he does to her character. It also is VERY interesting because you it builds on alot of elements from history and alot of human nature and society, how they change and develop. When I first read it I thought Card made some mistakes when he brought up things from the "past". However, I've reread it many times and I think most of them, at least, weren't mistakes at all, but actually commentary about how cultural memory changes. One specific instance is when in the new book an ANGEL exposes his underbelly thinking it was a submissive posture from HIS herritage, but we all know that the angel submissive posture was spread wings, and that exposing the belly came from the Diggers. All in all it was a VERY good book, I just wish it wasn't the end.
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Well, there's sort of a gap in the actual Book of Mormon, but not as extreme as from Earthfall to Earthborn. You pretty much jump from 2 Nephi 4 to somewhere in Mosiah. It's about 1/5th of the Book of Mormon. Much of that intervening material is discussion of Isaiah, and mostly brief summaries of the succession of recordkeepers.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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The Homecoming Series follows the basic storyline, and retains the moral meanings behind the story (ie, who the goodguys and badguys are, and why). The sci-fi setting and explanations for things, the specific character personalities and relationships, etc, are all Card's inventions, and he combined and reshuffled a lot of the minor characters. So it's still primarily an original work of fiction, but people familiar with the story can still recognize, and even anticipate the plot.
Posts: 1539 | Registered: Jul 2004
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For instance, LDS readers can recognize the story of how the Nephites merged with the people of Zarahemla...but in the Book of Mormon it didn't involve a city of sentient bats. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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Seems like a fair number of people get worried that Mr. Card is plagiarizing or something when they learn that the Homecoming and Alvin series are based on Mormon history; I would like to reassure them that if you like any Card book, you have a good chance of liking Homecoming or Alvin.
If you look at the source material, OSC will take a couple short paragraphs and expand them into a few chapters worth of character development, sci-fi extrapolation, and fast-paced plot. In the end, the books are definitively Card novels, and the original sources are more of a general backbone to hang all his personal conjectures and whatnot onto. I actually just reread Earthborn for the first time in a while and really enjoyed it. Posts: 1595 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Well, my comment about it parallelling the book of mormon wasn't to make any huge comparison or anything. I was just saying it got me curious. It was hard to see how spaceships and giant rats and bats could have much in common with a random religious book. It really doesn't follow all THAT closely. I mean, there's the basic story line I guess, but all of the characterisations that make the books so wonderful are Card's own.
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
I restarted reading Earthborn a few nights ago. So far it's actually better than I remember and I can keep a closer eye on the many characters. I still find myself saying 'yippee!' when I get to passages involving Shedya and the O'soul, but it's not as unhinged as I remember it.
All this time I thought the Homecoming series were direct quotations from Mormon beliefs! (im joking)
Posts: 317 | Registered: Feb 2005
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