I know this will surprise you, but I thought The Worthing Saga was even better than Ender's Game (and I loved Ender's Game)! I don't have time for a real review, but here are my quickest, most concise thoughts on this collection of stories:1. What does it mean to be a God? To me, this was the central theme of the main story in the book.2. Though there are certainly sci-fi elements to the book, it did not feel very sci-fi to me (I loved it anyway).3. How I understand and interpret mythology, pain and immortality will likely be affected by my reading of this book.4. I will probably need to read it again. 5. Loved the character of Abner Doon. He ranks in my list of top antagonists because of his complexity, humanity and moral ambiguity. 6. Recurrent theme of a life without pain is a stagnant life.Some passages I want to remember:p. 84 Number's Italy was a dictatorship, but one that was studiedly benign. In every client state and conquered territory, rebelling was ruthlessly suppressed -- but loyalty was lavishly rewarded, taxes were not high, local customs and freedoms were respected, and life for the computer-simulated populace was good. Rebellions profited nothing, and lost all, and so the government was stable, so stable that even inferior players, making stupid blunders while Nuber was on somec, even they could do little damage to Nuber's Italy.p. 85 Abner never meant to sell Italy. Instead, he would use it as a test of what he planned to do in real life: he would see how well he could bring off the utter destruction of the order of the world. He played carefully, and in his dream Lared believed he understood all that Abner did. He engaged in pointless wars and made sure they were badly generaled and stupidly fought -- but not so stupidly that there were any crushing defeats. Just attrition, a slow wearing away of the army, of the wealth of the empire. And within the empire he also began a quiet corrosion. Mismanagement and stupid decisions on industrial production; changes in the civil service to promote corruption; unfair, almost whimsical taxation. And the conquered nations were singled out for harassment. Religious persecution; insistence on the use of the Italian language, discrimination against certain groups in jobs, in education; severe restrictions on what could and could not be printed; barriers to travel; confiscation of peasant land and the encouragement of a new aristocracy. p. 86 The integrity of the Church, that was the one thing they trusted in the corrupt empire that Abner was giving them. P. 87 At last he judged the time was ripe. Abner did a simple thing, but it was enough: he exposed the secret corruption he had brought into the heart of the Church. The outrage, the loathing it caused tore away the last pretense at legitimacy, even decency that Nuber's Italy possessed. The computer hardly knew how to cope with this, except with instant, overwhelming revolt. All the grievances in every nation were joined now with the anger of the aristocracy -- all classes acted at once, and Italy was undone, the empire fragmented, the armies in mutiny.p. 97 No, but you'd be amazed at how often people who have no choice act as if they had one, and lose everything because they could not bear to do what had to be done."P. 208 "...A Hoom or a Wix or a Dilna is impossible in a universe where actions have no consequences! Why do you love Hoom, if not because of what he did in the face of suffering? Without the suffering, what was he? A clever carpenter. WIthout his father's beatings all his life, without the face of his father haloed in the flames, without his wife's adultery and the deaths of Bessa, Dallat, and Cammar -- yes, without the touch of Cammar's fingers as he leapt and fell, what would there be in Hoom to make you love him? What would there be of greatness in him? What would his life have meant?"Jason's passion shocked Lared. He had been so calm for all these weeks, it made his rage the more fearsome. But Lared would not be put off, even so. "If you could ask Hoom, I think he would gladly have forgone the greatness if he could have lived his life in peace.""Of course he would. Everybody would prefer that everything go smoothly for them. The worst bastards in the world are those who devote their entire lives to making sure things go smoothly for themselves. Individual preference has nothing to dow with what I'm saying.""That's plain -- you've never been one to go out of your way to do good for other people, except when you need them to do something to further your grand design.""Lared," Jason said, "people aren't idividuals, even though we all think we are. Even before I came, what di dyou know of yourself, except what your family told you? Their tales of your childhood becamse your vision of yourself; you imitated your father and mother both, learned what it means to be a human being from them. Every pattern of your life has been bent and shaped by twhat other people do and what other people say." "So what am I then, a machine that echoes everyone around me?""No, Lared. Like Hoom, you have in you something that makes a choice -- something that decides, This is me, this is not-me. Hoom could have become a murderer, couldn't he? Or he could have treated his children as his father treated him, couldn't he? It's that part of you that chooses that is your soul, Lared. That's why we couldn't dump one person's bubble into another's mind -- there are some choices you cannot live with, you cannot bear remembering that you did this thing, because it is not the sort of thing you do. So you aren't just an echo. but you are part of a cloth, a vast weaving; your life forces other people to make choices, too. The men who honor you for saving your father -- don't you realize that it gives meaning to their lives, too? Some might be jealous of you, you know -- but they are not. They love you for your goodness, and that also makes them good. But if there were no pain, if there were no fear, then what does it matter that we live together, that our lives touch? If our actions have no consequences, if nothing can be bad, then we might as well die, all of us, because we are just machines, contented machines, well oiled, and running smoothly with no need to think, nothing to value, because there are no problems to solve and nothing we can lose. You love Hoom because of what he did in the face of pain. And because you love him, you have become him, in part, and others, knowing you, will also become him, in part. It's how we stay alive in the world, is in the people who become us when we're gone." Jason shook his head. "I tell you all this, but you don't understand."
This book has so many intricacies in it, so many complexities. I read this book wondering what one thing had to do with another and when I got to the end, it all tied up, it all made complete sense and fit so well together and left me with a very satisfied and amazed feeling. There were so many issues in this book and it left my mind swirling in thoughts.I loved the distinct, different societies in this book. From the society that looks like it came straight from "Little House on the Prairie" to a futuristic society that has so many technological advances that they don't have to think about many of the stresses that our society has to think about (but a new set of stresses emerge) all the way to a highly advanced more futuristic society that barely needs bodies to have life. All these societies have their pros and cons and their own complexities and stresses. I began to wonder as I read about these societies who really has it better? I also began to wonder why I was being introduced to all these societies, and then, at the end it all came together in one Big Bang, it all made sense, they all intertwined within each other in an amazing way, a way that I never even thought of. The main character, Jason Worthing, plays a strong role throughout the entire book. I began to love his character in a mysterious teacher or role model kind of way. I'd have my stomach all tied up in knots to meet him, but I held a great respect for him. In a huge way, Jason Worthing is a human that gets to play God. He does not mean to or desire or try to play God, but the role falls into his lap and he has no choice. Jason's decision is one of the most difficult and important decisions I've ever heard of. I loved getting into his thoughts to go through his process of making that decision and I respect the decision he made. He tries hard to be a good fair person even with all power in his hands. This is one of my favorite books, full of heart, compassion, plot, complexity, lots of WOW moments, ideas that made me think about things I'd never thought of before and lots of character development. I wish I could give it more than five stars.
What do You think about The Worthing Saga (1992)?
A fairly disjointed collection of stories in a shared universe that even Card says in the afterword was not among his best work. This collection contains some of Card's first published works and the quality is middling at best. All the stories feature "Somec"--a substances that allows people to live nearly forever by entering into years long periods of 'sleep' and come awake for short periods to manage their affairs/finances/etc. Those that stay under the longest are the most powerful (though it's a little unclear why others can't take advantage of them while they're asleep).Other stories deal with a Foundation-esque decaying galactic empire and a all-steel central planet called....Capitol. Card acknowledges the Asimov influence so it's not really a ripoff.One of the longest stories covers the formation of a almost pre-technologocial society from the remnants of a crashed colony ship. It is, unfortunately as it's the longest, the least interesting of the collection.Some interesting themes on the nature of creation vs destruction but they never get satisfactorily developed.
—Christopher
It was okay. The first story felt a little more religiously oriented than I like-- and that's my fault because everyone knows Card is religious.. so if you like that stuff then you'll probably like that story.. but a lot of it made me want to punch most of the characters in the face with their self-righteous 'without bad there can be no good' bullcrap.Haha, sorry... The other stories, much shorter, were quick and easy reads. Some of them were interesting while others weren't and even contradicted the 'tale' of them from the first story in a big way.The last story I liked because it really rang as something believable (magic aside).I give it only 3 stars because I only liked it but wasn't particularly blown away and I don't know if I'd go out of my way to read Card again.. even though this is supposed to be one of his first and not so great... we'll see.
—Tiara
I love so many things about this book, its hard to know where to start. The basic premise is a bit complicated, however while reading it, everything makes perfect sense. Instead of trying to type up a plot summary, I'll discuss some of the wonderful themes and devices used in the book. Since The Worthing Saga is a compilation of a few different stories tied together, it actually describes two different dystopias and their eventual collapses. I find that many people tend to overlook the dystopic theme of the story, but I think the idea works almost better then your normal 1984, Brave New World or We. Instead of an evil or corrupt dystopia, or a dystopia founded on the loss of human emotions, The Worthing Saga discusses a dystopia founded on the loss of pain. While it may sound great to live without pain, after reading this book you'll understand why its such a dreadful idea to some of the books characters. I've read this book multiple times about 8 years ago, lost my original copy, managed to find 2 much older editions of the earlier stories (also added on my bookshelf) and finally found another copy for a few bucks at a used bookstore. I couldnt resist reading it again, so the finished date only reflects the most recent read.
—Bryan
