So far, this gets my 'best book of the year' award. I was thinking that I would have to say I liked it even better than 'Ender's Game,' but I didn't think the ending was handled with quite as much power and finesse. And - like most of Card's books, although I LOVE the writing, I disagree with his conclusions.Young Patience has grown up on the planet of Imakulata as a slave in the Heptarch's household, the daughter of the ruler's prime assassin, and trained herself in the deadly arts. However, with the help of the biologically preserved head of a deceased court official, she discovers that she is actually the heir apparent - and not only that, but the fulfillment of an age-old religious prophecy - believers think that she is destined to be the mother of the Kristos (the second coming of Christ).Upon the death of her father, Patience is no longer trusted by the usurper, and she flees assassins herself, accompanied only by her childhood teacher, Angel. At first aimless, she soon begins to fall prey to a nigh-irresistible mental call... the call of the Unwyrm, a terrible legend feared by all four sentient races of Imakulata. Answering Unwyrm's erotic summons, Patience realized, would lead to the fulfillment of the prophecy. Perversely, she decides that she will exercise free will, seek out Unwyrm, and destroy him.Along the road of her quest, she falls in with companions, including a brother/sister pair of geblings (goblin-like, intelligent and telepathic beings considered to be sub-human), their strong and silent servant, Will, and a stout riverboat captain, who is bigoted yet loyal - and meets others - the 'librarian' dwelf, who like others of her race, has perfect memory of actions, but no ability to remember concepts - and gaunts, the beautiful creatures for whom another's desire always takes precedence over their own (meaning that they're often caught in the role of sex workers).Along the way, the group uncovers much of the history of Imakulata - how the founder of the planet was a starship captain summoned by the same will-subsuming mental call that Patience now feels, and how scientific experiments have revealed the bizarre phenomenon of Imakulata - the native life is capable of mixing genetically with alien life, sexually reproducing and mimicking the new forms perfectly.However, the first generation always contains genetic screw-ups and 'sports.' The second generation is always superior to the original earth life forms, and then takes over with hybrid vigor.All sentient life on Imakulata now is first generation after hybridization: the starship captain mated with the alien Wyrm he found on Imakulata, the results were: 'normal' humans, and the 'sports' - dwelfs, gaunts, and geblings. After this incident, the humans kill all the sentient alien life forms, since they're ugly and threatening (a very human-like behavior), preventing a second generation from occurring. Now, IF Patience mates with the alien Wyrm, her offspring will be new, improved, "super-humans." However, Card comes down against this, metaphorically equating the call of Unwyrm with the temptations of Satan. The reason given for this are that these new improved humans would wipe out the existing life on Imakulata (as the prophecy says will happen). OKAY, but the problem is that life on Imakulata is pretty bad. Racism and bigotry are rampant, people are oppressed, etc.. It's not such a good system to be preserving. Even Patience says something to the effect of, "the only reason I can think of to preserve humans is that I'm a human."And Card specifically points out that all the Unwyrm wanted was what humans wanted - to live and reproduce.So - why is he equated with Satan?Why should the planet remain in the 'in-between,' awkward evolutionary state?It seems to me that the second generation hybridization would have been good for everyone - and the universe in general. Patience deciding to destroy Unwyrm rather than bear his children goes against her main credo - to think of the whole rather than the part, to put the good of the many before the good of the few (or the one). (yeah, yeah, very Vulcan). I mean, she even accepts her mother's murder as OK due to this philosophy! So is not the good of the future better than the good of the present? Are not improvements to be sought? Card DOES portray this as a difficult choice, but his message does seem to be that Patience made the right choice - and I disagree. I'm just not a humans-firster, I guess!OK, that's the major thing.The second thing is Will. His subsuming of his "passions" to his will is portrayed as a great spiritual accomplishment. I got the impression that Card really looks up to that sort of thing. The book explicitly speaks poorly of hedonists and others that follow their passions. In the book, Will is rewarded for this great self-control with Patience's love. However Will is really just dull and boring. Who wants a lover with no passion, just this great inner peace? Dull, dull, dull. I'm all about passion. I want good food, good sex, all kinds of sensual experiences. I think they matter, and are the reason for life. I don't think there's any great reward to be reaped through self-denial. Again, this is just me!However, the third thing is actually a literary criticism and not a philosophical criticism. After doing an Excellent job of portraying the vicious, violent, intrigue-threaded court of the Heptarch, and after going on and on about how violence is sometimes necessary - at the end of the book he has Patience, the true heir, show up and display a show of force. Then, the usurper agrees (instantly) to step down, accepts a minor lord's post, and gives Patience a bloodless coup.All in about 3 pages.And we're to believe that he holds no resentment against her after this.Yeah, right. When in history did that ever happen?Okay, now I got that out of my system.So, complaints aside - I did really love, and would recommend this book HIGHLY.(After all, I thought it was worth wasting this much space on talking about it, right?!?!?)
http://www.saltmanz.com/blog/2006/08/...Yesterday (8/15/06) I finished reading Wyrms by Orson Scott Card, for the second time.It has the distinction of being the first Card book I'd read outside the "Ender" series. It was a bit of a departure from those books -- even the "heavier" of the Ender books like Xenocide -- and I decided that it was pretty good, but it really didn't do anything for me.Fast forward a few years, and now I own almost all of Card's books, and have read most of those, and my impression is still that Wyrms is one of the weakest of the lot. So, wanting to read some more Card, and barely remembering a thing about Wyrms (though still maintaining my opinion on it), I decided to give it another read.Wow.The book hasn't changed any in the intervening 3-4 years, but apparently I've grown a lot as a reader. Wyrms is a great book. I'm a huge fan of early Card (like Treason, Hart's Hope, and The Worthing Saga) and this ranks right up there with those.The story revolves around the girl, Patience, whose father is the rightful Heptarch, but is slave to King Oruc. This makes Patience the rightful heir to the throne; there's also the matter of a prophecy regarding the seventh seventh seventh daughter of the original Heptarch: which happens to be Patience. It seems that her destiny is to bear the Unwyrm's child which will either save or destroy humanity, and the story essentially chronicles Patience's journey from her home in Korfu to Unwyrm's lair.Like most of Card's early work, everything about the book smacks of originality. The characters are sharply drawn, and quite memorable (aside from my own inherent forgetfulness) and the dialogue all has a very philosophical bent to it. One of my favorite aspects of the book is that whenever someone speaks, you feel like Card is imparting little nuggets of Truth to you. There's definitely a lot of wisdom in the text, and a lot to think about as a reader. The climactic scene is as disturbing as the buildup leads you to believe it will be, and the denouement by contrast feels just the opposite: rushed and happy.Though the book is rooted in science-fiction, based in a far-flung future on a colonized planet and concerned with genetic manipulation, reproduction, and evolution, it reads much more like a fantasy. As with most of Card's sci-fi (the later Ender books included) it takes place in a fairly medieval setting, with kings and castles. The story itself revolves around the genre-standard quest or journey. In fact, I couldn't help noticing that the day before I finished Wyrms, I read on Card's website a review of a fantasy series that said:"Too often, the world of a fantasy novel consists of: Two cities, a mountain range, a forest, and a desert. Oh, and a river here and there that will serve either as transportation or a barrier."And, sure enough, Wyrms has two cities, Korfu and Cranning; a mountain, Skyfoot; a forest, Tinker's Wood; and though there's no desert, there's the Cranwater river that serves as transportation from the forest to the mountain. Definitely fantasy. But definitely good. So I'm slightly dissatisfied with the ending; as with most fantasy, it's all about the journey.
What do You think about Wyrms (2003)?
Not the best sci-fi I've read. Humans came to live on a planet thousands of years ago and now Patience is the 7th times 7th daughter of the first space captain and her destiny is to save the world from the dreaded unwyrm. Or is it to destroy the world? In this alien planet with other strange sentient beings it is hard to tell what the true origins of anything is. The civilizations, the prophecies, anything.Maybe it is because I listened to this book on audiotape, but I found the explanations of why the world existed the way it did hard to follow. Too complex to not reread (a hard thing to do on audiobook when cleaning). Also, there were long boring religious/lecturing monologues that had me rolling my eyes. In true Orson Scott Card style, this book has religious belief echos- mostly about the 2nd coming of Christ- that he seemed to try too hard to fit in. Basically the whole book felt like he was trying too hard and didn't have a natural feeling to it.
—Charlotte
I just finished my third or fourth re-read of this book, and it occurred to me that I still haven't reviewed it. What a crime! Because this is one of the finest novels in the sci-fi genre, and one of the best books I've read of any genre.Orson Scott Card's writings from early in his career -- say, everything from Ender's Shadow and earlier -- are really amazing works. Whatever you may feel about him as a person, given his (in my opinion) odious political views, it's hard to deny that early on, he was a superlative writer. His work is emotionally deep, lyrically written without ever turning purple, and absolutely haunting in theme and imagery. In his younger days he also took more risks with theme and plot, writing books that walked the very fine line between disturbing and unforgettably brilliant on the tips of their toes. Back then, Card's stories meant more because they delved into parts of the human experience where we often fear to tread, pushing us past the artificial boundaries of propriety and tradition.Wyrms is one such book. In a bold move for a very religious author, this novel explores the nature of "God." And the nature of god which Card presents, in the end, is something entirely unexpected from the pen of a very religious author. As an atheist, I appreciated the intellectual honesty of Card's exploration. As a human being, I loved the uplifting nature of the book's ultimate message.But you shouldn't be led to believe by this review that Wyrms is a feel-good novel. Card weaves a dark, strange atmosphere where religious zealotry and racial prejudice are serious threats to the central characters. The main character, Patience, bred by an unseen, unknown being to fulfill a prophecy of sorts, is hardly more than a child but is already trained as a "diplomat," which in this book really means "assassin," and Patience is often quite callous about her duties. She is not a perfect main character, not by a long shot -- which only underscores the strangeness of the book's central prophecy. As she moves along her path to fulfill the prophecy -- or not fulfill it; the reader is never quite sure which way she'll swing until the climactic scene ultimately comes, very late in the novel -- Patience travels through a world that merges old-fashioned sci-fi weirdness with images that seem more haunting for their contemporary treatment. Card creates an umber-hued world of alien strangeness into which the reader cannot help immersing herself. Once you have read this book its central message and its intensely dark imagery will never leave you. Highly recommended.
—Libbie Hawker (L.M. Ironside)
Patience is the rightful Heptarch (ruler) of Imakulata. She is the seventh of the seventh of the seventh of rulers, and has been prophesied that she will either destroy or save all of mankind. Now at 15 years old she feels the cranning call. The irresistable urge to go to skyfoot, and meet her destiny. Even she doesn't know if she will be the messiah, or the anti-Christ of their world?Card is a fantastic story teller, and this book is no exception from his ability to do just that. I was unimpressed with the story itself, but the way Card develops characters, and expresses intelligent ideas is unparalleled. I guess I just didn't like the idea of a young girl be driven with passion to meet and mate with an alien worm-creature.
—Jona Cannon
