Hadn't even heard of it till I saw it at Costco and luckily this spontaneous purchase paid off. It was the perfect rebound book after the ultra disappointing end to the hunger games series. Pathfinder starts off feeling very similar, in fact, with a kind of futuristic/post-apocalyptic vibe. It wasn't as nail-biting or gruesome as hunger games, but the political intrigue is there and quite a bit of mystery--very much like Ender's Game. I read it just as fast those, too-- little more than a day. Really, it's a good blend of H.G. and E.G. with a little Psych, a bit of the Westmark trilogy, and maybe even a smidge of LOTR. The bummer is, this is the first book in the series, which I didnt know until the end, and I usually avoid a series until it's all published so I don't have to wait around. However, Card freely admits in the acknowledgements at the end (which contains important info about the story, btw, so don't skip it!) he writes his books in only a few weeks, so I'm expecting at least 2 more books this year. And I need them soon, so I can continue to get over HG.