This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.Review of Children of The Mind – Orson Scott Card by Hamish M. This is book four of four in the Ender Quartet series. In this book the characters live on one of the many human colonized planets called Lusitania, which resides far outside of earth’s solar system. The locals of Lusitania have recently cleansed their planet of a life threatening disease called the Descolada. By changing the genetics of the disease they were able to make it non-lethal to humans and all other species. There is a ship bReview of Children of The Mind – Orson Scott Card by Hamish M. This is book four of four in the Ender Quartet series. In this book the characters live on one of the many human colonized planets called Lusitania, which resides far outside of earth’s solar system. The locals of Lusitania have recently cleansed their planet of a life threatening disease called the Descolada. By changing the genetics of the disease they were able to make it non-lethal to humans and all other species. There is a ship bound towards Lusitania with intentions to destroy these inhabitants for they are considered rebels by the government called the Starways Congress. In the one of the previous books (Speaker For the Dead) some of the Lusitanian scientists had established contact with another intelligent species on their planet, they then proceeded to teach them how to become less primitive and more sophisticated like themselves, which they were forbidden to do. When Starways Congress found out about this they ordered the planet officials to send the scientists to a near-by planet to stand trial, which takes 40 years to reach. This in itself is a punishment because when they returned all of their friends and family would be old or dead. Now because they are considered rebels and because Starways Congress believes that the Descolada still lives and the rebels will carry it to neighboring planets. Starways Congress sends a fleet from their base planet to destroy Lusitania. Now the inhabitants on this planet are on full evacuation so the mood is extremely tense throughout most of the book.
I really enjoyed the extreme depth and detail the author went into when explaining the space/virtual areas of the book. When he was explaining these areas I was completely focused on the story, because it had captured my whole attention. Among other things the author’s word choice was also exceptional when it came to describing the science used and the space areas of the story. As this is a sci-fi book all of their extreme problems were solved through the use of the sciences available to them. Although to some readers these actions may seam like magic, given the context of the book and science available to them it is well explained as science not magic. Finally there was a very suspenseful part near the end of the book, which was well resolved. I really enjoyed this book and found it to be and extraordinary piece of work.
However what I didn’t like about this book was the beginning, because it had a dull and slow start that really didn’t capture my attention. As a result there weren’t a lot of moments were I just couldn’t put the book down instead, most of the time I had to force myself to continue reading. As well, the author wrote two separate stories about two different groups of people trying to accomplish the same goal through different paths. It seemed redundant and it did not seem to significantly add anything to the story. I really didn’t like this because about half of the book was dedicated to these people. In the end one of the groups basically found out that their journey was pointless and they stopped. There wasn’t a lot of detail added on how they had failed or what they could have done to succeed. I would have liked if the author had tied the two stories together or if they both had contributed significantly to the plot. Finally at the end of the book the author introduced the makers of the Descolada, as a separate intelligent species, but the characters never established contact with them. This would be and acceptable cliffhanger if there was another book, however disappointingly, there isn’t.
All of that being said, although I was disappointed when I first started reading this book and felt that Orson really could have made a better start, in the end I felt that Orson Scott Card undoubtedly pulled it together. I also liked the plot development, the characters as well as the majority of the book. Although it may seem that I found a lot of poor qualities in this book they are small compared to the greatness in it (mentioned above), the pace also picked up in the middle and really pulled me along to the end. He really created a great piece of literature. Overall I gave this book a 4/5.
I recommend this book to anybody who really loves sci-fi and exciting new ideas. As well as readers who aren’t looking for a book that has action and explosions right off the bat. Although this book is significantly different from Enders Game I do think that a person who enjoys sci-fi, suspense and action were to read the whole series, they would come away satisfied.
