GUEST Review of "Pathfinder"

For this review, I am going to do something a little different. My husband, Wesley, also read this book, and I am going to let him do the majority of this review! Here he is.....!

“Orson Scott Card is an interesting author.  To say I am a fan of his might be overstating it, but at the same time, understating it.  His book “Ender’s Game” is one of my favorite books of all time.  I have read it many times, and I love it every time I do.  The rest of his books in the “Ender” series were okay.  His other series, however, were not good at all.  So, when Sara told me that she was getting a new Orson Scott Card book to read, I was interested, but skeptical.  Turns out, it was a pretty good book!

The story centers on a teenage boy named Rigg.  He and his father live alone wandering the woods as trappers. When we are introduced to Rigg, we quickly learn that he has an unusual gift.  He can see the paths that people or animals have taken in the past.  They appear as colorful ribbons in the air, and can go back thousands of years.  His father spends every waking moment teaching Rigg about his power and about life in general.

The story really starts going when Rigg’s father dies.  His dying wish is for Rigg to go on a journey to meet his mother and sister, who Rigg was told were dead.  Before he gets the chance to start, however, he meets a boyhood friend, Umbro, who also has a special ability.  Umbro’s ability is to slow down or speed up perceptions, allowing Rigg to actually “travel” to the past paths that he can see.

Now, right off the bat, I am very worried about this book.  Time travel?  Talk about a mine field.  How many Sci-Fi geeks have spent sleepless nights arguing about time travel and how books and movies screw it up?  (I know I do every time I watch Terminator).  But, Card does something unusual in this book.  He knows the paradoxes that time travel creates, and instead of trying to avoid them, he actually embraces them as part of the story!

Even with the time travel stuff, this story line is actually very interesting.  Each chapter starts with a secondary story about how this planet was populated.  At first, it is very confusing reading the two stories.  However, as the book goes along, the two stories complement each other in such a way that it makes the story whole without you realizing there was something missing.  Between the history of their planet, the history of their people, the history of Rigg’s family, and the dangers they all bring to our main characters, this story was very compelling.

This was the first of a series and I can’t wait until the rest of the books come out.  I am eager to see what the future holds for Rigg and his friends. Overall, I would give this book 4 bookworms.”

Thank you, Wesley!

I needed Wesley to do the main review of this book because I was thoroughly confused by it! I love “Ender’s Game” as well, it is one of my favorite books, but with this book, I got too bogged down. I thought the story was interesting, though, and I would recommend it to fans of Orson Scott Card, especially if you like time travel Sci-Fi!

For more information about this book, please click here.

This book was sent to us as a complimentary review copy from Simon Pulse, a division of Simon & Schuster Publishing Company.

We will give “Pathfinder”…  4 BookWorms!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Simon Pulse. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this is accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."