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Homecoming Saga #5
Earthborn
High above the earth orbits the starship Basilica. On board the huge vessel is a sleeping woman. Of those who made the journey, Shedemai alone has survived the hundred of years since the Children of Wetchik returned to Earth.
She now wears the Cloak of the Starmaster, and the Oversoul wakes her sometimes to watch over her descendants on the planet below. The population has grown rapidly--there are cities and nations now, whole peoples descended from the who followed Nafai or Elemak.
But in all the long years of watching and searching, the Oversoul has not found the thing it sought. It has not found the Keeper of the Earth, the central intelligence that also can repair the Oversoul's damaged programming.
She now wears the Cloak of the Starmaster, and the Oversoul wakes her sometimes to watch over her descendants on the planet below. The population has grown rapidly--there are cities and nations now, whole peoples descended from the who followed Nafai or Elemak.
But in all the long years of watching and searching, the Oversoul has not found the thing it sought. It has not found the Keeper of the Earth, the central intelligence that also can repair the Oversoul's damaged programming.
430 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
69 people are currently reading
2,463 people want to read
About the author
Orson Scott Card
859Ìýbooks20.3kÌýfollowersOrson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987â€�2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 207 reviews
January 12, 2009
This is the only book I've ever bothered to review on Amazon because it pissed me off so much. Text follows.
So you've read books one through four. You were impressed by Card's fascinating premise in book one, started to get really turned on to his idea of "god as a machine" in book two, loved the fantastic revelations and conflict in book three, and were intrigued by the first-hand narratives of diggers and angels in book four. I guess I should see how it ends, you say to yourself.
Don't be a fool. This book is utter dreck.
In retrospect, I can see how the series suffered a gradual, inexorable decline as Card kept writing, how the wonderful premises with which he began (far-future human evolution, god as a machine) were slowly subsumed by his frankly simplistic mysticism and allegorical Mormon proselytizing. But I only recognized this trend about halfway through book five, the one you're thinking about buying. Like you, after reading book four, although I wasn't that impressed with the strength of that volume I wanted to see how it all turned out.
Let me save you the trouble: angels and humans and diggers get along after all, and God loves you.
All the careful characterization of books one through four is thrown away, and we start fresh with all new characters and a "fun" new naming scheme we have to stumble around. Not only that, but the oversoul is practically a no-show, being completely replaced by the keeper of earth. I won't insert a "spoiler" by telling you about the keeper's true nature, but believe me you'll be disappointed with the explanation when it's revealed around 50 pages from the end. Oh, and he never explains the faster-than-light dream-sending mechanism. He never even mentions it.
Leading up to that tiny piece of plot resolution three volumes in the making, we're treated to a protracted morality / religion play where our protagonists learn to put their lives in God's hands and respect the literal truth of a set of golden plates written by their ancestors. For 400 christ-thumping pages. It's not all that well written, it's not very interesting, and most importantly, it's not what you signed on for after the first four books.
I can't for the life of me understand why Card didn't end the series with book four. This is a boring, barely-related addendum to an otherwise decent series. I was literally gnashing my teeth and straining to get through the last 80 pages.
Don't make my mistake. Pretend book four was a reasonable resolution and pretend this one was never written.
So you've read books one through four. You were impressed by Card's fascinating premise in book one, started to get really turned on to his idea of "god as a machine" in book two, loved the fantastic revelations and conflict in book three, and were intrigued by the first-hand narratives of diggers and angels in book four. I guess I should see how it ends, you say to yourself.
Don't be a fool. This book is utter dreck.
In retrospect, I can see how the series suffered a gradual, inexorable decline as Card kept writing, how the wonderful premises with which he began (far-future human evolution, god as a machine) were slowly subsumed by his frankly simplistic mysticism and allegorical Mormon proselytizing. But I only recognized this trend about halfway through book five, the one you're thinking about buying. Like you, after reading book four, although I wasn't that impressed with the strength of that volume I wanted to see how it all turned out.
Let me save you the trouble: angels and humans and diggers get along after all, and God loves you.
All the careful characterization of books one through four is thrown away, and we start fresh with all new characters and a "fun" new naming scheme we have to stumble around. Not only that, but the oversoul is practically a no-show, being completely replaced by the keeper of earth. I won't insert a "spoiler" by telling you about the keeper's true nature, but believe me you'll be disappointed with the explanation when it's revealed around 50 pages from the end. Oh, and he never explains the faster-than-light dream-sending mechanism. He never even mentions it.
Leading up to that tiny piece of plot resolution three volumes in the making, we're treated to a protracted morality / religion play where our protagonists learn to put their lives in God's hands and respect the literal truth of a set of golden plates written by their ancestors. For 400 christ-thumping pages. It's not all that well written, it's not very interesting, and most importantly, it's not what you signed on for after the first four books.
I can't for the life of me understand why Card didn't end the series with book four. This is a boring, barely-related addendum to an otherwise decent series. I was literally gnashing my teeth and straining to get through the last 80 pages.
Don't make my mistake. Pretend book four was a reasonable resolution and pretend this one was never written.
September 27, 2007
This book... *sigh*
Card is my favorite Sci-Fi author. The first four Homecoming books were fantastic. Many seem to complain about how much Mormonism is in this series (specifically book 5) but that's just it; The novels were actually BASED on the book of Mormon. I'm not of the Mormon belief myself, and no offense meant by this but - Mormon beliefs make for great science fiction, heh.
Anyway back on topic, this book is not about the characters you come to love and hate in the first four books of the series. Nafai is nowhere to be found. Elemak, the jackass he was written as is also nowhere to be found. It takes place thousands of years after the events with Nafai and Elemak and it seems that none of the issues from the first 4 are actually RESOLVED in this book! You find out who/what the Keeper is but it's one of those "really? thats all?" revelations, and it's more about the internal moaning and groaning in this family you're just THRUST into without any kind of real history like the first 4 books. Elemak never gets the ass-beating he deserves, the Keeper is a let-down, and none of the Keeper's plans were even brought to fruition. The entire book takes place in the Gornaya, (I think I spelled that right), and as we all know the Keeper's plan was for humanity to come back 'cleansed' and to 'fix up' the Earth... But it doesn't even happen!
I didn't HATE this book, I just didn't enjoy it. Mr. Card writes a grand story in this series, but the last book just seems to peter-out, it was a very disappointing end to a magnificent story.
Card is my favorite Sci-Fi author. The first four Homecoming books were fantastic. Many seem to complain about how much Mormonism is in this series (specifically book 5) but that's just it; The novels were actually BASED on the book of Mormon. I'm not of the Mormon belief myself, and no offense meant by this but - Mormon beliefs make for great science fiction, heh.
Anyway back on topic, this book is not about the characters you come to love and hate in the first four books of the series. Nafai is nowhere to be found. Elemak, the jackass he was written as is also nowhere to be found. It takes place thousands of years after the events with Nafai and Elemak and it seems that none of the issues from the first 4 are actually RESOLVED in this book! You find out who/what the Keeper is but it's one of those "really? thats all?" revelations, and it's more about the internal moaning and groaning in this family you're just THRUST into without any kind of real history like the first 4 books. Elemak never gets the ass-beating he deserves, the Keeper is a let-down, and none of the Keeper's plans were even brought to fruition. The entire book takes place in the Gornaya, (I think I spelled that right), and as we all know the Keeper's plan was for humanity to come back 'cleansed' and to 'fix up' the Earth... But it doesn't even happen!
I didn't HATE this book, I just didn't enjoy it. Mr. Card writes a grand story in this series, but the last book just seems to peter-out, it was a very disappointing end to a magnificent story.
February 27, 2023
Of all of Orson Scott Card’s books, “Earthborn� is probably my least favorite. It is not that the novel is not well written � it is � or that it lacks a good story � it does not. But its role as the fifth and final book in a series makes it feel like an incomplete ending.
Unlike the rest of the novels in the Homecoming series, “Earthborn� lacks most of the characters we have come to identify with. Of the original cast, we have only Shedemai, the Oversoul, and the Keeper of the Earth. I never really understood why Shedemai had to sit around in a starship for generations, watching over the repopulated Earth, and this book doesn’t seem to explain it. Although her final dream from the Keeper fits well into this novel, it doesn’t work for the series; why didn’t Nafai or Luet (or Shedemai) just have the dream to send a probe back to Basilica and be done with it?
Similarly, the true understanding of the Keeper is very weak. Of course, Card set us up for this when he made God a computer program in the first four novels. The god the humans on Basilica have prayed to for however many million years ago wound up being a computer program. But wait! We learned in those books that there was some other message-sending, human-prodding entity that was calling humans back to earth. Now, I agree with the “yes, there really is a God� argument � that’s one of the perks of being Christian � but after weakening his case, I just didn’t feel like Card made a strong case in the other direction for such a being. And again, I don’t understand why this profound statement didn’t come in Book Four � nothing earth shattering happened in “Earthborn� to provoke it.
Okay, okay, on to the story. We have a lovely rendition of Alma the Younger, science fiction style. With the first four novels, I appreciated the way Card brought people that I was familiar with to life and made me say, “Oh, so THAT’S how they could reason away all of the miracles!� The same is true here. “Oh,� I nodded, “THAT’S how four sons of a king and the son of a priest could run amuck.� Card provides realistic characters with excellent motivations for their actions.
One review I read noted that it was ironic that the five “bad� guys brought about a separation of church and state, and asked if perhaps Card was arguing for a government sponsored religion. Given that fact that Card is LDS and probably reasons as I do in that aspect � that the church we have strong faith in could not have existed in a land that enforced religion, and that the Founding Fathers were inspired to set up America with freedoms that allowed our church to be instated � I doubt that is the case. I urge readers, then, to look at the circumstances that brought about this separation. It came when the king had to decide whether or not to enforce the death penalty on someone who did not accept the monarch’s doctrine. It came after the official priests were turned out so they could not perpetuate evil on others who did not believe the same way. Remember, thirteen years before Akma and his friends attacked the church, the king proclaimed, “From now on, priests will no longer be servants of the king, appointed by the king, and staying with the king to perform the great public rituals.� The final separation, then, was a natural result of this self-induced split. And so I think Card is not saying that the wicked were wrong to want a separation, but that, though they sought it to tear down the Keeper’s works, it wound up being part of the Keeper’s plan.
I think this novel would have worked best as a stand-alone book, separate from the Homecoming series. It doesn’t fit into the series as a whole, other than to satisfy the curiosity of people who wonder, “What ever happened to their kids?� It’s a great story, but as a conclusion, it just sort of drags off.
Unlike the rest of the novels in the Homecoming series, “Earthborn� lacks most of the characters we have come to identify with. Of the original cast, we have only Shedemai, the Oversoul, and the Keeper of the Earth. I never really understood why Shedemai had to sit around in a starship for generations, watching over the repopulated Earth, and this book doesn’t seem to explain it. Although her final dream from the Keeper fits well into this novel, it doesn’t work for the series; why didn’t Nafai or Luet (or Shedemai) just have the dream to send a probe back to Basilica and be done with it?
Similarly, the true understanding of the Keeper is very weak. Of course, Card set us up for this when he made God a computer program in the first four novels. The god the humans on Basilica have prayed to for however many million years ago wound up being a computer program. But wait! We learned in those books that there was some other message-sending, human-prodding entity that was calling humans back to earth. Now, I agree with the “yes, there really is a God� argument � that’s one of the perks of being Christian � but after weakening his case, I just didn’t feel like Card made a strong case in the other direction for such a being. And again, I don’t understand why this profound statement didn’t come in Book Four � nothing earth shattering happened in “Earthborn� to provoke it.
Okay, okay, on to the story. We have a lovely rendition of Alma the Younger, science fiction style. With the first four novels, I appreciated the way Card brought people that I was familiar with to life and made me say, “Oh, so THAT’S how they could reason away all of the miracles!� The same is true here. “Oh,� I nodded, “THAT’S how four sons of a king and the son of a priest could run amuck.� Card provides realistic characters with excellent motivations for their actions.
One review I read noted that it was ironic that the five “bad� guys brought about a separation of church and state, and asked if perhaps Card was arguing for a government sponsored religion. Given that fact that Card is LDS and probably reasons as I do in that aspect � that the church we have strong faith in could not have existed in a land that enforced religion, and that the Founding Fathers were inspired to set up America with freedoms that allowed our church to be instated � I doubt that is the case. I urge readers, then, to look at the circumstances that brought about this separation. It came when the king had to decide whether or not to enforce the death penalty on someone who did not accept the monarch’s doctrine. It came after the official priests were turned out so they could not perpetuate evil on others who did not believe the same way. Remember, thirteen years before Akma and his friends attacked the church, the king proclaimed, “From now on, priests will no longer be servants of the king, appointed by the king, and staying with the king to perform the great public rituals.� The final separation, then, was a natural result of this self-induced split. And so I think Card is not saying that the wicked were wrong to want a separation, but that, though they sought it to tear down the Keeper’s works, it wound up being part of the Keeper’s plan.
I think this novel would have worked best as a stand-alone book, separate from the Homecoming series. It doesn’t fit into the series as a whole, other than to satisfy the curiosity of people who wonder, “What ever happened to their kids?� It’s a great story, but as a conclusion, it just sort of drags off.
August 19, 2010
Not quite as good as the other books in the series, I thought. I do like the way that he wraps up the whole history of the Keeper of Earth's visions in a neat little meaningful package. But I just had so much invested in Nafai and Luet, Oykib and Chveya, all the rest and their conflict with Elemak and his team -- I couldn't help but be disappointed from the start when I realized that they were all long dead. Only Shedemei (the one character with whom I identified the least) was left.
Of course, Card (as always) did a great job of getting me to invest myself in this story, as well. But whereas the other novels in the series were close-knit sisters, this book felt like a distantly related cousin.
Of course, Card (as always) did a great job of getting me to invest myself in this story, as well. But whereas the other novels in the series were close-knit sisters, this book felt like a distantly related cousin.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2020
I didn't want to read another book in this series. After Earthfall... I felt like it was unnecessary to have another book. Umm, I'll take another saga please. This book was fantastic, probably my favourite out of the whole series. I loved the culture, the way the earth moved forward, Shedemei, the Oversouls interesting comments, Shedemei�
Shedemei is my favourite character. Can you tell?
I don't know what to say about this but I did really love it.
Shedemei is my favourite character. Can you tell?
I don't know what to say about this but I did really love it.
June 22, 2015
Like in the other
Homecoming
books, the characters are very well designed and realistic and I quickly got interested in them and the plot. I got a slower start on the first 30-or-so pages, because of the new naming scheme and the all new characters. But after this, the story started flowing.
The focus on religion is stronger, but it also deals with racism and discrimination against women. I saw that many readers were disappointed of its significantly religious nature, but for myself it did nothing to diminish the pleasure of reading and of learning something.
If you think about it, eventually this book is about human kindness and good ethics, it doesn't necessarily have to be about religion...
While reading Earthborn, I stumbled on an interview of Stephen Hawking, which I found very suitable with the whole story: “The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression. It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or a partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all.�
Well, I think he couldn't be more right!
Just a note about the series:
I'm not mormon, I found out about parallels with the Book of Mormon after I started reading and yes, the similarities are more than clear, but did not in any way affect my experience of the books.
The focus on religion is stronger, but it also deals with racism and discrimination against women. I saw that many readers were disappointed of its significantly religious nature, but for myself it did nothing to diminish the pleasure of reading and of learning something.
If you think about it, eventually this book is about human kindness and good ethics, it doesn't necessarily have to be about religion...
While reading Earthborn, I stumbled on an interview of Stephen Hawking, which I found very suitable with the whole story: “The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression. It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or a partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all.�
Well, I think he couldn't be more right!
Just a note about the series:
I'm not mormon, I found out about parallels with the Book of Mormon after I started reading and yes, the similarities are more than clear, but did not in any way affect my experience of the books.
January 20, 2012
This book pissed me right the eff off. I read this whole series two and a half years ago and I'm still mad thinking about it. You spend four whole books getting invested in a series of characters, a particular world and culture, etc., and then the final one is set thousands of years in the future with a totally new society? If that's what you wanted why not just write it as a stand alone? It really felt like he just got bored with his premise and got as close to rocks-fall-everybody-dies as he could. Don't waste your time.
August 27, 2018
I am finally giving up on this.
January 6, 2024
Earthborn is the fifth and final installment of the five book series called Homecoming. The series is originally set on the planet Harmony, inhabited by humans descended from people who fled a ruined Earth a long time ago. Harmony's inhabitants are monitored by an orbiting satellite called the Oversoul. Somehow, all the people of Harmony are genetically altered so that the Oversoul can speak to their minds and influence their thoughts and actions.
This system was set up by those who fled Earth so that the Oversoul could maintain peace on the planet. It was able to prevent the invention of certain technologies which led to weaponry, etc., which ultimately led to the downfall of Earth. Well, when the series starts the Oversoul is getting old and worn down and it is losing its ability to perform its duties so it recruited a group of humans to trek to the hidden spaceport and return to Earth to get an updated software upload from the Keeper of the Earth which is the planet's central intelligence and which presumably spawned the Oversoul.
In book four, the humans arrive on Earth to find two other sentient species living there which have replaced them and things go predictably bad, and factions are made and fights are fought. Read my previous review for a summary of that book.
Fast forward hundreds of years later to when Earthborn is set. The human decedents from Harmony have assimilated with the other two species of intelligent life, flourished and established states, and (surprise) are still not getting along with themselves. One of the surviving humans from Harmony survives in their orbiting starship Basilica - she is kept in suspended animation but woken on occasion by the Oversoul to monitor the goings-on on Earth.
In all this time the Oversoul has not found the Keeper of the Earth. The Keeper seems to influence the dreams of some of the humans but that's about it. It didn't take long for this novel to start to feel like the rubbish supernatural and spiritual dreck one would find in our "holy" books. Omnipotent hidden god influencing its primitive subjects through dreams - sounds familiar. UGH. I'm aware that Card patterned this series after the Mormon story so I should not have been surprised when the science fiction was overpowered by its religious tone.
I thought Earthborn and the whole Homecoming series concluded in a very unsatisfying way. The issues brought up in the early novels concerning the decay of control of Harmony's citizens and the Oversoul's future were long cast by the wayside in order to tell the story of the nebulous Keeper and it's religious-hungry inhabitants. And this novel dragged for me. It was slog. I was bored. But I had to know how this series was going to end so I finished.
I rated other four novels three stars as I enjoyed them just enough to keep reading. I really didn't like this novel at all. What a way to start the new year.
This system was set up by those who fled Earth so that the Oversoul could maintain peace on the planet. It was able to prevent the invention of certain technologies which led to weaponry, etc., which ultimately led to the downfall of Earth. Well, when the series starts the Oversoul is getting old and worn down and it is losing its ability to perform its duties so it recruited a group of humans to trek to the hidden spaceport and return to Earth to get an updated software upload from the Keeper of the Earth which is the planet's central intelligence and which presumably spawned the Oversoul.
In book four, the humans arrive on Earth to find two other sentient species living there which have replaced them and things go predictably bad, and factions are made and fights are fought. Read my previous review for a summary of that book.
Fast forward hundreds of years later to when Earthborn is set. The human decedents from Harmony have assimilated with the other two species of intelligent life, flourished and established states, and (surprise) are still not getting along with themselves. One of the surviving humans from Harmony survives in their orbiting starship Basilica - she is kept in suspended animation but woken on occasion by the Oversoul to monitor the goings-on on Earth.
In all this time the Oversoul has not found the Keeper of the Earth. The Keeper seems to influence the dreams of some of the humans but that's about it. It didn't take long for this novel to start to feel like the rubbish supernatural and spiritual dreck one would find in our "holy" books. Omnipotent hidden god influencing its primitive subjects through dreams - sounds familiar. UGH. I'm aware that Card patterned this series after the Mormon story so I should not have been surprised when the science fiction was overpowered by its religious tone.
I thought Earthborn and the whole Homecoming series concluded in a very unsatisfying way. The issues brought up in the early novels concerning the decay of control of Harmony's citizens and the Oversoul's future were long cast by the wayside in order to tell the story of the nebulous Keeper and it's religious-hungry inhabitants. And this novel dragged for me. It was slog. I was bored. But I had to know how this series was going to end so I finished.
I rated other four novels three stars as I enjoyed them just enough to keep reading. I really didn't like this novel at all. What a way to start the new year.
March 9, 2022
Easily the worst entry into the series, the religious overtones are so excessive that the story itself suffers. The book also gets weirdly Islamophobic out of nowhere in the middle and also draws a weird parallel between atheism and slavery/racial prejudice. It’s just a messy book on the whole, the ideas are poorly thought out and written and for a series I’ve read way too many pages of I can say I didn’t expect a good ending but the fact there isn’t even a satisfying one is infuriating.
December 20, 2018
Still overly detailed and challenging. I wanted more from the series.
September 22, 2012
I'm a little amused by all the reviews bitching about the religiosity of this book. How the hell did you make it through the first four books in the series? Did you fail to notice the overt Biblical themes, topics, characterizations, language and moralization for the previous four books? Did you somehow think that the enemies of the Oversoul and the Keeper were going to be proven right now in Book Five? The revelation regarding the Keeper was even more disappointing than I expected, however. I knew that the Keeper was basically going to be God, but the revelation is treated so briefly that it really doesn't live up to the buildup. Of course, the revelation was never going to be able to match the buildup that the Keeper was given unless it was dominant and treated over the course of many pages. It's a predicament that I predicted as soon as I read in the earlier books that the Keeper was not a machine and could transcend the difficulties of faster-than-light travel. There was only one answer to that question. If you are turned off by the ideas of Keeper as God, than what have you been doing for the past 900 pages? That said, this book is weakened by the readers' commitment to the original characters that Card worked so hard to create over the course of the first four books. We are asked to shelve our interest in them to care about a society 500 years in the future that has turned those characters into myth and legend, but as for me, I had too much invested in the originals to accept any substitutes. For the religious reader, there are some profound insights into the nature and working of God, but the storyline and character arc cannot compare to the grandeur of the first four books. If only we'd heard the true end of the original characters' lives instead of this new storyline. A disappointing end to a series containing truly magnificent moments.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 11, 2010
For those of you that do not know, the homecoming series follows The Book of Mormon quite closely. This is not a bad thing, and I appreciated Card's opinion of many of the events. His interpretation was fresh and entertaining to read.
I loved the first book, however, from that point there was a steady decline in the series. The third and fourth books were not very fun to read. I felt that the enmity between the two brothers was not something that needed to stretch out for so many books. There are only so many times a family member can attempt to stab you in the back before they plain need to go.
The decline of the series is punctuated with this last book. After spending 4 volumes introducing you to characters and fleshing out their personalities Card throws most of them away and jumps years into the future. This would be okay if the story was interesting or if it did not prove that the decisions made by the characters in the previous books were foolhardy and selfish. Specifically Nafai always refusing to kill Elemak. For selfish reasons Nafai ignored his brother's murderous intentions. It is revealed in this final book that this has led to a split population constantly at war with each other. Good job.
I would have to say the worst part of this last book is Card's ridiculous insertion of a complicated naming system. Strange titles and modes of address that distract from the story being told. The information slaps you in the face over and over with no time to absorb it.
The first two books are definitely worth reading, the 3rd and 4th are decent if you want to finish the storyline from the first two. I would skip this 5th book, the resolution is not worth it at all.
I loved the first book, however, from that point there was a steady decline in the series. The third and fourth books were not very fun to read. I felt that the enmity between the two brothers was not something that needed to stretch out for so many books. There are only so many times a family member can attempt to stab you in the back before they plain need to go.
The decline of the series is punctuated with this last book. After spending 4 volumes introducing you to characters and fleshing out their personalities Card throws most of them away and jumps years into the future. This would be okay if the story was interesting or if it did not prove that the decisions made by the characters in the previous books were foolhardy and selfish. Specifically Nafai always refusing to kill Elemak. For selfish reasons Nafai ignored his brother's murderous intentions. It is revealed in this final book that this has led to a split population constantly at war with each other. Good job.
I would have to say the worst part of this last book is Card's ridiculous insertion of a complicated naming system. Strange titles and modes of address that distract from the story being told. The information slaps you in the face over and over with no time to absorb it.
The first two books are definitely worth reading, the 3rd and 4th are decent if you want to finish the storyline from the first two. I would skip this 5th book, the resolution is not worth it at all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2014
I felt Card had literally lost the plot by this point!
According to the first books in the series, the mighty computer that has kept the planet Harmony harmonious for millions of years (the 'Oversoul') is now beginning to run down. Because it has achieved this by limiting technology, there is no technology on Harmony advanced enough to fix it, so it sends a party back to Earth, where it had originally come from, for fresh instructions.
By the time the party reach Earth, though, they have apparently forgotten all about this. In vol 4, they set up their settlement and build relations with the sentient species of Earth and squabble with each other and then die. This volume takes up the story many generations afterwards, during which time nobody has spared a thought for the mission and the poor old Oversoul back on Harmony is going completely unsuccoured.
This story is quite an interesting one in its own right, once you can sort out who all the people are, but it should have been volume 6, a postscript, and the real volume 5 should have told us how the Oversoul's problem was solved. We never do find out.
According to the first books in the series, the mighty computer that has kept the planet Harmony harmonious for millions of years (the 'Oversoul') is now beginning to run down. Because it has achieved this by limiting technology, there is no technology on Harmony advanced enough to fix it, so it sends a party back to Earth, where it had originally come from, for fresh instructions.
By the time the party reach Earth, though, they have apparently forgotten all about this. In vol 4, they set up their settlement and build relations with the sentient species of Earth and squabble with each other and then die. This volume takes up the story many generations afterwards, during which time nobody has spared a thought for the mission and the poor old Oversoul back on Harmony is going completely unsuccoured.
This story is quite an interesting one in its own right, once you can sort out who all the people are, but it should have been volume 6, a postscript, and the real volume 5 should have told us how the Oversoul's problem was solved. We never do find out.
May 11, 2007
This is really more of a religious and political commentary than a science fiction novel. Card has some really interesting characters and tells a good story, but unfortunately his books have way too much Mormonism in them to completely appeal to a non-Mormon audience. Although it seems like the ends of the series are more religious than the beginnings. Perhaps he is getting more sure of himself with regard to using his religion in his books. In this book the Mormon imagery just gets out of hand, and a lot of the book isn’t even action but tons of dialogue or discussion about religion and government. The “bad guys� in this book are the ones who want to separate church and state! But no worry, they experience a vision from God (okay, it’s actually just Shedemei in her starmaster’s cloak, but she was sent by God, after all), and they reform their ways and go around preaching the true gospel of equality and, presumably, theocracy. I do think the three species of people are pretty cool, though.
August 5, 2022
El final de la serie me ha decepcionado un poco, tengo que reconocer la calidad del autor y la habilidad para hacer interesantes tramas que muchas veces resultan aburridas, pero el experimento de convertir el Libro de Mormón en una saga de ciencia ficción no funciona, a pesar del empeño que le pone. La historia no es una sino muchas, a veces poco relacionadas entre sÃ. Los protagonistas no tienen continuidad: aparecen, hacen algo, no se vuelve a hablar de ellos. Todo esto puede funcionar en un libro sagrado en el que lo importante son las enseñanzas morales y no la trama, pero en una novela consigue que se haga pesado tener que enterarte una y otra vez de quién es quién y de dónde han salido.
Y a pesar de todo lo anterior Scott Card consigue engancharte en muchos momentos solo con su habilidad como escritor. Hace reales a los personajes y da interés a las situaciones. Lástima de tanto talento que merecÃa mejor causa.
Y a pesar de todo lo anterior Scott Card consigue engancharte en muchos momentos solo con su habilidad como escritor. Hace reales a los personajes y da interés a las situaciones. Lástima de tanto talento que merecÃa mejor causa.
April 8, 2015
A mediocre finale to a mediocre series. I was glad to be done with Nafai and friends. A new suite of characters with a new suite of problems was a breath of fresh air, but the way Mr. Card resolved the Oversoul's mission to find the Keeper of Earth left a lot to be desired. It really didn't conclude anything.
October 19, 2016
I read the first chapter and gave up.
For me it isn't really part of the homecoming Saga, only one character left and it's not the main protagonist followed since book 1.
The ridiculously complicated naming conventions require 4 pages of explanatory notes, are an exercise for linguists that make it hard to read.
For me it isn't really part of the homecoming Saga, only one character left and it's not the main protagonist followed since book 1.
The ridiculously complicated naming conventions require 4 pages of explanatory notes, are an exercise for linguists that make it hard to read.
January 24, 2015
O adevarata lectie despre interventia (de cele mai multe ori dezastruoasa) fiintelor umane asupra naturii inconjuratoare...
December 4, 2022
Boo! As a rule, I reserve one-star reviews for books that I can't finish. Until today. This is the first book that I have read cover to cover that has been so bad that it is getting a one-star review. I am disappointed. Actually, I am disappointed AND angry. And for that reason, this is also the first review for which I need to include the Spoilers tag.
Let me explain why this book was an abomination:
In the first book of the series, the story began as a sci-fi tale filled with mysterious technology, overtones of faith/religion, and several people behaving in very human ways as they struggled to discover themselves and find their place in the world. The first four books explained the details of the world, showed people learning to live with people who were different than they were, and really brought a lot of humanity into the story. Even with all that, there was still a sci-fi story being told. There was still the Oversoul. Then emerged the Keeper of Earth. There was still a mystery to be solved, goals to be completed, successes to be had. The series could have ended with book 4. It would not have answered the question of Who/What the Keeper of Earth was, but at least the story had some sort of closure, some sort of conclusion that still left enough open to the imagination to be considered clever.
Then book 5, Earthborn, happened. All those characters that you grew to love over the first four books, yeah, they're gone now. All that sci-fi, which as you know stands for SCIENCE fiction, was gone. Instead, after staying with the series for four books, the reader is slapped in the face with some sort of bait-and-switch, preachy, religious drivel that completely ignores the story and instead goes on a book-long tangent about how people are different, but should still love each other. The book did include some insight into the human condition, which came across as insightful. But the STORY, the reason everyone picked up the book in the first place, was nonexistent. The resolution of the struggles on Harmony with the Oversoul...literally took up about a paragraph worth of text.
And now for the big spoiler. If you haven't read the book yet, and are planning to, I suggest you stop reading here. (I might also suggest that you NOT read the book):
Then the final reveal, the question we were all waiting to be answered: What is the Keeper of Earth and what is its big plan? The answer: GOD. It wasn't actually stated, as "god", but that's what it was. Some all-powerful entity that speaks to us and lives in the trees and the rivers and works in mysterious ways. All of the SCIENCE was gone. There was no master plan. In fact, there wasn't even a reason for the Oversoul in the first place. If the Keeper was all-powerful and could communicate across lightyears directly to people on Harmony, why did it need an Oversoul at all? Why didn't it just, in its all-powerful awesomeness, handle Harmony itself?
Now maybe, MAYBE, OSC was going for some sort of idea that any science sufficiently advanced appears like magic or god-like powers. But that was definitely not the way the book was written. The whole book focused on religion and belief and faith. Maybe the decision to make the Keeper a god was simply because the author couldn't figure out any other way to explain the Keeper's god-like power. Either way, the complete dismissal of the story and replacement with some sort of religious propaganda was inexcusable.
This book was a disappointment. It was a disservice to everyone who read the book with the hope of a resolution to the story. I have no problem with religion or religious ideas. My issue is that when I read a sci-fi series for 1,200+ pages, I expect it to end as a sci-fi story, not some religious bait-and-switch nonsense.
Let me explain why this book was an abomination:
In the first book of the series, the story began as a sci-fi tale filled with mysterious technology, overtones of faith/religion, and several people behaving in very human ways as they struggled to discover themselves and find their place in the world. The first four books explained the details of the world, showed people learning to live with people who were different than they were, and really brought a lot of humanity into the story. Even with all that, there was still a sci-fi story being told. There was still the Oversoul. Then emerged the Keeper of Earth. There was still a mystery to be solved, goals to be completed, successes to be had. The series could have ended with book 4. It would not have answered the question of Who/What the Keeper of Earth was, but at least the story had some sort of closure, some sort of conclusion that still left enough open to the imagination to be considered clever.
Then book 5, Earthborn, happened. All those characters that you grew to love over the first four books, yeah, they're gone now. All that sci-fi, which as you know stands for SCIENCE fiction, was gone. Instead, after staying with the series for four books, the reader is slapped in the face with some sort of bait-and-switch, preachy, religious drivel that completely ignores the story and instead goes on a book-long tangent about how people are different, but should still love each other. The book did include some insight into the human condition, which came across as insightful. But the STORY, the reason everyone picked up the book in the first place, was nonexistent. The resolution of the struggles on Harmony with the Oversoul...literally took up about a paragraph worth of text.
And now for the big spoiler. If you haven't read the book yet, and are planning to, I suggest you stop reading here. (I might also suggest that you NOT read the book):
Then the final reveal, the question we were all waiting to be answered: What is the Keeper of Earth and what is its big plan? The answer: GOD. It wasn't actually stated, as "god", but that's what it was. Some all-powerful entity that speaks to us and lives in the trees and the rivers and works in mysterious ways. All of the SCIENCE was gone. There was no master plan. In fact, there wasn't even a reason for the Oversoul in the first place. If the Keeper was all-powerful and could communicate across lightyears directly to people on Harmony, why did it need an Oversoul at all? Why didn't it just, in its all-powerful awesomeness, handle Harmony itself?
Now maybe, MAYBE, OSC was going for some sort of idea that any science sufficiently advanced appears like magic or god-like powers. But that was definitely not the way the book was written. The whole book focused on religion and belief and faith. Maybe the decision to make the Keeper a god was simply because the author couldn't figure out any other way to explain the Keeper's god-like power. Either way, the complete dismissal of the story and replacement with some sort of religious propaganda was inexcusable.
This book was a disappointment. It was a disservice to everyone who read the book with the hope of a resolution to the story. I have no problem with religion or religious ideas. My issue is that when I read a sci-fi series for 1,200+ pages, I expect it to end as a sci-fi story, not some religious bait-and-switch nonsense.
January 19, 2020
This book is beautifully written like all of Orson Scott Card's books. He is one of my favorite authors. That being said, this is my least favorite book in my least favorite series I've read by him. Part of my problem comes down to not realizing this series was based on the Book of Mormon when I started it. I had some frustrations with the previous books with things such as the treatment of women as second class, where their primary purpose always seemed to be to support their husbands and raise children. But overall, the previous books read as good science fiction with an interesting premise. What if the god of a world were actually a machine controlling humanity from the sky? What would happen if that machine started to break down? Under Card's deft pen, it made for an interesting story. This 5th book reads less like an interesting science fiction book and more like a religious manifesto, incorporating Mormon theology into what seems like every sentence. In addition, Card abandoned almost all the previous characters and plot. The purpose of coming to earth in the first place was to help restore the oversoul. That whole premise is completely brushed over here. Instead, he introduces a whole new cast of characters, none of whom were very interesting to me. I just couldn't bring myself to care about them. The only parts that really engaged me were the portions that involved Shedemai and the oversoul (the only characters that remained from the previous four books.) In addition, he never satisfactorily resolved the question: Who is the keeper of earth? I'm sorry, but I just don't buy that the keeper was a real god. Why would a real all-powerful god create (or have humans create) machine gods to watch over other planets? Overall, I am disappointed in this book and just glad to be done with it.
July 30, 2021
Odinioară, cu multă vreme în urmă, computerul navei spaţiale Basilica guvernase planeta Harmony timp de patruzeci de milioane de ani. Acum supraveghea o populaţie mult mai mică şi avea puteri mult mai reduse pentru a interveni. Dar planeta de care avea grijă era Pământul, străvechiul cămin al fiinţelor umane.
Nava spaţială Basilica a fost cea care a readus acasă un grup de fiinţe umane, care au descoperit că, în absenţa umanităţii, două noi specii au ajuns pe culmile sublime ale inteligenţei. Acum, cele trei popoare împărţeau un vast lanţ de munţi înalţi, văi luxuriante şi un climat care varia mai mult în funcţie de altitudine decât de latitudine.
Săpătorii îşi spuneau poporul din pământ, făcând tuneluri în sol şi în trunchiurile copacilor pe care îi scobeau pe dinăuntru. Îngerii erau poporul cerului, construind în arbori cuiburi acoperite şi atârnând cu capul în jos de crengi pentru a dormi, a discuta şi a preda cursuri. Fiinţele umane erau acum poporul de mijloc, locuind la suprafaţa solului.
Nu exista oraş de săpători fără case umane pe solul de deasupra sa, nici sat de îngeri fără ca încăperile împrejmuite de pereţi ale poporului de mijloc să se transforme în peşteri artificiale. Vastele cunoştinţe pe care fiinţele umane le-au adus cu ele de pe planeta Harmony reprezentau doar o mică parte din ceea ce strămoşii lor cunoscuseră pe Pământ, înainte de exilul lor, în urmă cu patruzeci de milioane de ani. Acum chiar şi acestea se pierduseră, dar ceea ce rămăsese era net superior în comparaţie cu ceea ce ştiau popoarele pământului şi ale cerului, încât oriunde locuiau cei din poporul de mijloc aveau o mare putere şi de obicei erau conducători.
În cer, însă, computerul navei spaţiale Basilica nu uita nimic şi, prin intermediul sateliţilor pe care îi răspândise în jurul Pământului, îl observa, aduna date şi îşi amintea tot ceea ce învăţase.
Nava spaţială Basilica a fost cea care a readus acasă un grup de fiinţe umane, care au descoperit că, în absenţa umanităţii, două noi specii au ajuns pe culmile sublime ale inteligenţei. Acum, cele trei popoare împărţeau un vast lanţ de munţi înalţi, văi luxuriante şi un climat care varia mai mult în funcţie de altitudine decât de latitudine.
Săpătorii îşi spuneau poporul din pământ, făcând tuneluri în sol şi în trunchiurile copacilor pe care îi scobeau pe dinăuntru. Îngerii erau poporul cerului, construind în arbori cuiburi acoperite şi atârnând cu capul în jos de crengi pentru a dormi, a discuta şi a preda cursuri. Fiinţele umane erau acum poporul de mijloc, locuind la suprafaţa solului.
Nu exista oraş de săpători fără case umane pe solul de deasupra sa, nici sat de îngeri fără ca încăperile împrejmuite de pereţi ale poporului de mijloc să se transforme în peşteri artificiale. Vastele cunoştinţe pe care fiinţele umane le-au adus cu ele de pe planeta Harmony reprezentau doar o mică parte din ceea ce strămoşii lor cunoscuseră pe Pământ, înainte de exilul lor, în urmă cu patruzeci de milioane de ani. Acum chiar şi acestea se pierduseră, dar ceea ce rămăsese era net superior în comparaţie cu ceea ce ştiau popoarele pământului şi ale cerului, încât oriunde locuiau cei din poporul de mijloc aveau o mare putere şi de obicei erau conducători.
În cer, însă, computerul navei spaţiale Basilica nu uita nimic şi, prin intermediul sateliţilor pe care îi răspândise în jurul Pământului, îl observa, aduna date şi îşi amintea tot ceea ce învăţase.
May 3, 2019
Ok, I have run across a few series that do this to kind of wrap things up. They have a time shift, sometimes large, that for the most part, introduces all new characters and few if any of the original characters. That totally takes you out of the rhythm of the story, especially if it's a series and you have a vested interest in the characters you have read for the last 2 or 3 or 5 books. That's where I found myself with Earthborn, and if I based my rating strictly on that, I would probably give this 3 stars. But You can't finish a series and not think about the overarching arc. So I boosted my score by a factor.
Card, as always, writes intensely identifiable characters. One of the knocks against Card is often his own personal religious views and treatment or beliefs of some groups in our society. Which is totally against anything of his that I have read. The homecoming series is a perfect example of that. He goes out of his way to use the fictional religion/plot of this book to try and teach us to treat each other with love and kindness, regardless of how that person may seem to us personally. He uses the keeper (in essence god) in this story to tell us that we should all get along, live together, to set our pride and our singular ambitions aside if those are causing harm to others. I don't know the man personally, but if you take him at face value based on what he is writing (which he does expertly) I can't imagine him ever wanting a single person to suffer physical or emotional pain based on who they are and how god made them.
Card, as always, writes intensely identifiable characters. One of the knocks against Card is often his own personal religious views and treatment or beliefs of some groups in our society. Which is totally against anything of his that I have read. The homecoming series is a perfect example of that. He goes out of his way to use the fictional religion/plot of this book to try and teach us to treat each other with love and kindness, regardless of how that person may seem to us personally. He uses the keeper (in essence god) in this story to tell us that we should all get along, live together, to set our pride and our singular ambitions aside if those are causing harm to others. I don't know the man personally, but if you take him at face value based on what he is writing (which he does expertly) I can't imagine him ever wanting a single person to suffer physical or emotional pain based on who they are and how god made them.
March 22, 2025
AAARGHH! Why does Card do this to all of this series finale books?! He completely changed the storyline by setting it so far in the future away from the original characters that the reader has NO emotional investment or interest anymore. Additionally, you’re overwhelmed with names, places, and a new history such that the storyline is a slog.
I stayed with this one because Shedemai was still alive and seeking The Keeper. Well, guess what? The Keeper is real and is completely underwhelming. At least it’s not a computer�
This is also one of Card’s most theological pieces filled with justifications for why belief in God (Keeper) is credible and possible solutions for the Theodicy of why evil exists, why bad things happen to good people, etc. Spoiler Alert: The Keeper has a long term plan/view of human beings and history, so a few million unhappy, decimated, murdered people are just fine in the grand scheme of things�
I also picked up on Card’s social commentary/Civil Rights references and call to BE The Keeper by promoting peace and empathy. I enjoyed his theology of acting with love and compassion in order to create God/The Keeper on Earth. His allusion to racism and bigotry was a bit overdone, however, with his vignette of a human screaming, “Digger lover!,� in a speech. You can guess where he is going with this in relation to U.S. history and I thought it was adolescent writing at best.
So ends another Card series for me. It started off intriguing, remained theologically thought-provoking, but ultimately, the plot, characters, and pacing were just terrible.
I stayed with this one because Shedemai was still alive and seeking The Keeper. Well, guess what? The Keeper is real and is completely underwhelming. At least it’s not a computer�
This is also one of Card’s most theological pieces filled with justifications for why belief in God (Keeper) is credible and possible solutions for the Theodicy of why evil exists, why bad things happen to good people, etc. Spoiler Alert: The Keeper has a long term plan/view of human beings and history, so a few million unhappy, decimated, murdered people are just fine in the grand scheme of things�
I also picked up on Card’s social commentary/Civil Rights references and call to BE The Keeper by promoting peace and empathy. I enjoyed his theology of acting with love and compassion in order to create God/The Keeper on Earth. His allusion to racism and bigotry was a bit overdone, however, with his vignette of a human screaming, “Digger lover!,� in a speech. You can guess where he is going with this in relation to U.S. history and I thought it was adolescent writing at best.
So ends another Card series for me. It started off intriguing, remained theologically thought-provoking, but ultimately, the plot, characters, and pacing were just terrible.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2017
In the homecoming series, this book is the most disconnected. Card does a great job at tying everything together, but old characters are gone, and this is a story in and of itself. The previous book only provide supporting details, but aren't essential to enjoying it.
Humans, angels, and diggers have found it hard to coexist with each other after several centuries on Earth. Shedemei and the Oversoul are searching for the divine architect, the Keeper. With the Earth on the brink of war again, Shedemei and a few men and women seek to shape its future and stem the rising tide of hate and violence.
Earthborn dives deep into individual characters and gives insight to the spiritual struggles we sometimes face. I really appreciated the insights and correlation with the Keeper, or what many call the Holy Spirit or Jiminy Cricket. Its voice is never loud, never forceful, and always there. Its presence in our life is subtle, almost unnoticeable, and exists in our thoughts, in nature, in the movement of all things. Its effects are cumulative and are painted into our lives layer by layer. It isn't until we're stripped of it that we even notice it was there all along.
When we ignore those feelings, push our innocent conscience aside, our own wisdom can sometimes make a mess of things and reason us onto lonely paths that ultimately lead us right back to where we started.
Humans, angels, and diggers have found it hard to coexist with each other after several centuries on Earth. Shedemei and the Oversoul are searching for the divine architect, the Keeper. With the Earth on the brink of war again, Shedemei and a few men and women seek to shape its future and stem the rising tide of hate and violence.
Earthborn dives deep into individual characters and gives insight to the spiritual struggles we sometimes face. I really appreciated the insights and correlation with the Keeper, or what many call the Holy Spirit or Jiminy Cricket. Its voice is never loud, never forceful, and always there. Its presence in our life is subtle, almost unnoticeable, and exists in our thoughts, in nature, in the movement of all things. Its effects are cumulative and are painted into our lives layer by layer. It isn't until we're stripped of it that we even notice it was there all along.
When we ignore those feelings, push our innocent conscience aside, our own wisdom can sometimes make a mess of things and reason us onto lonely paths that ultimately lead us right back to where we started.
May 4, 2020
My favorite author by far is Orsn Scott Card. I have read probaly 40 to 50 of his works. If it says his name on it, I will read the book without even knowing what the book is about, without reading the book's jacket. This was the last in this series and it felt like I was walking through thick mud. It took me FOREVER, only because it was not fun to read.
I felt I had to be respectful enough to finish it and since I'd read the others in the series, might as well finish them all, but this one was not up to par with most Card books I have read. Could be I started reading his books 30 years ago and now I'm an old fart, but the names and the places all got jumbled up. I couldn't remember who was who and where this took place or the location that an event occurred.
Also, it took me awhile to draw the parallels between what was happening in this book and the racism our nation and world have gone through in the past and continue to go through today. That was my bad for catching that so late and it was something I really appreciated because it showed how racism starts.
The problem was that there was not enough of that kind of writing to warrant anything more than 3 stars. I will continue to read any Card books I find, but I wasn't happy with this one.
I felt I had to be respectful enough to finish it and since I'd read the others in the series, might as well finish them all, but this one was not up to par with most Card books I have read. Could be I started reading his books 30 years ago and now I'm an old fart, but the names and the places all got jumbled up. I couldn't remember who was who and where this took place or the location that an event occurred.
Also, it took me awhile to draw the parallels between what was happening in this book and the racism our nation and world have gone through in the past and continue to go through today. That was my bad for catching that so late and it was something I really appreciated because it showed how racism starts.
The problem was that there was not enough of that kind of writing to warrant anything more than 3 stars. I will continue to read any Card books I find, but I wasn't happy with this one.
October 20, 2021
This portion of the story was 500 years beyond previous episodes, and only one character remained alive. All other characters were new, except for the possibility that 2 non-human and possibly non-sentient, side personalities are considered characters. This episode started slowly, and there is an interesting twist on how names are modified in common use that adds to early confusion until you realize it is not that important to remember all the details in names, prefixes and suffixes. The context of the previous episodes is significant so this can not be considered a standalone novel. Also, what had been a loose religion-like social connection has now become a full fledged orthodox cannon. There are still some political considerations as one might expect in a hereditary monarchy, but religion dominates the events of the time. While there is some personal connection among individual characters, most of that revolves around beliefs that are not easily communicated to readers, at least not the emotional content of that belief. The character transformations are about religious beliefs, although those are not modern beliefs, probably more like pagan (or animalistic) beliefs. This climax story in the series is an improvement over some earlier episodes.
November 2, 2022
Disconnected from the rest of the series, but with interesting Armenian Judeo-Christian undertones.
It felt like Orson forgot to solve the original reason for returning to Earth at the end of the fourth book and was forced to write another book after he killed off all but one of the main characters. Even in this book, the answer regarding how to fix the Oversoul, the problem the Oversoul cultivated and brought the main characters to Earth to discover and bring back, was narrated away in one small paragraph. Orson sums up his own book here best nearly two thirds of the way through by stating that none of the characters actually matter. I feel that was true from fairly early in the series. As a retelling of biblical narratives, this series was intriguing, but the plot simply seemed too divorced from the characters. Only in the second half of this last book did the plot feel character driven but it still blew off the big mission of the series, and that was the just disappointing of all.
It felt like Orson forgot to solve the original reason for returning to Earth at the end of the fourth book and was forced to write another book after he killed off all but one of the main characters. Even in this book, the answer regarding how to fix the Oversoul, the problem the Oversoul cultivated and brought the main characters to Earth to discover and bring back, was narrated away in one small paragraph. Orson sums up his own book here best nearly two thirds of the way through by stating that none of the characters actually matter. I feel that was true from fairly early in the series. As a retelling of biblical narratives, this series was intriguing, but the plot simply seemed too divorced from the characters. Only in the second half of this last book did the plot feel character driven but it still blew off the big mission of the series, and that was the just disappointing of all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 26, 2019
If you ever need an example of what a series looks like when it runs out of gas and sputters and dies, this book exemplifies that scenario. I came away mostly disappointed.
Essentially, the book details the lives of two groups of people. They arrived on Earth hoping they could help their onboard computer correct its programming. The group split in two shortly after their arrival. As book five opens, they have been on earth for something close to five centuries. The people discovered two other sentient species on the planet. One of those species lives in the sky; the other lives below ground. They are referred to as angels and diggers.
This is basically a kind of plot-disabled meander of a rambling book that depicts the prejudices and struggles of these groups of people. I had real hopes for this; there are plenty of places it could have gone. It just feels like maybe the book was running on fumes for most of it.
Essentially, the book details the lives of two groups of people. They arrived on Earth hoping they could help their onboard computer correct its programming. The group split in two shortly after their arrival. As book five opens, they have been on earth for something close to five centuries. The people discovered two other sentient species on the planet. One of those species lives in the sky; the other lives below ground. They are referred to as angels and diggers.
This is basically a kind of plot-disabled meander of a rambling book that depicts the prejudices and struggles of these groups of people. I had real hopes for this; there are plenty of places it could have gone. It just feels like maybe the book was running on fumes for most of it.
October 31, 2024
Okay, I have such mixed feelings about this one.
The first 3/4 was the strongest part of the entire series; I liked the new characters in this book more than the characters from the previous four (Edhadeya, Mon, Akma, and Shedemei who was one of my favs returns) & found the plot to be more compelling as well. And then... the last 1/4 of the book was just, Akma gets hit by a bolt of lightning from God and instantly repents and becomes Good, characters argue about why to believe in God, God's nature or powers are never explained, everyone gets married after one convo hurray. What the fuck? All the character development and worldbuilding just builds and builds but there's no catharsis bc OSC just decided to write an extended monologue about his thoughts about religion instead of writing an ending to this book. I especially felt blue balled by the lack of a redemption arc for Akma.
The first 3/4 was the strongest part of the entire series; I liked the new characters in this book more than the characters from the previous four (Edhadeya, Mon, Akma, and Shedemei who was one of my favs returns) & found the plot to be more compelling as well. And then... the last 1/4 of the book was just, Akma gets hit by a bolt of lightning from God and instantly repents and becomes Good, characters argue about why to believe in God, God's nature or powers are never explained, everyone gets married after one convo hurray. What the fuck? All the character development and worldbuilding just builds and builds but there's no catharsis bc OSC just decided to write an extended monologue about his thoughts about religion instead of writing an ending to this book. I especially felt blue balled by the lack of a redemption arc for Akma.
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