Orson Scott Card's Red Prophet
Two weeks ago I read Orson Scott Card's Red Propeth book, the second on his Tales of Alvin Maker series. At the beginning of November I by coincidence bought a Nova Science Fiction Collection Package which included The Crystal City, the sixth book in this series -- and by coincidence I mean I didn't notice one of the books was by Orson Scott Card until I was at home.
I already owned the first book, The Seventh Son, and didn't thought much of it when reading it in ... December, I think. To be honest, I found the Ender Saga more interesting, so I read another book of my newly aqcuired Nova Package first; it was the last one of Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, by the way. But then I went to the book store, looking for a new book for my nephew, and noticed that among their newly arrived books they had the second, third and fourth books in the Alvin Maker series. So I decided to give it a chance and got me the second one.
Now, this is why I enjoy Card's work so much -- not only the great plots he creates, but also due to the fact that he writes multiple POVs masterfully, and Red Prophet just shows it. I read the first chapter and identified with the POV's character so much ... just to read the next chapter and identified with this second POV's character -- despite the fact that both characters were enemies, and they saw the world in such different ways. And it kept happening all over the book, which is whoa.
The thing is, Card does an amazing work hiding relevant and (seemingly and truly) irrelevant information from the reader, making it show up instead not at soon as possible, but exactly at what seems the perfect moment. Reading this book made me want to return to the first one because, hey, maybe I didn't read it in the right mood. But I went back to the book store first, and got myself the third book, Prentice Alvin. And oh, boy.
Card still does this thing with the POVs that enoyed so much, but the book was ... unsatisfying, if you get what I mean. I'm thinking that maybe I don't like Alvin, the leading character, because he had but a small part in the second book, while he was more important in the first and third ones -- exactly the ones I didn't enjoy so much. But it is more than that, although I can't explain it clearly. It doesn't helps that the plot feels rushed, particularly in the end. I wonder if it is because Alvin is an adult in this story; maybe it is that I enjoyed him more as a child? Maybe it was having hystorical names in book two what pulled me in (Napoleon! Guillotin!), I don't know.
Prentice Alvin is a much more adult book, but that never has bothered me before. I feel, instead, that it almost is as if Orson Scott Card didn't enjoy writing it as much as he did with the one before. Red Prophet is amazing in part because it shows most of the first book's plot from many other characters POVs, so the reader can discover what was going on and wasn't being said in the original story. Something like what Ender's Shadow was to Ender's Game.
Could it be that rewritings are a weakness of me? I don't know. But I just finished book three, and am not going to read book six without first delving in the two in-between. So I guess I'll be visiting the book store tomorrow, to buy number four. I hope they get number five soon, because it is a bitch to have a shiny new book around and not being able to read it (I know, it happened to me with the Dune series). I also need more space for my books collection, now that I think about it.
--
*The Nova Science Fiction is the most famous Spanish language sci-fi collection; it is from Spain, so most times the books are hard to get in Latin America. One of my dreams is to own the complete Collection, but it is not an easy task.
I already owned the first book, The Seventh Son, and didn't thought much of it when reading it in ... December, I think. To be honest, I found the Ender Saga more interesting, so I read another book of my newly aqcuired Nova Package first; it was the last one of Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, by the way. But then I went to the book store, looking for a new book for my nephew, and noticed that among their newly arrived books they had the second, third and fourth books in the Alvin Maker series. So I decided to give it a chance and got me the second one.
Now, this is why I enjoy Card's work so much -- not only the great plots he creates, but also due to the fact that he writes multiple POVs masterfully, and Red Prophet just shows it. I read the first chapter and identified with the POV's character so much ... just to read the next chapter and identified with this second POV's character -- despite the fact that both characters were enemies, and they saw the world in such different ways. And it kept happening all over the book, which is whoa.
The thing is, Card does an amazing work hiding relevant and (seemingly and truly) irrelevant information from the reader, making it show up instead not at soon as possible, but exactly at what seems the perfect moment. Reading this book made me want to return to the first one because, hey, maybe I didn't read it in the right mood. But I went back to the book store first, and got myself the third book, Prentice Alvin. And oh, boy.
Card still does this thing with the POVs that enoyed so much, but the book was ... unsatisfying, if you get what I mean. I'm thinking that maybe I don't like Alvin, the leading character, because he had but a small part in the second book, while he was more important in the first and third ones -- exactly the ones I didn't enjoy so much. But it is more than that, although I can't explain it clearly. It doesn't helps that the plot feels rushed, particularly in the end. I wonder if it is because Alvin is an adult in this story; maybe it is that I enjoyed him more as a child? Maybe it was having hystorical names in book two what pulled me in (Napoleon! Guillotin!), I don't know.
Prentice Alvin is a much more adult book, but that never has bothered me before. I feel, instead, that it almost is as if Orson Scott Card didn't enjoy writing it as much as he did with the one before. Red Prophet is amazing in part because it shows most of the first book's plot from many other characters POVs, so the reader can discover what was going on and wasn't being said in the original story. Something like what Ender's Shadow was to Ender's Game.
Could it be that rewritings are a weakness of me? I don't know. But I just finished book three, and am not going to read book six without first delving in the two in-between. So I guess I'll be visiting the book store tomorrow, to buy number four. I hope they get number five soon, because it is a bitch to have a shiny new book around and not being able to read it (I know, it happened to me with the Dune series). I also need more space for my books collection, now that I think about it.
--
*The Nova Science Fiction is the most famous Spanish language sci-fi collection; it is from Spain, so most times the books are hard to get in Latin America. One of my dreams is to own the complete Collection, but it is not an easy task.