Pathfinder: Pathfinder, Book 1

First things first: this book is being marketed as a young adult fantasy novel. It is no such thing, though I see no reason why any young adult would not enjoy the book. PATHFINDER is science fiction, though at first glance it does appear to be a fantasy story. Orson Scott Card has a dual mastery of both the science fiction and fantasy genres--few authors can bring worlds to life like Card can, and it speaks to his strength as a storyteller that through the very different mechanics of worldbuilding in the two genres, he never struggles. You will find all the things in this novel that you find in many of Card's best books: a prodigy of a child hero, Rigg, too smart for his age; political intrigue with Rigg in the thick of it; heavy theoretical and philosophical conversations between characters, etc. The conversations in PATHFINDER often deal with the nature of time travel as it is possible in the realm of the story. Indeed, if the Shadow series was Card's political science series, the Ender series his first contact saga, or the Alvin Maker series his fantastic alternate history series, then this book begins his "time travel" series.And boy does Card do time travel well. Slow to start, the world of this book envelopes you through its 600-some odd pages. I finished it three days ago, and my first reaction was, "Well, that wasn't Card's best work. But not a bad story at all." My brain has not left the wallfold, however, and my imagination continues to be captivated by the story of PATHFINDER. I absolutely cannot wait for the rest of this series to be released. It has been a very long time since I have been as excited about new work from Mr. Card as I am for the continuation of this series. PATHFINDER will grow on you, if you do not fall in love with it immediately.Rigg, the main character of the story, is told by his father that there is "a perfectly logical explanation" for why he is able to see the paths of people's pasts. The story also follows other extraordinary human beings who have come to exist on the planet Garden, whose origins we discover with brief side-stories chapter by chapter in typical Card fashion. There is Umbo, who can speed up the perception and clarity of mind of anyone around him. When he does this to Rigg, it enables Rigg to pick out an individual path from the past until it becomes real to him, making the two boys able to change the past with their combined abilities. While they are the two focal points of the story, they are not the only special people in the world. There is a woman who can divert attention with a little "spell," and other characters with unnatural resistances to horror and mental pain that serves them well throughout the story. Rigg's sister, too, has perhaps a power more important than any others combined.These are the elements of the story that make it seem like fantasy. A few of the powers, however, are explained through the course of the book as having a purely scientific origin, albeit a theoretical one. To be fair, I should not call the book pure science fiction. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it is theoretical physics fiction. Nothing in the book is ever explained off as magic, and the future books in the series can only flesh out the world in a more scientific, grounded way.I say that it is no more a young adult novel than any of Card's other books because, simply, it is a very intelligent book. PATHFINDER is not heavy on action. Like many of Card's best books, it is the intrigue and mysteries of the plot that keep the reader going. The thoughts and conversations of the characters drive the story, and that is not typical of young adult books, which tend to be plot-driven instead of idea-driven like this story.Perhaps it is the promise of the series as a whole, and not the individual merits of this first book, that has me most excited. Either way, I regret no part of reading PATHFINDER. If the remaining books in the trilogy (which are scheduled to be released sometime in 2011 and 2012 respectively) are up to par, this promises to be one of Card's best works. Orson Scott Card fans, don't miss out; if you are new to him, this isn't a bad place to start, though elements of this story have been done better in some of Card's other works.

I think of Card as a science fiction writer primarily, but he writes fantasy stories very well. Pathfinder is listed as a Young Adults book. Three of the main protagonists are kids aged 13 to 16, and the writing reminded me of Stephen King.There are many flaws with this book, but several overarching facts made me love and savor it. First, I can't get enough time travel books and Pathfinder is, above all, a story where time travel contributes to the plot in a major way.Second, I really like "ark" stories, where humans leave Earth for whatever reason in a one-way spaceship on a mission to colonize another world. Most of such stories focus on the building of the ark, the departure, and sometimes the trip itself. I have found myself yearning for an ark story that continues when the ark actually arrives at its destination, be it after a few years of travel including hyperspace jumps, or after generations of ship-bound human evolution.Pathfinder describes the journey of the ark, albeit in an abbreviated and not well-developed format, and also focuses on what happens when a ship arrives at a target planet and colonizes it.I will be careful not to place spoilers into my discussion here, but Card describes a human society that has developed after an interstellar trip on an alien and terra-formed world over a period of 12,000 years. Of course, the people have no memory of where they came from. There are religions and legends that developed.Human "modern" history starts about 5,000 years ago, when writing was first developed and the first permanent monuments were built. For us on Earth, 2,000 year old events , say the Roman times, seem truly ancient history. But then, the pyramids were already 2,500 years old when the A.D. calendar started, ancient even then. 12,000 years is truly a long time for human society development and history.We meet the main characters dealing with complications in their society after 12,000 years of isolated human society on an alien planet. Card gets us into the heads of the kids and their adult companions. The kids have "gifts" which allow them to manipulate space-time in unexpected ways. This brings the fantasy part into the story.Card is not a strong hard science fiction writer. He does some hard science fiction here, but he does not do it convincingly. He discusses issues of terraforming a planet, but he glosses over so many details that it does not seem credible. Similarly, he describes a hyper-space jump of the ship, touching on hard science fiction concepts, but leaving them unresolved. But neither bothered me much. I just wanted the story to move on, and I suspect that's what Card had in mind. He wanted to move along the plot, give the reader just enough background to figure out what was going on, but he wanted to focus on the time travel aspects of the plot.That, too, is acceptable. There was just one problem: In the acknowledgement section, which read like an afterword, he actually finds a need to describe the science once more to inform the reader of what actually happened. This tells me that Card himself realized that he didn't do an adequate job telling the story in the first place.Finally, the ending was a non-ending. Card just stopped writing. Clearly there is a sequel coming, because otherwise there would be too many questions unresolved. Of course, Card makes this statement about Pathfinder in his blog:It's the first volume of a saga about a young man, Rigg, who discovers that he and his friend Umbo have the power to fiddle with time. He also learns that he's a member of the royal family, carried off as a baby and raised in a remote forest.Overall, Pathfinder was a gripping work. I would not classify it as a Young Adults book. It's classic science fiction / fantasy. It's classic Orson Scott Card.

This is a great read and a real return to form for Orson Scott Card. The style is simple and doesn't get in the way of the story, which drags you forward relentlessly and makes you want to know what happens to the small group that develops as a unit throughout this book.Card returns to familiar territory - of "wunderkinds" and mankind's journey to the stars, from the "Ender" series; as well as the small, rural communities joined by uncanny powers, like in the Alvin Maker novels. There are other echoes of previous books and stories of companions overcoming the odds.However, what marks this book out as different is the concentration on time travel and its inherent paradoxes. This book explores all the mind-bending consequences of time and changing either the past or the future. You are made to think about all the possibilities and Card embraces paradoxes rather than trying to avoid them and cancel them out.So, what starts out as a simple tale, simply told - ends up exploring ideas that are quite difficult to grasp and looks at the consequences of decisions splitting timelines and actually creating alternative versions of people, who exist simultaneously.Of course this is the first of a trilogy and this part is not the end - but it does come to a satisfying conclusion and all the questions set up, are answered. We are not left with a cliffhanger, but rather an enticing prospect of discovering more about the world that humanity ends up colonising.Classic Sci-Fi with believable, if somewhat familar characters and interesting ideas and worlds to explore. Highly recommended.

The split, converging storyline was a little different and the definition of the characters and the banter between them was enjoyable, however the time related activities gave me a headache and I had to put the book down and get more coffee. I have definitely read more absorbing books from Charles, ones I have not been able to put down and so read much more quickly. I will probably read the next one because I want to see how the story develops but I wont rush.

been for the time-travelling. This phenomenon & the mechanics of causality surrounding it, require continual explanation in order that the story makes sense. So much so that the book is rendered tedious & labourious.

A boy that can see the paths of any living thing that has moved and a man on a journey to settle a new colony on another planet.At the beginning of the book, these two parallel stories that seem to have nothing to do with each other. As the book progresses the story becomes clearer and the detailed world which Scott Orson Wells has created is unceasingly fascinating.A great read in a fascinating world that is the great start to a trilogy.

I enjoyed this. An interesting hypothesis and good characters. Hopefully the rest of the books in the trilogy are as good.