Features
- Cover Type: Mass Market Paperback with 332 pages
- Published by: Tor Science Fiction; 5th THUS edition January 15, 1993
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0812532597
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0812532593
-
Book Dimensions:
6.7 x 3.9 x 1 inches
- Weighs: 0.5 ounces
From Kirkus Reviews
First of a five-book series from the author of Xenocide, the Alvin Maker tales, etc. Planet Harmony, settled forty million years ago following the destruction of Earth, is overseen by the Oversoul, an intelligent computer able to communicate telepathically with certain of the inhabitants. Set up to prevent war and ensure the colony's survival, the Oversoul is now breaking down, and for repairs must journey to Earth (where, the Oversoul theorizes, a new civilization surely will have arisen by now). Needing help from Harmony, the Oversoul first contacts young student Nafai of the matriarchal city Basilica, hoping to persuade him and others of his family to secure the Index--an ancient machine that will enable the Oversoul to talk directly with everyone. A major complication is that as the Oversoul decays, the mental blocks it implanted in Harmony's people eons ago to prevent war are also breaking down; and soon the women of Basilica find themselves trapped in a power struggle between two hostile male armies. Where Card focuses on children--as he often does here--he writes fluently and persuasively. Elsewhere, his adult characters and motivations are much less appealing. Neither is the ancient- computer backdrop, with its far-fetched Earth connection, particularly convincing. All in all, an uneven and irritatingly inconclusive starter. --
Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
Though I'm not Mormon, I've read the Book of Mormon quite a bit. Reading this book I was startled by parallels to the Book of Mormon narrative in 1st Nephi. By chapter ten the copying from that 19th century religious work was so overt I couldn't wait to finish it to write this review. Oh my gosh! IT IS EXACTLY LIKE LEHI and family leaving Jerusalem. They head out to live in tents. The two older brothers are skeptical, critical and antagonistic. The father names a river and a valley after those two, and the son Nafai (looks like "Nephi" to me!) receives a great number of visions from the "Oversoul." What stopped me cold was when, as I expected, the father sent the sons back to town to get historical documents of the family. This is JUST LIKE the Book of Mormon account. I'm not sure I can say whether the story itself is good or not, as I find the fundamental plotline being identical to the Book of Mormon to be terribly destracting. Someone who's never read the Book of Mormon and (especially) has no opinion about it would surely write a fairer review. It is disappointing to see such a lack of originality in an author. Tracy Hickman admits to involving elements of his Mormon faith in the original Dragonance series, but in that context it was minimal, made sense and did not constitute a wholesale copying of another work.
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