Pathfinder (Pathfinder Book #1)

Another Orson Scott Card book. Ah, the wonder. Because of the Ender's Game series, I am a major fan of his books. Because of that series, I have begun to love the amazing world of science fiction where almost anything one can dream of is possible. Since reading Ender's Game, I've been reading much more science fiction than I ever cared to do in the past.

Once again a result of my endless time surfing through the library books. I have to say that even though it's a highly inefficient method of finding interesting books, it works nearly 85% of the time.

The cover-

Rigg can see the paths of the people around him. Like little colored areas in front of him, he can trace how a person traveled from place to place. Even animals have their own paths which he can see and use.
After a big misunderstanding between a friend over the death of a loved one, two unlikely companions find themselves on a journey to the ancient city of Aressa Sessamo to find Rigg's sister and secure the throne for him.
However things are not as simple as they seem. The city is divided into those who want Rigg to rule and those who want him dead. In fact, when his great grandmother Aptica Sessaminka was queen, she wanted every male member of the Sessamoto family killed. Even when little babies were born, they were slaughtered for the crime of being male. In this new place in a foreign city, Rigg must not trust anyone, being supported by those who want him crowned and constantly hunted by those who want him dead.
Life just becomes a battle to survive to see the next day for him as he thwarts the queen's evil plans and saves his sister to regroup with his true allies, an inkeeper named Loaf and a boy named Umbo who can shift time. The four of them, aided by a scholar who personally knew Rigg's father try to escape their only home before the queen and her Army commander get to them first.

My thoughts-

It's an extremely long book and a thing that should be read in chunks. Obviously the size shows that reading it will take a while. It took me about two and a half weeks. I often wonder how long it took to write a book like that.

The beginning is a little boring and the first two hundred or so pages seem to drag on forever. What really made it so slow was Umbo's initial mistrust for Rigg after seeing him "kill" his younger brother Kyokay. Rigg tries to reason with him multiple times that Kyokay's death was bound to happen. That boy was so adventurous that eventually it was going to kill him. It was as simple as that. But Umbo insisted that Rigg murdered him, leading a mob with his father Tegay to storm down the door to Rigg's house so he could be killed.
After this, it takes a while for them to form a bond that could be considered friendship. When the fighting in the beginning is over, the plot is very speculative and one can finally realize what makes up a society and what can so easily tear it into pieces. I like how both Rigg and Olivenko keep making good points with Param always confused and Loaf and Umbo bickering all the time. It added a bit of humor to the rather serious plot and the real danger they were being put in.
To me, Rigg and Olivenko show that the brightest of scholars can come from the most unusual of places. Param shows that the status that someone was born into does not necessarily secure a comfortable life. Loaf and Umbo show that even those who work for their bread can achieve as high of a status as the royals in their opinions.

The first book is sort of a lead-in to the rest of the series, and now looking back and trying to explain it, it's impossible without giving the end away. But as something to look for that I really enjoyed, all the answers to the questions are given right at the end of the book. Soon they figure everything out and can continue with their quest.
What seems right by the theories the characters have come up with at the end of the first book seems completely nonsensical by the time their ideas change at the end of the second book. So nothing is ever clearly right or wrong. To put it in analogy, it's like a tunnel that forks into a left and right passageway. If they go one way, they will be eaten up by a monster and if they go the other way, they will get to go through the path to freedom. What's so interesting about this book is that, in case they pick the wrong turn and are faced with the monster, Rigg and Umbo can just pop their crew back in time so that they can try the other path and get out, leaving the previous version of themselves to be swallowed by the monster. Except they also have multiple rules to be followed, like how they must not their previous selves see them and other things.

Movie Rating- PG-13 for violence, brief bouts of strong language, some disturbing scenes

((I highly recommend reading the sequel. It  deepens the mystery even more, adding a new problem to the arsenal of them. Look for Ruins, book two in the Pathfinder series. And once that's finished, the third and final book, Visitors will end the story.))

Blackout

I'm very sorry for not updating often. I was on vacation for almost a month and school started a few weeks ago. I've been slammed with homework, but now that reading is part of my homework, I'll be able to finish more books and update more often. But I'll continue to post about books I've read in the past. And soon I'll be back to my computer at home and not this annoying tablet.

Yes. Earlier today I just sat down and finished the end in half an hour. Just wanted to get it out of the way. My cousin gave me some other suggestions for book reviews and I promised her that I would review them as soon as I could. Yeah. I got this one when I was at the library with a friend of mine. That's when I saw this one and checked it out.

Here's the cover-

It's prom day at Mount Pleasant high school. Everyone is in their best dress for the dancing. But for Audrey, this isn't what she wanted. The glory, the boyfriend, the dress and most of all, the popularity. It's just abnormal. Because before meeting Nicole, she was just Audrey the invisible. Audrey the impossible. However, this is the life she never had and had always wanted. But there's something strange going on. She can become invisible. Not really full out disappearing, but somehow she was able to convince people that she wasn't there and that they weren't seeing anything.
Jack doesn't really care what's going on. He's content cleaning up after the dance. All he wants is peace and quiet. Sitting on the roof of his car, drowning out the world, all is well with him. He couldn't care less about popularity. As long as he doesn't flunk school, that's all that matters.
A surprise attack by some wild boys makes the police come and take everyone away. It is determined that those who went wild were infected by a virus called the Erebus virus. The Erebus virus gives its victims incredible superpowers, but kills them slowly, making them eventually go insane and try to pass the virus on to others.
All the teenagers in the area are sent to military centers where they are tested for the Erebus virus. Somehow, Audrey comes out clean. She thinks someone has swapped out her results.
Jack comes out with the virus and is thrown into a cell, not knowing what will happen next. Will he be dissected, or straightaway executed.

Jack finds comfort in a fellow victim of the virus named Laura. She is able to destroy things instantly with her hands. Despite how strong she is, Laura seems to have a very kind heart and warms up to Jack. The pair become fast friends, finding comfort in talking to each other through the bars of their cells.
Audrey meets a boy named Alex whom she thinks she knew. He tells her that he was in her elementary school for fourth grade and then moved away soon after. In a room full of strange people, Audrey is happy that she was able to find one familiar face. But there's something screwy going on with him and she just can't figure out what.

The Erebus victims, also know as Lambdas are used as special military weapons used to catch terrorists. There have been multiple incidences that seem impossible to be made by humans. The military is forced to suspect that the Lambdas are behind it. The guess is that somehow the terrorists got mixed in with all the teenagers that were rounded up. And once they get the reason to, the world will be destroyed and all hell will rain upon them.

My thoughts-

It shaped my love for science fiction. Ender's Game started it and Blackout deepened it. It's a very thought provoking novel and I like how it's very unrealistic, but not too overboard. Sometimes when I read science fiction, the author makes the concept too overpowering and it doesn't even seem like the concept could be real at all. This book uses people that we can relate to and twists them beyond what our minds can do.
The idea is brilliant. It's very imaginative and I was forced to wonder, What would be done if something like this were to happen? It really seems like it could never happen, but you never know. It helps us brainstorm all the radical ways that terrorists will try to bring our world on its knees. Sometimes even genetically modifying themselves to have superpowers will be an option. This book faces the issue of whether our world is really safe. Or that safety is just an illusion created by people with the power to shut us up and keep us from wondering.

There is a prequel to this called Going Dark where the origin of the Erebus virus is explained. It is sadly not in my library and I'll have to either buy it or read it online. (At the rate I want to buy books, my room will turn into a library.) Also, another book by the same author is called Variant. It seems to be more popular than this one, so check it out. (I currently have it on request. Hopefully it comes soon.)