“My dream was madness, “she said. “My dream had no truth in it”.
“The dreamer does not know,” – he replied…
[O.S.Card. Pastwatch]
So…as ”some” might’ve guessed, I’ve finished reading Card’s Pastwatch. :-p ...what can I say? I’m not here to write a review on the book, but I think, I can find "few" words to say. In general, this is typical Card’s novel. Maybe slightly more history then it might’ve had. But apart from that annoying Columbus guy, pulling over to himself all the attention of a reader, the rest was in true Orson Card’s style: a lonely hero on a mission of saving humanity. Well, in this case there were three heroes and they saved not just humanity, but the Earth too. In a very ecological sense. At one moment I thought I’m reading the leaflet of the Greenpeace – almost your classical slogans “save the planet” and “stop the Global warming”.
Of course, the main concept of the book was completely different – the idea that you can travel into the past and change the future. (and don’t we all dream of this?!) Surprisingly, I didn’t pick any personal preferences among the characters of the book. Each of them individually looked kind of “incomplete” to me. I mean, after Andrew Wiggins from the Ender series who else can ever compete for the Perfect title anyway?! I’m absolutely convinced now that Orson Scott Card is the “Author of One Novel” And by “one novel” I mean – three main books of Ender’s. Any other book of Card, that I’ve happened to read so far, has been not a time waster, yet not a masterpiece either. You know the kind, yes?
There were few beautiful ideas in Pastwatch, that are very much “Card’s style”. As in the many of his books, there is always that “unbearable load” of holding future of Many in the hands of the One. OK, this is what most of any other fiction stories are about too. But Card somehow pictures that so very colourful, almost “chill to the spine”. The heroes should essentially get through all the most bloodcurdling torments of second thinking, hesitation, and uncertainty, if they’re doing the right thing. But in the end (that’s where Card is the best!) they will get all done in the most and only perfect way possible. “If we are going to be gods, then …we have a duty to come up with better solutions then the people who pray to us” [Tagiri, Pastwatch]
Ta-Da! Happy ending! Oh yeah, the ending of the story itself wasn’t really a “happy ending” to me. And I mean that once again, as with his all Ender’s books, Card neglects the ending. I’m not amused. Seriously. The plot of the story has been written very thoroughly, over 200-300 pages, with all the attention to the tiniest details, then – opsss…”all is well now”, the danger is over, good bye. So last short chapter of about 10-20 pages would describe everything, what happens in the rest of their lives. For all the characters. In one short chapter. This annoys me a little, as after being spoilt for the rich story, the ending feels like stepchild, in whom the author has lost all his interest even before he’s been born.
I honestly didn’t intend to write so much, but it just happened…you know like in Master Will’s: “Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak” ["As You Like It"]…Might be one of those “post-Card’s effects”, eh? ;-)
“The dreamer does not know,” – he replied…
[O.S.Card. Pastwatch]
So…as ”some” might’ve guessed, I’ve finished reading Card’s Pastwatch. :-p ...what can I say? I’m not here to write a review on the book, but I think, I can find "few" words to say. In general, this is typical Card’s novel. Maybe slightly more history then it might’ve had. But apart from that annoying Columbus guy, pulling over to himself all the attention of a reader, the rest was in true Orson Card’s style: a lonely hero on a mission of saving humanity. Well, in this case there were three heroes and they saved not just humanity, but the Earth too. In a very ecological sense. At one moment I thought I’m reading the leaflet of the Greenpeace – almost your classical slogans “save the planet” and “stop the Global warming”.
Of course, the main concept of the book was completely different – the idea that you can travel into the past and change the future. (and don’t we all dream of this?!) Surprisingly, I didn’t pick any personal preferences among the characters of the book. Each of them individually looked kind of “incomplete” to me. I mean, after Andrew Wiggins from the Ender series who else can ever compete for the Perfect title anyway?! I’m absolutely convinced now that Orson Scott Card is the “Author of One Novel” And by “one novel” I mean – three main books of Ender’s. Any other book of Card, that I’ve happened to read so far, has been not a time waster, yet not a masterpiece either. You know the kind, yes?
There were few beautiful ideas in Pastwatch, that are very much “Card’s style”. As in the many of his books, there is always that “unbearable load” of holding future of Many in the hands of the One. OK, this is what most of any other fiction stories are about too. But Card somehow pictures that so very colourful, almost “chill to the spine”. The heroes should essentially get through all the most bloodcurdling torments of second thinking, hesitation, and uncertainty, if they’re doing the right thing. But in the end (that’s where Card is the best!) they will get all done in the most and only perfect way possible. “If we are going to be gods, then …we have a duty to come up with better solutions then the people who pray to us” [Tagiri, Pastwatch]
Ta-Da! Happy ending! Oh yeah, the ending of the story itself wasn’t really a “happy ending” to me. And I mean that once again, as with his all Ender’s books, Card neglects the ending. I’m not amused. Seriously. The plot of the story has been written very thoroughly, over 200-300 pages, with all the attention to the tiniest details, then – opsss…”all is well now”, the danger is over, good bye. So last short chapter of about 10-20 pages would describe everything, what happens in the rest of their lives. For all the characters. In one short chapter. This annoys me a little, as after being spoilt for the rich story, the ending feels like stepchild, in whom the author has lost all his interest even before he’s been born.
I honestly didn’t intend to write so much, but it just happened…you know like in Master Will’s: “Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak” ["As You Like It"]…Might be one of those “post-Card’s effects”, eh? ;-)