Wyrms

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Emily Janice Card

Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

The sphere is alien in origin, but has been controlled by Man for millennia. A legend as old as the stars rules this constructed world: when the seventh seventh seventh human Heptarch is crowned, he will be the Kristos and will bring eternal salvation...or the destruction of the cosmos.

Patience is the only daughter of the rightful Heptarch, but she, like her father before her, serves the usurper who has destroyed her family. For she has learned the true ruler's honor: that duty to one's race is more important than duty to one's self. But the time for prudence has passed, and that which has slept for ages has awakened. Patience must journey to the heartsoul of this planet to confront her destiny...and her world's.

Wyrms is an Orson Scott Card classic, one of the novels that helped forge his young career.

©1987 Orson Scott Card (P)2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Another outstanding science fiction novel from the prize-winning author of Ender's Game....This is a fast-moving, absorbing story." ( School Library Journal)
"A wonderful, textured fable." ( Publishers Weekly)

Orson scott card

loved this book, great performance, great story. well written and worth the listen. very entertaining

not ender .-ha ha

this book really set my love for OSC . I know we all love ender but iv heard enough of his life . and I left osc because of that . but I came back to one of his books and love the fact the storys have nothing in common and yet I can feel his writing style. I'm happy I read it

A surprise

What a great book. I’m going to have to go back and listen to this one again.

Please note that in the final chapter the author speaks about a different book and his family, rest assured he does get to Wyrms.

Compelling

This is one of the most compelling stories I have encountered. There are portions that dragged and a few I simply did not like. Nonetheless, the story is absolutely compelling. I will listen to "Wyrms" again as I feel Card handled the themes of trust, forgiveness, unity, and leadership so well.

loved O.S.Card's narative

the story was very enjoyable. I really loved hearing his narrative at the end explaining his thought processes when writing g the story.

Futuristic Story with a Medieval Vibe

It's an interesting take on a science-fiction plot. It felt much like a fantasy in many ways. Though taking place far in the future and leaving Earth behind as we explore the stars - the world feels like it ended up being in the Middle Ages due to historical struggles. The plot and characters were more enjoyable and engaging than I thought it'd be. Give it a try!

Feel bad for not giving a good review

I didn't hate it, it's a good story, and I hate to be one of those "it's not ender's game" people (though in my defense, I do like other OSC books than ender's game). For me, the pacing was a little slow for the type of story it was, and the characters weren't that engaging. I do agree it would probably work better as a movie, and would love to see an adaptation (except maybe for some scenes).

Slow and steady

It’s a well written story in many ways but it has a very heavy religious undertone that might not be to everyone’s taste.
I felt that the book was too long and that all the wyrm communications and the main characters inner dialog etc was way too long and everyone seemed to have the same moral compass. More or less.
It could have been cut by 2-3 hours and I’d have preferred a lot less kumbaya and religious fervor but it’s still not a bad story. I just found the prose a bit “holy” or even a bit “see how good we are” and “this is what you should strive to be” and so felt I was being preached to. I much prefer that stories show us basic morals and ethics rather than all the religious mumbo jumbo unless it has its place; character development or occupation, plot twist and so forth. Here I felt it was the backbone of the story.
I do agree with most of the morals of the story but I still found it delivered with a heavy hand. No subtleties ;-)
The performance was better than the story in my opinion.
Hope you found this helpful.

Good story

I read all the Ender books and loved them. Since then I have been looking for others like them. Haven’t found one yet. I have read several others by Mr. Card but none of them come close.

Wyrms is a good book and it was worth the time it took to read it. It is about a group that came from earth 7000 years ago. The culture change back to midevil. The native ‘people’ merge with the humans. These people are planning to take their world back.

Interesting but had some disturbing parts

Okay what I find disturbing may not bother others. The story is interesting and unique in many ways. The heroine is not someone I could easily like because of her assassin nature. In the end I wasn’t really rooting for anyone. So I would not read/listen to any continuation of this storyline.