Pathfinder

Pathfinder, Book 1

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Kirby Heyborne, Don Leslie, Kristoffer Tabori, Scott Brick

Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Rigg is well trained at keeping secrets. Only his father knows the truth about Rigg’s strange talent for seeing the paths of people’s pasts. But when his father dies, Rigg is stunned to learn just how many secrets Father had kept from him - secrets about Rigg’s own past, his identity, and his destiny. And when Rigg discovers that he has the power not only to see the past, but also to change it, his future suddenly becomes anything but certain.

Rigg’s birthright sets him on a path that leaves him caught between two factions, one that wants him crowned and one that wants him dead. He will be forced to question everything he thinks he knows, choose who to trust, and push the limits of his talent... or forfeit control of his destiny.

©2010 Orson Scott Card (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The implications of the boys' power to manipulate the past unfold cleverly…, feeding into the Machiavellian political intrigue for a pulse-pounding climax….Card's many fans will be thrilled by this return to his literary roots.” ( Kirkus)

I usually am a fan. but this one not for me.

OSC said he was working on something different, so I give him credit for that. I just never really connected with this one and the ending left me flat.

Great Story.....Crazy Narration

OSC!!!....STOP SWITCHING NARRATORS!

You're making me nuts....or nuttier.... You start with Stefan Rudnicki who defines brilliantly the characters and their voices...the kids, the adults, then .....you get a new chapter....all of a sudden, the voices change....Now The Adult "Loaf", sounds younger than the 13 year old. Its ridiculous. It also disrupts the flow big time. Not the first OSC book to do this. It's like Stefan called in sick that day, so they just let whoever was around do a few chapters. Nuts. Different narrators for the second parallel story would be fine...just not for the same characters!!!

So Great Story....Disruptive narration....

I'm exhausted....

A lot to recommend

There was a great deal to like about this book. I liked the references to biology/evolution and physics/time-travel. Anytime one deals with time-travel there is always the inevitable "paradox" to deal with. While an important and necessary commentary, sometimes Card seems to overdo it with dialogues on the paradoxes.

In the production, I did not care for the use and switching of multiple narrators for the same characters. That makes no sense whatsoever and must have had something to do with the audio production itself. All of the narrators were very good but the lack of consistency was distracting and detracted from the work.

I have wanted to read Card before this book. I have been very tempted to begin the Ender series on many occasions but hesitated because so much seemed to revolve around children. Personally, I have raised 7 children and, while a wonderful experience, I am ready and have moved on to more adult dialogues. The childish conversations in the book and the way they were narrated sometimes seemed a bit contrived and unsatisfying. It was one of the main reasons I gave up on the Wheel of Time after about 4 of the books.

The plot and character development were excellent. The hero, while young, was quite multidimensional [no pun]. Not a great deal but probably sufficient time was spent describing the scenes. The politics were simply Machiavellian and not much variety or alternatives there.

The melding of past and present, medieval and futuristic is excellent. The confluence and reconciliation of these in the end is beautifully done. And, while Card gives the reader a quite satisfactory and satisfying ending, enough is left unfinished to warrant a Part 2. And I am very much looking forward to the continuation. After Part 2 I'll reconsider Ender.

I love Card, but this one is just pretty good.

I fell in love with Card 20 years ago, like many after reading the Ender Series.

I really liked the way this story is broken into two parts with a quick glimpse of the back story at the beginning of each chapter, and overall it is an interesting world, and a interesting plot. I did enjoy the overall story and wanted to see how it came out, but the book get tedious in places. We are given the thought processes of everyone, reasoning out everything, at each new tiny step. In fact I think about half the novel was someone thinking about the possible motivation of others and the consequences of their actions. Card seemed to include all the stuff an author normally figures out, but doesn't usually actually put in the book. After a while I was begging them to get on with the plot. If the characters are acting in a realist, believable way, then you don’t have to include their entire thought process.

Mild spoiler: I know Card wanted to play around with a different version of time travel than most authors, he says so himself in the closing notes. I found it hard to believe someone of this of this pseudo pre-industrial society would sit around talking about the implications of time travel. They would probably just do it and see what happens.

I'll probably listen to the next book in the series, but I may wait a while.

Quality of readers uneven

Would you listen to Pathfinder again? Why?

I would not listen again any time soon, because I want to get on to other books in the series.

What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?

Most of the narrators are good, but there is one of them who forgets to drop the character's voice when he says "said [character]" and it is very annoying. Same narrator also tries to sound like a cheesy pirate or something, and it just doesn't work. It would be better if this book were narrated by one person all the way through.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I'm not sure about "moved", but there were several that were very interesting, particularly in the conversations between Ram and the Expendable.

Took over ten hours to get to Scott Brick

For people who like Sci Fi and Orson Scott Card, this one isn't too bad. I'll probably continue the series for the simple avoidance of the nagging I would experience by not knowing what has happened to these characters.

However I started this book for one reason alone, Scott Brick. And it took over ten hours to get to him and I have a sneaky suspicion that it's going to be a short visit.

Would I recommend this book? Only if you like the author and the genre. People just starting out? Read Ender's Game first. Better to wade into the water vs throwing yourself into the deep end.

Eh, Not My Favorite Card Book

I felt this book was fairly slow moving, without any reason to be slow moving. Once Card got around to giving you the information at about halfway through the book the rest became immediately obvious. This made it a bit of slog to get through the rest.

The individual readers were good but the constant switching I found to be a distraction.

There are some interesting ideas about time travel. The characters diverge from some of the standard archetypes which was refreshing and depending on how the later books are reviewed I may try the next book.

If you're looking for an Orson Scott Card book, try Ender's Game or Empire first.

Was this supposed to be a Young Adult book?

I liked the beginning of this book, but it became apparent within an hour that it is written from the perspective of the youngster protagonist. Early in the book he manages to intimidate his elders by demonstrating skills and knowledge that are very unlikely to be held by one so young. This unrealistic situation undoubtedly appeals to younger readers, but I like a bit more realism in my fantasy.

I can suspend disbelief enough to accept the superpowers in stories like these, but I do expect the people to act and react in rational ways. This isn't the case with this book. I gave up after about an hour.

Still, I expect that younger readers would very much enjoy this book, hence three stars.

One of Orson Scott Card Best

Highly Enjoyable. Although it gets a little complicated, towards the end, if you are patient you will enjoy it. I’ve listen and read this one a couple of times.

Let's Play Hot potato Mic!!

Would you consider the audio edition of Pathfinder to be better than the print version?

No. I love audio books but this was ridiculous. I've heard audiobooks where multiple people narrated for different voices. but each person narrated the same person at one point or another.

What other book might you compare Pathfinder to and why?

The closest I can think of right now is Bourne Identity. At the story's start both main characters have skill sets that they believe they shouldn't have and are sent on a journey to discover more about their own history.I believe the storytelling method to be similar to Ender's game though. I believe that Orson Scott Card likes to tell two stories at once so it will switch between multiple main storylines.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Which one? There was one point at which I thought the current narrator was trying to portray a character as a vampire.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did, but if I was to listen to another book that jumps narrators I'd step away each time the narrator changes so I don't get confused when the character voices change.