Ruins: Pathfinder, Book 2

I guess the characters and wanting to find out what happens with them after crossing through the wallfold.

Finding out what's in the other wallfolds, but unfortunately you only learn about a few of them. The least interesting thing was maybe some of the needless banter between the characters.

I really like Stefan Rudnicki's voice and characters. Kirby Heyborne and even Emily Janice Card did a good job. But having different chapters done by different narrators throws you off a bit - but not as much as in Pathfinder.

No, not really. It was okay, but at the same time kind of blah, and drawn out.

I'm invested now, so I will probably get the next book when it comes out. That's kind of funny actually. I didn't know this was a 3-book arc until the very end of this book, when I heard the music that only plays at the beginning and then the end. I was like, WHAT, that's the end. Then I realized that... oh, it's "to be continued".

Overall I thought it was way too long and drawn out for not much happening really. Then some things just didn't make since. I hate to give a spoiler, but at one point in the book they are ready to go to a different wallfold only to find thousands of people waiting excitedly for them on the other side, waving. They don't want to cross over into a mob of thousands even if they look friendly, so they travel back in time a few days before the mob arrives. But then they find that only two people are their liasons and NO ONE ELSE wants anything to do with them for years. That just didn't make since.

Don't get me wrong, It was entertaining, just a bit too much fluff and some plot issues in my opinion. Then also, the problem with any time-travel story where you can do it willy-nilly, you have to wonder why they don't use it more to fix things. They DO in many cases, but in others they don't and you have to wonder why not. OSC does a decent job explaining the why and why nots at times, but sometimes it just doesn't add up. Again, that's the issue with time-travel stories.

I enjoyed listening to the book, but there's lots of filler consisting of characters bickering that added nothing to the story and was actually painful at times. Real conflict is part of great story-telling, but filling pages with characters making the same old hackneyed jabs at each other is the author padding.

The positives of the book are a variety of interesting characters and a world of wonder and confusion where you don't know who, what, or when to trust. We have time travel, misbehaving human-like robots, dangerous computers, water-people, tree-people, perception-enhancing parasites, and mysterious mice. Somehow the novel combines a quest with the complexities of cold-wars and cast systems. This second book is much more ambitious than the first.

Are preemptive strikes justified? Where is the line between human and non-human drawn. How can you establish trust? Do the ends justify the means? In the end, our heroes find out just how difficult it can be to stop people from killing you when you don't even know why they want you dead. While the book has an exciting ending, it's hard to say whether the ending is a frustrating cliffhanger, or a reasonable tease for the next book in the series.

I'll start this by saying I'm a huge Card fan. Ender's Game is my favorite book, and I loved Pathfinder. I counted down the days until this was published, but now I'm left disappointed.

Card's usual depth and complexity are there in the story, and I cannot deny it isn't well written. But he significantly faulted, in my judgement anyways, by making the drama in this book all about the characters and their inabilities to trust each other.

A little bit of resentment towards each others is one thing, but there were whole chapters where the characters would argue or fight or just plain whine the whole time. It was distracting, removed me from the story, and even made me stop listening for chunks at a time. Honestly, it was so bad I wanted to slap the characters. It didn't really feel "real" considering what we'd known about them from the last book.

He's all set up for a climactic book three in which there will hopefully be real drama and conflict. This one felt forced, as though in order to justify a book two he forced out character drama that didn't need to exist and borderline overwhelmed the rest of the story.

I cannot wait for book three and I put my hopes on that one. This one felt as if half of it was unneeded, and downright annoying.

Jump right in.

Pathfinder

Everything. Classic Rudnicki

The book is great, but like many an OSC book in a series, there is absolutely no way you could follow this one and have a complete understanding of the story without reading the first book. As a reader, I get the distinct impression that OSC writes the story first, and then chops them up into separate books to make them more easily digestible. This one is no different; it begins as if you just sat the first book down to grab a drink and you're picking up where you left off. It's is great, but I I highly recommend listening to the the first book,or at least the last few chapters, to get a sense of the story first. It took me a while to remember all the details.At any rate, still great. Waiting for the next Mithermages series installment!

The first section consisted of kids bickering and Card indulging himself in time travel ridiculous conundrums. The bickering became so annoying I never finished the story and now I'm in a bad mood.

The story was good. The only cons are: The story is told in a series of conversations. And the ending is abrupt and unfinished. Other than that I liked it. I read the first one also. And I'll read the next.

I must warn you, this review will be biased. I am a huge OSC fan. That being said I loved this book. Just as much as I loved the last one. There are a few things i didn't like about it but i will get to that in a bit. First and foremost this book is going to leave you wanting more. When it ends you're going to say what i said, "NO." I don't like the idea of spoilers so i wont be giving much away. I will merely say this is a definitely a book worth reading. The questions from Pathfinder finally get somewhat of an answer.

My biggest critique is that due to what happens in the story figuring out what is true and what was merely presented as truth can become a bit taxing. But I think the rapid changes to theories leads to a rather exciting story.

The performance is great at time. Stefan Rudnicki is great, but when the story switches over to Umbo's or Params point of view it leaves you longing to be back in Rigs perspective. Not to mention the development of Param's character take someone what of a snobby turn. This leads you to almost hate her point of view, team this with Umbo's whining and you hope that Rig is the only person who speaks to you the rest of the time.

Though i dislike them, Isn't that the sign of a good book? I couldn't merely right the characters off I was engaged and wanted to hate them or like them. OSC does a good job of bringing out that emotion.

all in all it's worth a credit. :)

it is better than half of what I have listen to.

Loaf is the best character due to his blunt and memorable lines.

They all did fine. Please stop the whining!

Moving through time comes at a cost.

The pace of the story and the unpredictability of the story

The obvious answer is Pathfinder but the 2 books are in a class of their own.

Rudnikki Is my favorite reader and having 2 others really pulls the stories together.

The story moved pretty quickly and kept me interested and engaged. I enjoyed the plot twists that Card introduced throughout. It was definitely not the storyline I was anticipating.

The constant whining by one or more of the characters got on my nerves and detracted from the pace of the story, but I suppose it served to develop the characters.

I did not like that the narrators switched based on who's perspective we were hearing the story from. I understand why the story was produced this way, but it was a little annoying. That said, it didn't annoy me NEARLY as much as it did with the first book.

There were definitely times when I did not want to put this down. Especially when they were dealing with the computers and expendibles. The story definitely kept me interested and I will be purchasing the next book when it is completed.