Pathfinder: Book 1

I find myself very conflicted about this book. I like Card and consider him to be a good author. His premise is interesting and entertaining. However, as an audio experience, this book was often irritating. Much of the dialogue throughout is extremely pedantic . For example, if one character says that the people of a town are unfriendly, another character will point out that they haven???t met everyone. If someone suggested that the light goes out in a refrigerator when you shut the door, another will point out that, unless you are inside the refrigerator, you really don???t know. If I was reading the book, I???d probably tend to scan a lot of the dialogue. Audio makes you listen to every irritating exchange. I slogged through it to the end. The ending was okay, but I am not interested in what happens in the next book and will not listen to this book again. I don???t recommend it.

I am a huge OSC fan, having read/listened to many books. This story is not as strong or mature as most stories. Feels half polished. The majority of the narration is good, but the second half of the book sees some narrator changes that are inconsistent and one chapter is downright annoying enough that I stopped playback 4 times. At times I felt like I was listening to Treasure Island. I wish the story and narration was as polished as the excellent Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow on Audible.

Theories about causality and time travel.

Changes in the actual narrator and voicing were very inconsistent in the second half. It detracted from the character development and caused me to pause playback several times.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Card has some interesting ideas involving time travel. I liked how he used two different time lines to help explain how events unfold. However, I thought some of the reasoning and conclusions the protagonist would immediately come up with were a bit too easy and convenient. There are plenty of holes to be found with time travel and this book doesn't shy from such paradox's that arise. It is actually a bit confusing if this is meant to be for children. The characters tend to talk a lot about using their abilities for time travel and the book spends a lot of wasted time on trying to explain their successes and failures in this venture. I felt there could have been more action when it was all said and done. I think this could have been a stand alone novel in it's own right and I didn't care for the ending at all. In addition, there were some obvious parts of this book that were a little frustrating, like Rigg's father dying. I mean, did anyone actually believe that occurred? As such, It was fairly easy to draw a lot of conclusions before the protagonist even came to them which shows poor writing. So I think in the end I am really trying to say it was all a little too convenient, predictable, and somewhat confusing.

The narration was dreadful. I'm not exaggerating here. At the start I didn't care for the narrator. I didn't like how his voice fit the characters and it all seemed a little too plain. Then you get used to the voice. Halfway through we get a different narrator who over animates his voices of characters to the point where it is distracting. And then soon after that we get a different narrator coming in and so on.

I've read quite a lot of OSC and I have to disagree with a lot of the reviewers. I found this one really dragged for me. The characters were interesting, as was the story, but there were endless conversations about the intricacies of time travel with the same concepts repeated over and over. I would have found the book moved much more quickly without that. If you read time travel books, you know there are paradoxes and you simply suspend those in your head and keep reading. I felt like he was trying to justify the physics of time travel with these repeated conversations and it just got in the way for me.

In addition (like many have mentioned), the narration was a mess. No individual narrator was bad, but there was no flow from character to character. It was like whoever happened to be in the studio that day did the narration. Very disjointed.

I'm not moving on to the next in this series.

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.

Good Story bad Narration. The thing I really wanted to point out, is that this book seems to have at least 3 different people reading it. The first narrator is good and you get used to him then they change to a second one for a brief part. But I just got to a new section with a new reader that is so different and frankly over the top theatrical that it has ruined the book for me. I have stopped listening to it and am considering buying the physical book in order to finish the story. very strange choice by whomever recorded this...

immensely!

A great book with a VERY interesting plot. The narrators did a great job telling a complex story. For most of the book you don't understand what two completely different stories have to do with each other. One story is set in future, the other is about a Teenager's journey in a primitive time. I found the "journey" in finding out what two stories had to do with each other very interesting. "Pathfinder: Book I" sure set up an interesting series that I look forward to "reading".

I have always been a huge fan of Orson Scott Card's writing style, he writes his books like he intends them to be read out loud. The Ender Series is by far his best work (Speaker for the Dead takes the cake), but this story is so unique and enthralling that I could not stop listening. I usually sit and multi-task while I listen to my book, doing homework, working, driving etc. but this book I would stop other things and just sit and listen. OSC did a fantastic job creating another whole new universe and magic system, and plays around with the laws of time travel. Nothing is too confusing, which is rare for a Time travel book. My final word: Well done Orson Scott Card, This book is a keeper for my audio folder as well as my shelf.

First, the narrators are extremely pleasant ; they are the same as the series. Second, Orson Scott Card is as mind-blowing as always ; pooling Earth's ressources to build colonization ships, folds in space-time continuum, pushing Sci-fi's limits in order to reach the fantasy genre.
It's a mix between Homecoming Saga and Ender's Saga. 17hrs well spent.

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....