Earthfall

Homecoming: Volume 4

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

When war broke out on the planet Harmony, the Oversoul of that colonized world selected the family of Wetchik to carry it back to long-lost Earth. Now the tribe is ready at last to take a ship to the stars.

But from the beginning there has been bitter dispute between Wetchik's sons, Nafai and Elemak. On board the starship Basilica, the children of the tribe will become pawns in the struggle for control of reclaimed Earth. Each faction is making secret plans to awaken the children early from the cold-sleep capsules in which they will pass the decades-long journey, hoping to gain years of influence on their minds and win their loyalty.

But the Oversoul is truly in control of this journey, and only the son who wears the cloak of the Starmaster really understands what this will mean to all their plans for the future.

©1995 Orson Scott Card (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This action-packed, plot-rich installment features Card's typical virtues: well-drawn characters and a story driven by complex moral issues." ( Publishers Weekly)
"[Card's] literary gifts and philosophical turn of mind continue to carry [this saga] on at a very high level...." ( Booklist)
"This series continues to impress." ( Kirkus Reviews)

Still Interesting

This particular episode of the Homecoming saga continues to develop the ideas of power, psychology, and consequences. Every action creates sets in motion a variety of things that may or may not always be predictable.

One thing I do not quite appreciate is how little change Card's characters seem capable of even over decades. There is a little room for improvement, but a variety of characters just seem to plateau and level off disinterestingly. They then become annoyingly predictable.

Aside from that, there are some great themes here as humans meet and ineract with other sentient creatures. Seeing the drama that unfolds is stimulating and trying to figure out how it will finally end up keeps up the steady forward momentum.

This series is a treasure

This is the most intense so far of the 5 books! Can’t believe I missed it years ago! Expands on ideas from the Ender series and is great from all standpoints. Nobody reads better that Stephan Rudniki!

Best narrator

I love Stefan's talent for reading each character in a unique way. I'm on a quest to listen to every book ORC has ever written and am always amazed at how invested I get in each book and series.

Good story, good narrator.

The story is entertaining and the characters are well developed but I almost quit listening early in the first book due to the ridiculous names of the characters. Seriously, these names are so bad they nearly ruin a decent story.

A great ending!

This really is the ending to the arc that started in book 1. It does a great job at tying up loose ends and explaining mysteries that may have confused you for a while now.

The only complaint I have is that conflict is getting a bit formulaic and predictable: all of the conflicts seem to have the same causes and same resolutions, so you always know roughly what to expect. I docked the story one star for this.

Otherwise, it's a very entertaining end to a very entertaining series. I'm glad I invested the time to read these!