The Worthing Saga

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 18 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

It was a miracle of science that permitted human beings to live, if not forever then for a long, long time. Some people, anyway. The rich, the powerful, they lived their lives at the rate of one year every 10. Some created two societies: that of people who lived out their normal span and died, and those who slept away the decades, skipping over the intervening years and events. It allowed great plans to be put into motion. It allowed interstellar empires to be built.

It came near to destroying humanity.

After a long, long time of decadence and stagnation, a few seed ships were sent out to save our species. They carried human embryos and supplies and teaching robots and one man. The Worthing Saga is the story of one of these men, Jason Worthing, and the world he found for the seed he carried.

Orson Scott Card is "a master of the art of storytelling" (Booklist), and The Worthing Saga is a story that only he could have written.

©1978 Orson Scott Card (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Not for the Lover's of Ender

First, I love this book. It has a few lulls where multiple story lines are tied up (IMO Nedded if not a little boring).

Second, DO NOT buy this book if you just finished breezing through the Ender or the Shadow books. Yes I know they are fantastinc but, that doesn't mean that this book is for you. Worthing is clasic Card. Like some of his early short stories where he tried to jam deep meaning and some of his religion into every work.

If you loved the kind of book that Ender and the Shadow books are, Worthing is not that type of fiction. This book is not about the sci-fi. It is about Jason Worthing and all of the lives his touched for good or ill.

Overall, very satisfying

Can't give it five stars, because it isn't Ender's Game, but I really enjoyed it. It does explore moral themes, but it's not as heavy-handed as some reviewers would have you believe. I like my sci-fi without a lot of heavy fantasy influence, and this book delivered for me.

I also don't like books written with a clear moral agenda. This dealt with moral themes, but didn't feel preachy. It's not hard to figure out where Card's sentiments lie, but I didn't mind. Bottom line, if you're a fan, it's worth a listen.

Oh, and the stories at the end are great if you were into the main Worthing Saga and kind of wished it wouldn't end. If you're done, you can skip them without feeling guilty - you're not missing anything serious, plot-wise.

A collection of novellas.

I've been a fan of Card for years, and I was surprised to find out that I'd not read this one. But I soon learned why. In book form you can see that it's a collection of novellas instead of a novel. I've never been a fan of novella, so that would explain why.

With that said, if novellas are your thing, you'll enjoy these. Typical Card, bringing up questions that that you make you think. At times a lot of fun, others holding on for the ride.

Can't decide whether to recommend this or not!

I enjoyed Ender's Game and the subsequent novels, even though the characters were never very believable to me. This novel, however, is very strange. The characters were a bit creepy to me, with all the mothers hitting their kids; with kids dying and parents apparently not too broken up about it...I guess the characterizations, once again, were just not very believable to me. Oddly enough, it's been over a month since I finshed the book and I am still kind of resentful about it, for two reasons: one, the author had some great ideas but I really dislike the directions he took in the book, and two, I wish I hadn't met all the weird and one-dimensional characters.

OMG this is LONG!

Maybe this novel doesn't go on for eighty seven hours. But... whew... it's be cool if maybe an editor had suggested that Card, um, edit this manuscript down to what at least seems the length of the NYC telephone book. Zzzzzzzzzzz!

Interesting Story telling

Any additional comments?

I liked this book, I found it interesting and compelling. until you get to the stories of Capitol. some of those I didn't really care for but they make sense in the total scheme of things. Thumbs up from me.

Outstanding

Fantastic collection of stories, love the presentation and story building. Super entertaining and engaging. Recommended for all.

Very Different and sometimes Agitating but good

I don't like stories that start in the middle and then do flashbacks; can be very irritating; but this one could not have been differently. It is a very unusual story that slowly unfolds and spans the life of a 50 year old man who lives for 10's of thousands of years.

If you are looking for an unuisal Sifi that has little or no techno and focuses on the story of two races of people, and is quite ... morish, this is it. If you need a change from the usual; go for it!

my new favorite book from the same favorite author

please ignore the bad spelling and punctuation I'm doing this on my phone LOL everyone needs to read this book it is amazing I have to read it again right now

An Interesting Look at Card's earlier works

The Worthing Chronicles was a good story that I suspect is a rewriting and expansion of many Worthing short stories. It was well done either way and flowed well. The Tales of Waters and Tales from Capital were linked short stories that were a bit inconsistent, but the author explained this in the epilogue. The outlook is rather dark when it comes to people's humanity, but it didn't take away from the overall story. I've read several of O.S. Card's books, and this didn't shine as his finest work, but it was an good story. The inconsistencies had me a bit confused until I heard the epilogue. This story is worth buying on sale if you are a Card fan. The performance was very good, smoothly read by all of the narrators, and easy to listen too. I've tended to give four stars to similar solid performances in the past, but I'm noticing so many awesome narrators and narrator groups, that I'm now raising the bar for four stars. The narration was better than pretty good, but not great, or I love it level.