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A review by evanssc4
Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
5.0
There are a lot of reviews that express disappointment with this book. Commonly, at least from what I've been able to discern, people were disappointed with the fact that Card diverged from the action-intrigue that Ender's Game revolved around and decided to take a more philosophical turn with the series. I suppose I can understand this: If someone is looking for action and instead receives pondering philosophers it is expected that this someone will feel cheated in a way.
That being said, I find that this book can be incredibly satisfying if approached with the right mindset. I went into this book after having read some reviews expressing exactly the point that the book was of a more thought and ethics centered tone, so I anticipated a lot of dialog and frustrating battles of what's right and what's wrong. That's exactly what the book gave me. This wasn't an epic adventure, but rather a surface scratching look at humans and the characteristics that make us such. The book uses very unique and frustrating characters to try to raise questions about the human condition. It attempts to provoke thought on tough issues. There are very few answers provided by Card for the dilemmas that he creates, but of course that is the point; to raise the questions and have us consider them and answer them for ourselves.
As for the few complaints of outlandish science and solutions to outlandish problems I simply have to say, "welcome to the world of Science Fiction." The purpose of science fiction, it has always seemed to me, is not to completely and accurately portray the most current science (perhaps Carl Sagan is a better source for that), but to use basic science principals as a springboard and mechanism for the same themes that would be found in any fantasy book. To me, the word "science" in science fiction doesn't equate to "realistic" and "accurate", it simply implies technological means for magic rather than the herbal and spiritual means found in fantasy. All it takes for the reader to be okay with the extreme and seemingly perfect events in Children of the Mind is a little willingness to buy into the "fiction" part of the genera, just like one must buy into the fiction of how much weight a floating door could or couldn't support to appreciate the end of Titanic.
To wrap it up, I throughly enjoyed this book. I understand that it isn't for everyone and it takes a particular mood to appreciate it, but that doesn't have to detract from it at all. Just be sure to approach the book with an expectation of discussions over very gray issues and few concrete answers rather than an expectation of action and cleanly tied ends. The book is meant to provoke thought. If one keeps that in mind when reading it, I believe that it can be appreciated quite well by anyone.
That being said, I find that this book can be incredibly satisfying if approached with the right mindset. I went into this book after having read some reviews expressing exactly the point that the book was of a more thought and ethics centered tone, so I anticipated a lot of dialog and frustrating battles of what's right and what's wrong. That's exactly what the book gave me. This wasn't an epic adventure, but rather a surface scratching look at humans and the characteristics that make us such. The book uses very unique and frustrating characters to try to raise questions about the human condition. It attempts to provoke thought on tough issues. There are very few answers provided by Card for the dilemmas that he creates, but of course that is the point; to raise the questions and have us consider them and answer them for ourselves.
As for the few complaints of outlandish science and solutions to outlandish problems I simply have to say, "welcome to the world of Science Fiction." The purpose of science fiction, it has always seemed to me, is not to completely and accurately portray the most current science (perhaps Carl Sagan is a better source for that), but to use basic science principals as a springboard and mechanism for the same themes that would be found in any fantasy book. To me, the word "science" in science fiction doesn't equate to "realistic" and "accurate", it simply implies technological means for magic rather than the herbal and spiritual means found in fantasy. All it takes for the reader to be okay with the extreme and seemingly perfect events in Children of the Mind is a little willingness to buy into the "fiction" part of the genera, just like one must buy into the fiction of how much weight a floating door could or couldn't support to appreciate the end of Titanic.
To wrap it up, I throughly enjoyed this book. I understand that it isn't for everyone and it takes a particular mood to appreciate it, but that doesn't have to detract from it at all. Just be sure to approach the book with an expectation of discussions over very gray issues and few concrete answers rather than an expectation of action and cleanly tied ends. The book is meant to provoke thought. If one keeps that in mind when reading it, I believe that it can be appreciated quite well by anyone.