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Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: The City of Basilica has fallen. With the continuing failure of the Oversoul, the artificially intelligent guardian computer of the planet Harmony, the human colonists have begun to repeat the devastations of war and conquest wrought on Earth. To repair itself and avert disaster, the Oversoul has called a group of sixteen refugees from the fallen city of Basilica to a hidden, abandoned spaceport where the ancient starships lie. Now Wetchik, Nafai, and all their family must brave the desert wastes and cross the wide continents, guided by the voice of the Oversoul, to await the command to prepare the great interstellar ships for flight again. But among this group, not all have chosen their exile, and the angry resentment of those who were forced to join will make the difficult journey harder..… (more)
User reviews
As much as I appreciate seeing Nafai grow into the role of the leader, I don't believe that his reluctance is believable. He claims that all he wants in Ellemak's love and respect, but someone as perceptive as he is shown to be must, at some point, come to the realization that what he wants will not come. But he continues to subject himself to punishment and torture in the hopes that Ellemak will eventually stop hating him. And for his part, Ellemak seems to be smart enough to realize that he is well down the path of personifying pure evil. I cannot envision a person so consumed with a desire for power that he would allow himself to be corrupted by his own hatred. At some point, he's got to give it up and reconcile.
The one thing, though, that really caught my imagination was the recognition of the amount of time that it took for the Oversoul to breed the 16 people that started the journey. The entire population of the Harmony was evaluated and those that exhibited the desired traits were brought together by the Oversoul for the purpose of creating these 16. How long would that have taken? Thousands of years? Was the city of Basilica created as the creche for the Oversoul's breeding program? Was the culture of Basilica (year long marriages, female dominated society, center of arts and learning) constructed purely to facilitate this breeding program? What about the 'Holy Women'? Were *ALL* of them brought to Basilica the way Thirsty was; simply to take part in this very unnatural selection? Very interesting questions...
And, oh by the way... While I understand the need for the Starmaster's Cloak given Ellemak's escalation of violence, it still seems like a cop out...
However, the concept of a
It's a bit rare for me to feel only "eh" about a OSC book. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. I'm glad I'm reading the series, but I wonder how necessary it was for this to be a full book.
How could the person who created Ender's Game
Waaahh. I feel betrayed.
This features Card's usual emphasis on family and leaders who lead by example and deeds, not just words.
The plot advances and the younger generation is full of interesting characters. Though this could work well as a "bridge" book, it does a good job of keeping tension and suspense. Just when you think Elemak might not turn out to be such a bad guy, he goes and does something evil again.
I guess I
Still a good story though.