Ruins review

Ruins by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoys Orson Scott Cards' books, and read most of them, but sometimes, in some of his books, his characters become too powerful, in a way. Plus, the main character in nearly every book he writes is a precocious teenage boy. They're the only ones who can do what they do, but have very little temptation to do evil with it. The character in Treason by the end was way too powerful, Alvin in his Alvin Maker books could change everything, and the boy in his other series he's writing, beginning with the Lost Gate, also started feeling too powerful by being able to teleport wherever he wants. Their problems feel trivial because there is no one who can oppose them. This series is starting to feel the same. Rigg before had to depend on his friend to go back in time, but in this book he can do it alone. His friend obviously feels jealous, but it feels like half the book deals with him whining, or some other character, and the others trying to tell them why they're not worthless. Since the main character can go back in time, there's not much feeling of urgency, even though the world is supposed to be destroyed in a few years time. The ideas explored here are interesting, and it was an engaging read. The time travel is hard to understand at times, though. Some ideas got weird, like the mice, and other ideas seemed to jump all over. I was hoping the series would end with this book, but it looks like another one will be coming.Anyway, interesting book, but hopefully the next one will be more focused and will finish this, because the idea is already feeling stretched.

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The Gate Thief

The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like Pathfinder, this series gets more philosophical in the second book and a lot less happens. In the first, Danny was discovering his powers, balancing his power with responsibility and a thirst for friendship. Now he just uses his friends to bounce ideas off, and they pretty much talk for the whole book. Moral issues are an interesting and important part of having superpowers, often not explored enough, but there does need to be a balance, and discussion should flow naturally from the situations presented, instead of in dry dialogue. One of the most frustrating things was that every girl was trying to throw herself at Danny. Maybe plausible, once they knew he had powers, although it was stretching, but the most frustrating part was the reasons given for it. They just wanted to get pregnant, have his baby, because he was powerful and they were attracted to power. These are adolescent girls, I really don't think that even if they wanted to have sex with him, it would be about getting pregnant. Even if there is the subconscious biological urge, most girls wouldn't articulate these ideas. Danny resists, which I don't have a problem with, since sex is a cause of so many problems in the world today, but the way he does it is so unbelievable. He is so divorced from his emotions, with his head thinking pure logic, and we don't feel the struggle. In that type of situation, there would be a lot of confusion, trying to be good morally, wanting to give in emotionally, and logic probably wouldn't enter, just would knock timidly from the outside while emotions wrestled. Time after time, the situation goes like this: Danny finds himself alone with girl. Girl moves forward, making obvious advances, saying she wants to have his baby. Danny thinks: oh, this is biological, she just evolved this way. Oh, I evolved to respond to this. My body would be pleased. But this is wrong. She doesn't know what she's doing. Teleport away. Safe! It felt like an insult to women everywhere, to suggest they would all throw themselves on anyone with a bit of power. Still, other ideas were interesting, and when there was action, it was entertaining enough, plus the revelations got you hooked. I would have liked having other powers explored more, instead of just gating. The final conflict was anticlimatic. With all of this, I will probably read the last book when it comes out, hoping it gets back to action instead of pondering. Orson Scott Card's writing is good, I just wish he would focus more on content and story.

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