The Card Dilemma

High hopes are required for great disappointment. It was, then, inevitable that Orson Scott Card would fall in my personal regard, as he had for so long held its highest estimation. Ender's Game captured my heart. It is one of the best books I have ever read, and, I believe, ever will read.

I cannot think of reading Mr. Card's latest Ender novel without an aversion bordering on revulsion.

I am not alone in this. I have read, even liked, the previous sequels to Ender's Game. I have read half a dozen of Mr. Card's other works. The majority of them - Pastwatch and Songmaster come to mind - have impressed me. But while Mr. Card has demonstrated his ability to tell a beautiful story, he has also demonstrated his ability to wreck one. By the sixth book in the Alvin Maker series, motivations and limitations essential to the story in the first books were twisted or had disappeared altogether by the last. I no longer knew the principal characters. Herein lies the underlying fear of the Card dilemma; I love Ender. And I do not want to see him ruined.

Malazan and Me

In a long line of readers who have enjoyed Steven Erikson's Malazon series, I loved the third book. Finally, I have some idea of what the series is about! There's a reason every single review you will ever read of the Malazan series includes some variation of the words, "grand scale." Throughout the first and second books I was convinced there was some huge underlying scheme I was either unable to understand, or Erkison had yet to find me worthy of letting me in on the secret.

That being said, all three books were amazing. Erikson is a master of character; following the different viewpoints and various plot lines proved a wonderful distraction to not knowing what is going on. Between the three books, I cried twice, laughed more than once and was forced to stop reading at several points in absolute awe. Glad there is more to come.