Orson Scott Card
Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon

Michael Stackpole

Kevin Anderson
DUNE: House Atriedes
DUNE: House Harkonnen
DUNE:  House Corrino

     I haven't read that many sci-fi books recently.  I must admit it.  However, I have read a few.  Most of the ones that I have read have been the ones that I have seen at Wal-Mart that caught my eye.  These days, it takes a lot to catch my eye so most of these are older books by older authors.

     The Northworld caught my attention about eight years ago.  I saw the first book in paperback and thought that it might be an interesting read.  I was not disappointed.  The character development is not outrageous but is just enough to provide the reader with a glimpse of the character.  The series starts with the book Northworld.  The characters are introduced and everything flows along.  The thing that I found interesting is the way the character move in between the different planes of the Matrix.  This is not the Matrix as in the movie the Matrix.  It is a nine dimensional planar space that only these "Gods" can transverse.  It is a very interesting idea and is cleverly portrayed.  Most of the characters are continued throughout the course of the series and over all continue to develop.  The continuity of each book is the most impressive part to me.  There is no inconsistencies nor point backs to other books.  Everything continues forward without having to go back and reread the first book or books.  Most impressive.  The book Northworld begins with an introduction to the main character, Hansen.  Hansen would be classified as a police officer in our times.  He is sent by his commanding officers to the planet Northworld to discover why the colonists that were sent there have not responded.  Hansen soon discovers that the planet Northworld is very different from what he is used to.  He first arrives in a plane of Northworld in which there are no weapons.  The occupants soon realize however that Hansen is himself a weapon so he is sent to another plane of existence.  On this new plane, the people fight using futuristic battlesuits.  The suits are the only items that have any semblance of having come from the outside world.  They are high tech compared to everything else in the plane.  The people travel using our equivalent of mules and donkeys.  Throughout the book, Hansen's travels are constantly followed by travels into what the "Gods" are doing.  By the end of the book, Hansen is transformed into one of the "Gods" so that he may finish a task that they have assigned him.  The next book, Northworld:Vengence brings us back to Hansen.  In this book, years have gone by since the last time Hansen walked the plane of Northworld.  He returns to try to set right some of the wrongs that are occurring by use of the law that he helped establish as well as keeping individuals on one of the other planes from discovering how to travel the planes.  All during this time, he is going against the things that North wishes.  The book also introduces us to a character that will play a major role in the next book.  Northworld: Justice follows in the same pattern as the previous book.  Hansen has been absent from the plane and things have gone awry again.  This time the rightful king is taking advantage of his power and must be stopped.  The king is having assistance from North while Hansen joins the side of the mercenaries to try to right the wrong.  Along the way the role and personalities of the Riders are revealed more.

     Orson Scott Card and his writings caught my attention when I was in Junior High.  The summary of Ender's Game caught my attention and drew me to the book.  I wanted the book so ended up purchasing it at a book fair.  I was not disappointed.  The story is of a young group of genius children that are taught the art of war so that they might fight the Buggers.  The idea of teaching children war is not so far fetched as would be imagined and the way it is presented in the book is quite plausible and representative of today's children.  The continuing books all have Ender as the main character which provides good continuity to the series.  The latter books in my opinion are not as good as the first one but that is just my personal opinion.  I have not read Children of the Mind.  I have read the newest book Ender's Shadow.  Ender's Game focuses on the way the government and military use a brilliant young boy to lead their troops to victory.  Ender is taken away from his family at a very young age to train in space to command.  To accomplish this, the military has established a special school called Battle School where the young children learn small group tactics and battle history while staging battles in zero gravity conditions.  Ender excels at all these tasks and is soon isolated from everyone else at the school due to his leading all the ranks.  Along the way Ender makes a few friends but these are constantly separated from him by the Teachers.  The play of Ender against his brother is very intriguing and provides the reader with a way to believe that there could be someone like Ender.  He has to have a fault.   Speaker for the Dead is the next book in the series.  In this book Ender has aged approximately ten to fifteen years while hundreds of years have passed since his extermination of the Buggers.  In this book, a new alien species has been discovered and is causing trouble.  These are the Piggies.  A seemingly lovable race that has the tendency to murder the people that have helped them the most. A young lady has had her adopted father and her loved one is next in line to likely die.  She calls on the "Speaker for the Dead" to come and speak his death.  Years pass from her call and the time in which Ender arrives.  Using his intelligence and vast resources that he has acquired, Ender is able to determine the reason the Piggies actions as well as the way that the lady who called him has behaved.  Some points in the book draw focus back to the first book but not many instances.  I especially liked it in this book when Ender is playing one of the young boys a battle simulation on the computer and thoroughly stomps him without the little boy knowing what happened.  Just a reminder to the reader of Ender's past.  Xenocide is the next book in sequence.  In this book we have all three races coexisting on the planet.  We have the humans, Piggies, and the Buggers.  Ender has released the Bugger queen so that the race may begin anew.  However, a problem has been discovered.  The Federation has realized the threat that may be involved on the planet and has decided to exterminate all life on the planet before there is a chance that the virus can spread.  Ender must determine a way that he can save all the races from destruction with the help of Jane.  At the end of the book he discovers a way but it has consequences that he did not realize.  It brings back Peter and his sister Valentine.  This is the setup for Children of the Mind.  Children of the Mind is the final book in the Ender series of books.  The simple reason it is the end is that Ender dies in the book.  I really don't know what to write about this book.  It is interesting in some regards and yet the simplicity and desire for conclusion is so obvious that I can think of what to say at this point.  Ender's Shadow brings us back to the start again.  This book gives us the story of Bean, one of Ender's Dragon Army members.  A very interesting tale that delves into the question of genetic manipulation and the consequences and ramifications there of.  The book does not delve deep enough for me to determine the authors own feelings on this subject so I would not place too much weight down on the book.  The reader discovers that Bean is a genetically manipulated young boy who has been engineered to have superior intellect while have to suffer from being smaller than everyone else.  That is just one revelation that was interesting to me.  The other is the fact that the Teachers has picked Bean to take Ender's place if Ender broke down before he could finish the last battle.  A very interesting tale of how one of superior intellect might deal with having to play second fiddle to one of less intellect but superior people skills.  The next book in the Bean series that has come out recently is Shadow of the Hegemon.  This book expands upon several ideas put forth by Bean in the previous book.  Specifically, what Earth would be like post-Buggers and how the world would treat those children who helped Ender fight the last battle.  The overall flow of the book is similar to Ender's Shadow, i.e. side comments from the Sister as well as some by Graff.  The conclusion of this book hints at a relationship between Bean and Petra.  Likely but not completely tied off.

Michael Stackpole and Kevin Anderson were first introduced to me while I was reading the Star Wars books.  As many of you know, there are numerous Star Wars books to be had that continue the story on and between the main Star Wars movies.  I will expand upon the Star Wars books that they have written over the next few months.  I will however discuss briefly some of the books that Mr. Anderson has written such as the DUNE prequel books.

DUNE: House Atriedes.  The book provides an interesting background to some of the characters and adds some depth to the hatred that is shown by House Atriedes for House Harknonen.  It gives us a glimpse of the development of the disease that afflicted Baron Harkonen.  DUNE: House Harkonnen continues upon this trail of history and deceit.  A glimpse into the early life of Gurney Halleck and the training of Duncan Idaho is brought to us as well as how Rabban earned the nickname the Beast.   DUNE: House Corrino provides the reader with the reasons as to why the Emperor might have disliked House Atriedes.  Several interesting points were made.  Overall, the book reads very well and helps to provide closure of a few issues before the start of the traditional DUNE series.