Customer Reviews

Enchantment: A Classic Fantasy With a Modern Twist

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The audio version of this book is well read but suffers from being rather poorly abridged. Abrubt segues will leave you wondering if you've lost mind. Perhaps the extracted portions of the text were not critical, but the remaining should have been changed so as not to refer to things and events the listener is not privy too.

Young Ivan "Vanya" Smetski never felt quite at home anywhere. When he was 10 years old, his father "rediscovered" his Jewish blood in a gambit to escape the dying Soviet Union, and finally brought the family to the United States. But Ivan was bound to go even farther. When walking through a Ukrainian clearing, he finds a beautiful woman asleep on a pedestal, guarded by a huge bear. Kissing this sleeping beauty awake, he suddenly finds himself whisked off Ninth Century Russia to face the wrath of the princess' enemy, the dreaded Baba Yaga.

This is a truly wonderful book. I quickly found myself locked on the story, setting aside all other reading materials so I could devote all of my time to this book. The characters are interesting, and the storyline is gripping. The author does an excellent job of transporting the reader to another time and place. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Orson Scott Card has kept his outstanding reputation as one of the greatest science fiction authors of all time. This book combines information of the jewish lifestyle, and russian folklore, two things that i basically knew nothing about when i read this book. Card did some excellent research for this book, bringing back long forgotten people and places into modern day life. it's a story of adventure, love, and magic. i bought this book, not liking love stories, thinking that i might just read some of it and then store it on my shelf for a later time. But after the first few pages i was hooked; i couldn't put it down. This is a wonderful book, i would recomend this book to science fiction lovers and the dedicated Card readers. If you're looking for a new author, Orson Scott Card is truly wonderful.

I loved this book because it made a familiar story new and exciting. However, the abridgement on the audio version destroyed continuity and trivialized much of it. Two examples: (1) Ivan is circling the chasm avoiding the bear. The details of him getting across the chasm are edited out, so we're left wondering how. (2) Ivan finds a message in Kiev which later proves instrumental in a climactic scene -- all mention of the note is left out until suddenly, it appears when needed with no explantion. It's as if the editor simply excised parts regardless of content and made no effort to patch the holes in the plot. This is an example of a 5-star book turning into a 2-star audio book.

Who chose the reader of this book? And who did the abridgment? I'm still listening to the tape, but in spite of the terrible reading and only because the story -- in spite of the unexplained cuts and breaks -- itself is so good. If the tape hadn't been given to me as a gift, I would be really peeved right now at having spent money for it. I'm going to buy the book, though, because I want to get the whole story. When I read the book, I'm sure I'll be able to give it a much better review than this review of the tape.

a beautiful, highly original blend of love and magic.

Enchantment is such a great story... i just finished reading it 3 days ago... it has such an impact on me, to see what he thinks of fairy tales. Fairy tales are like a reflection of real world in an exaggerated form... I think Card did an excellent job of keeping the story in the fairy tale-like format with hints of reality to let us relate to the story. One of the reason I enjoy reading his works is because he understands and he doesn't really give you his opinion on one issu but rather show you the evidence from both sides and lets you figure it all out. Card really is a great writer I have no doubt of his success. But overall, this is a great book you all should read it.