Customer Reviews

The Memory Of Earth: Homecoming, Volume 1

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Card gives us the first of four very good volumes in a five book science fiction series. Basilica is a wonderful world and the characters that we meet will gain depth and develop over the series. Card is sometimes slow and tedious in his plot advancement. I liken his writing to a journey in which each step is mundane, but when taken one after another, cover long distances and present vista after vista.

Buy it, read it, and then get the next three volumes. Then read the reviews before purchasing volume five.

The accusation that the Orson Scott Card "Homecoming: Harmony" series is a thinly disguised retelling of the book of Mormon came as a surprise to me, mainly because I am not that familiar with the book of Mormon. However, "The Memory of Earth," the first in the five volume series, certainly has the tenor of an Old Testament story. The planet Harmony was settled 40 million years after the destruction of Earth, and the mother planet is now more legend than dim memory. The human population is cared for by the Oversoul, a computer able to communicate telepathically with some of the inhabitants. However, now the Oversoul is breaking down and needs to be returned to Earth for repairs. The problem is a combination of believability (no one remembers earth) and technology (this is a planet where caravans coexist with a floating chair for Nafai's crippled brother, Issib).

The Oversoul contacts a young student, Nafai, and tells him of the Index: an ancient machine through which the computer can talk directly to everyone. However, Nafai's father and brothers are unwilling to believe the boy has been touched by the Oversoul. A further complication is that as the Oversoul's powers decay so do the mental blocks it has implanted in humans to keep them from killing each other. This is especially problematic for Nafai, since his eldest brother is not particularly accepting of the idea that his rightful place has been usurped in this unbelievable manner.

I have to say that I find it hard to believe a book can be accused of proselytizing when its transforms God into a super computer. Granted, the Oversoul is a more benevolent computer than we usually find in science fiction (cf. AM in Harlan Ellison's classic short story "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream"), but that does not automatically make it deserving of deification or worship. Nor do I have reason to believe Mormon society could ever be considered matriarchal. Luet, the girl next door and object of Nafai's affection, considers the Oversoul a god to be worshipped, but she eventually sees the error of her ways.

Science fiction novels have dealt with religion more explicitly and more successfully (e.g., "Stranger in a Strange Land," "Dune") than "The Memory of Earth." But here it is not that this book is about religion but rather than it resonates with echoes of many Old Testament tales (think of it as "Nafai and the Amazing Telepathic Computer"). This is hardly surprising given Card's body of work; Uncle Orson has never hidden his faith nor failed to incorporate it on some level. Moreover, Nafai is a rather standard character in Card's writing, that of the young boy trying to find his way in an adult world that is beyond our own experience.

The sin here, such as it is, would be that this series is a lesser effort from Card. Nafai is aided in his growing maturity by the help of the Oversoul, which picked him because of his intellect and his ability to "hear" the computer. We want to idealize him as the perfect choice for this mission, but that may be overstating the case. The final volume does take an interesting and rather unexpected turn, but overall I think we would be more impressed with the story if it was not part of a multi-volume exercise.

Here is the thing...

I think that CJ Cherryh is the greatest science fiction writer of our time. She writes for me the most original material taking me to places I could not have imagined existing before I read them, and cannot imagine not existing after I read them.

However...

Orson Scott Card has written my most favorite stories (Ender's Game / Ender's Shadow, Lost Boys)... Because what he is, is the greatest story teller of our time. He takes new slants on things we are familiar with and tells the story in a way that leaves you thinking for hours, days and years.

Case in point, Memory of Earth.

Anyone who has seriously read the Book Of Mormon, will see where all the storyline comes from in the "Home Coming/ Memory of Earth" series. But what is the value of putting the Book of First Nephi in science fiction form? Nephi's character is a much more complete character in this Series, giving the Book of Mormon reader things to ponder. Like what are the things that motivate someone who wants to be righteous, is anyone completely selfless? If you are not, does that negate the good that you do?

For me, this is an uplifting story, with enough Sci-Fi to keep the story interesting, but more to the point, this tale like many of OSC's helps you to see, that even though you go through life conflicted (like everyone else) there is value in all the good you do.

Though I'm not Mormon, I've read the Book of Mormon quite a bit. Reading this book I was startled by parallels to the Book of Mormon narrative in 1st Nephi. By chapter 10 the copying from that 19th century religious work was so overt I couldn't wait to finish it to write this review.

Oh my gosh! IT IS EXACTLY LIKE LEHI and family leaving Jerusalem. They head out to live in tents. The two older brothers are skeptical, critical and antagonistic. The father names a river and a valley after those two, and the son Nafai (looks like "Nephi" to me!) receives a great number of visions from the "Oversoul."

What stopped me cold was when, as I expected, the father sent the sons back to town to get historical documents of the family. This is JUST LIKE the Book of Mormon account.

I'm not sure I can say whether the story itself is good or not, as I find the fundamental plotline being identical to the Book of Mormon to be terribly destracting. Someone who's never read the Book of Mormon and (especially) has no opinion about it would surely write a fairer review.

It is disappointing to see such a lack of originality in an author. Tracy Hickman admits to involving elements of his Mormon faith in the original Dragonance series, but in that context it was minimal, made sense and did not constitute a wholesale copying of another work.

In works of Sci Fi, I think one has to deploy ones power of imagination to create the authors universe in the mind. As a science fiction fan, not a science fantasy fan I found this universe a bit difficult to believe. While I can accept the genetic changing of the human race so the brain can respond to sattelite signals as a good idea, I found that the degree of control the Oversoul needed to achieve what it does just too extreme. Of course this is the essence of the plot, since this very control begins to deteriorate accordingly with a gradual breakdown of the Oversoul's machinery. I found it hard to accept that the Oversoul might be able to balance a society which is prevented from inventing the wheel and yet has the techology to create and use a floating vehicle (Issib's Chair) that can give an invalid mobility that can outrun a man, or to imagine that a society with advanced solid state electronics technology is not capable (or allowed) to conceptualize communication facilties such as a telephone. I'm reading the second book now, and find that an army general is reading a map under candlelight, while dictating instructions to his second in command who is typing them into a computer. So the Oversoul allows the development of advanced computers but it can prevent the concept of the lightbulb at the same time ?!

After reading the complete works of the Ender and Shadow series to date I probably did expect to use my imagination to some degree in this series, but probably a bit too much more than I would have liked.

This is a great book, and the series is very good. If you read the first you will most likely go on to read the rest of the series. So be warned, this series ends up being very religious. So people who do not like to be preached at may want to stay away. Also, i found myself making parrallels with religous history that i found rather offensive. This applies only to the last book, but since this is the first you might as well know what you are getting into.

This was a great book. I am a die-hard OSC fan and I have never read anything this thought provoking and powerful. I only recently found out after reading the series that the first few books of the Book of Mormon were used in the first chapters. I think that this only adds to to the book's greatness. Although I have never read the Book of Mormon, I assume it is similar to the Bible in that it's huge and not to easy to understand. The fact that Card could transform the Book into an awesome science fiction story only makes me admire the man all the more.

Even though Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite authors, I always find myself avoiding his books. Most likely this is because I know I'll get drawn into his stories and I will neglect the duties of real life for a couple of days. I also think that I hesitate picking up his books because I'll expect to see the same types of things going on in one story as his others, just with different characters. And while I enjoy his stories and characters, I have no time to waste reading something I've read before. After reading Orson Scott Card's Memory of Earth, I think I can say that my fears were justified. Yet, as usual, and despite my preconceived biases, I always put the book down in amazement, without the slightest hint of regret. I think it would be hard to explain how Card manages to impress me every time I read. If I were to venture some guesses, I might mention that his characters are all as smart as I wish I would be. They seem to say or think the same things that I have thought of before, but they convey those ideas I have difficulty expressing in a way that makes sense and rings true. Another thing that impresses me is that, going into Memory of Earth, I had a general idea what the storyline would be, which of course limits the surprises. That might normally seem like a handicap, but even still, Card fascinates and finds ways to come up with ideas that are truly unique and yet universal at the same time. There was not a chapter where I didn't know the result before reading it, and yet his methods were so fresh and way of presenting so clever, that I might as well have gone into the reading cold. Memory of Earth on the surface might seem like like a heavy reading; thoughtful, theme loaded, character-driven storylines are not what often make for quick and easy reads. But in spite of the heavy material, Card is a master of simplicity. I can recall a couple of paragraphs that I thought might have been extraneous, but that's not a bad run in a 330 page book, especially one that has so much potential for diving into drawn out, theme driven text. The point gets succinctly across, but not at the expense of pages and pages of plodding explanation. And besides, Card keeps layering on the tension and action as the story progresses. By the last third of the book, I felt like I was zipping through, wondering to how everything would play out. My favorite moment, however, was the climax. It is built up as a if there will be a showdown between the protagonist and the antagonist, and sure enough that occurs, but not at all how you would expect as a reader (and even if it is as you expect--again--it plays out as intensely as if you didn't). Instead of being a face off between the physical prowess between the two, or their wits, or their skills, the showdown is a completely one-sided, introspective, moral dilemma. And it is a disturbing and powerful one at that. The result is a little bit unsettling, and since this is the first of a series, the ending leaves more than just a little to be resolved. Yet, after finishing, I felt the story stood alone as well justified. Better than that, reading it leaves a lot of room for pondering its material. There are more books in the series, and if I can get past my own guarded inhibitions to great, satisfying writing that rings true, then I expect I'll pick it up soon enough.

This was my first Orson Scott Card book to read. Absolutely unputdownable! I just loved the way he used First Nephi as a basis for this story. I started reading it not knowing anything about it, so it was most entertaining waiting to see how much Book of Mormon storyline he could incorporate.

I went on to read the rest of the series and have now read almost all of the Alvin Maker series. I have had to stop reading Cards though - I find them so engrossing they take over my life and I don't get much else done. Great to read on holidays though!

As author of such excellent books as Ender's game and Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card has made his mark in the often-dubious world of science fiction.

With The Memory of Earth, Card has succeeded in imagining a world and a plot that is creative and striking in its originality. What he tries to make up for in creativity, however, he lacks in writing style, development and diction. I have only read this book, the first of the five novels in the series, but it has done little to urge me to continue.

That does not mean I don't like Card's ideas; they are quite refreshing as he attempts to write a truly spiritual science fiction book. Yet the concept of the Oversoul soon wore on me...and once I reached the end of The Memory of Earth, I was surprised, because in almost 300 pages, very little seemed to have happened. For some books, this means that the author has taken his or her time to develop the plot; not in this case.

A part of me feels I am being hard on Card; if I could give an extra half-star star, I would, but the fact is that I have to measure up Card against his own writing. And this book (I cannot speak yet of the series) just does not quite make the grade.