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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mind Over Genes, July 13, 2003
Slavery comes in many forms. Patience, the 13 year old protagonist of this novel, is a nominal slave to the Heptarch, ruler of this far-future world that was colonized by humans thousands of years ago. She is also the seventh seventh seventh daughter of the first Starship Captain, and as such is the subject of a prophesy declaring her to be either the savior or destroyer of the world. In the end, she is more slave to the prophecy than to the Heptarch. Trained from birth in the arts of ruling and courtly intrigue, Patience is an intriguing character, whose real voyage of self-discovery starts with the death of her father. For this world has many different types of denizens that are almost human, gaunts, dwelves, and geblins. As Patience travels the world in search of the Unwyrm, she is forced to meet and interact with each of these races, and finding that each has their own right to life, their own ways of living, even if each of these races seems to be an incomplete copy of humans, and all are subject to overriding desires and commands that originate with the Unwyrm, the true slave-master of the world. Card's themes of free will and moral imperatives to help others are nicely brought forward through his characters' interaction with each other, though at a couple places where he directly explicates some of this philosophy in the discourse of the giant Will, in comes across as a little bit preachy. The world and its biology is a fascinating if somewhat disturbing look at just what life really is, from the perspective of the genes, which folds into and on top of his free will ideas as a built in imperative that none may escape. Some may find the climatic scene highly disturbing, involving rape, murder, and mental coercion in a manner normally considered well outside the pale of normal human actions, but it fits well with both story and theme. Card does not shirk from the implications of his prior story development, and a little reflection on this scene will convince you that this is truly the only way the problems could be resolved that was consistent with the theme Card is presenting, but I do feel that this scene makes this book highly inappropriate for younger readers. But Card fell down a little bit in his conclusion, his continuation of the story after that climatic scene, as it comes across as almost sugar-sweet after all the grimness of the rest of the book, as it proposes an extremely optimistic viewpoint about basic human nature that just doesn't fit. Also a little bit disappointing was the final disposition of the brother-sister gebling kings, as this did not seem to be quite in character for either of them. Some truly original ideas, some decent characters, but in the end I felt the theme came to over-dominate the story, left me with less emotional involvement than was possible, became too much an intellectual probing. Still, worth reading, if only to see what Card can do outside of the Ender series. --- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
not a simple story, March 14, 2000
Please don't let someone tell you that Wyrms is just another of Card's super-child books. Also, please don't let them scare you off by saying that it has a gross ending and it's offensive. There is a reason, and if you've read Card before, you surely know that he is never prurient for fun. Wyrms IS a lot like ender, and songmaster, and even Herbert's dune. That doesn't mean that it's the same. Card uses the exceptional child motif to deal with many different themes. In Ender, Card explores self-respect and guilt over things that are or are not your responsibility. In Songmaster, Card explores power and love, and also communication. In Wyrms, Card explores Free will and temptation. The impact of the climactic scene seems to cause such a reaction among people, as it should. However, Card surely used such a wretched situation to even further bring home his point, being that that which often seems and feels so right to the participant can be so wrong in reality. Throughout the book, we are made more and more aware of the influence that the wyrm has on different characters. It takes what it wants and manipulates as it will. It destroys lives. The wyrm can be considered evil. Perhaps not inherently, but definately in it's attitude towards the other inhabitants on the planet. When it sets it's desire on the young girl and she suffers the cranning call, we are given the opportunity to witness one person's struggle with what she knows to be right and what she wants. The desirable is despicable on purpose. That which we want is often that which will destroy us. Card brings the girl to the point where she faces her tempter, and he begins to use her for his purposes, as is his nature. The only problem is that she wants to be used. His control is powerful, and I am left wondering what sort of statement Card is making about humanity in general. Most writers who truly attempt to delve into human nature are not just trying to tell nice stories. Wyrms is not a nice story. It is, however, a good story.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fear, Hope, Phobia, Magic, July 19, 2000
I originally read this book under the gun in high school, to make up for something I did not do. However, it was like throwing Brer Rabbit into the brambles!Being my second OCD book (Seventh Son was my first), I had no predetermined expectations of the man's writing style. Being young, I had not the experience to see the parallels with Dune and other similar works. So the first reading was sheer joy...until the end. Many books I feel good after I read them. With Wyrms I felt...unbalanced. I have since read the book again, and drawn the parallels, and experienced his other work. And in the end, I still feel unbalanced. Card makes a statement about human nature that is ambiguous, using this novel as an allegory to the inner reaches of everyone's hearts. This book is excellent not only as a story for the sake of a story, but as a philisophical, somewhat religious, and extremely moral exploration into your own heart and soul. If you haven't read it, you'd better soon...
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