Favorite OSC book?

From Alvin Maker to Wyrms
anonshadow
Toon Leader
Toon Leader
Posts: 1065
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:03 pm

Favorite OSC book?

Postby anonshadow » Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:34 pm

Can anything trump the Ender books? Is there any other work that you adore *gasp* more than Ender?

I say, yes. Now, I adore all the Ender books. I do. However, the Worthing Saga is definitely my favorite of all of OSC's books.

I find the themes to be more gripping than the themes of any of the Ender books, and I like the way that you see little drops in history throughout the entire thing. I also enjoy the irony in the kind of life people on somec led and the way that the book was written.



User avatar
lyons24000
Toon Leader
Toon Leader
Posts: 540
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 12:46 pm
Title: Darn Red Shells!
Location: Texas
Contact:

Postby lyons24000 » Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:42 pm

Better then EG or SftD? Yah, right! There is nothing that can be better then those books...

But Pastwatch comes close.
"This must be the end, then."-MorningLightMountain, Judas Unchained

User avatar
v-girl
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 396
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 3:35 pm
Title: Dr. Posts-a-Lot
First Joined: 23 Mar 2001

Postby v-girl » Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:45 pm

the homecoming series is my next favorite after the ender books. especially the first three. i think OSC does the best with character development in these (but he also had three books to do so) and that's really the best thing about OSC's writing, IMO.

my favorite stand alone book was probably pastwatch. and to be completely honest, there are some i have read that i have no recollection of the plot, like wyrms and treason. i have to reread. :)

Jayelle
Speaker for the Dead
Speaker for the Dead
Posts: 4027
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 1:32 pm
Title: Queen Ducky
First Joined: 25 Feb 2002
Location: The Far East (of Canada)

Postby Jayelle » Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:20 pm

I love Treason, you can really tell it's where he started developing the ideas for AlvinMaker.

But most of all, I love LOVE Enchantment.
One Duck to rule them all.
--------------------------------
It needs to be about 20% cooler.

User avatar
Claire
Toon Leader
Toon Leader
Posts: 629
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:41 pm
Title: World Traveler
First Joined: 16 Dec 2002

Postby Claire » Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:25 pm

I love Alvin Maker. But I also really love Enchantment and Pastwatch.

User avatar
wizzard
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 319
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:10 pm
Title: if ever a wizz there was?
First Joined: 25 Jan 2003
Location: Chapel Hill

Postby wizzard » Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:34 pm

Alvin Maker and Pastwatch are both amazing.

I don't know why, but something about Enchantment felt... off, to me. It just wasn't up to the same standard as his other books.
Member since: January 25, 2003

"Morituri Nolumus Mori" -Rincewind

Don't feed the bezoar!

User avatar
lyons24000
Toon Leader
Toon Leader
Posts: 540
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 12:46 pm
Title: Darn Red Shells!
Location: Texas
Contact:

Postby lyons24000 » Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:58 pm

I've never read Enchantment or Worthing Saga. I've seen 'em both but they never captured my attention. Now I might just have to buy them both. (I always buy, never check out)
"This must be the end, then."-MorningLightMountain, Judas Unchained

Mahatma
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 268
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 10:14 pm
Location: Nowhere Land

Postby Mahatma » Wed Sep 27, 2006 11:17 pm

I love Pastwatch, Alvin Maker series, and Enchantment, in that order. But I didn't really like the Worthing Saga -- my spiritual perspective is very different from OSC's, and I didn't like the whole pain-is-better-than-numbness theme. Also, I was 16 when I read it... maybe I'd appreciate it more now.

But nothing for me will ever trump SftD.
"Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!"

Blitz
Launchie
Launchie
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:56 pm
Location: The high school in the middle of the wheatfield... (Go Wildcats!)

Postby Blitz » Thu Sep 28, 2006 6:43 pm

I loved Pastwatch and Songmaster, and Treason is definitely up there. But the Ender books are still my favorite.
Image

User avatar
Ela
Toon Leader
Toon Leader
Posts: 558
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 3:42 pm
Title: Get off my lawn!!
First Joined: 0- 9-2000
Location: Florida

Postby Ela » Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:17 am

My favorite OSC book of all is Speaker for the Dead.

Pastwatch was also excellent.

KennEnder
Toon Leader
Toon Leader
Posts: 764
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:21 pm
Title: Secret Agent Man
First Joined: 0- 0-2000
Location: USA

Postby KennEnder » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:19 pm

Wow, other than EG, I like a LOT of OSC books... and there are some I don't like so much too. But, in alphabetical order (because I can't decide!) my "favorites" are:

Alvin Maker
Lost Boys
Lovelock
Pastwatch
Songmaster
Treason
Treasure Box
Worthing Chronicle/Saga

pooka
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 7:11 am
Location: Maryland
Contact:

Postby pooka » Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:25 pm

I didn't understand a lot of The Worthing Saga. It still kind of escapes me, plus whenever he used a dead baby as stage dressing I was affected probably more than he meant for a reader to be. Similar to his essay about why he removed the n-word from Ender's Game. There can be dead babies, just not random anonymous dead babies thrown in for effect. I have reason to believe he wouldn't do that in his writing these days. But, yeah, I don't retain the point of "floating the stone". I would have to re-read it.

I just finished Magic Street and really enjoyed it immensely. I think as far as a stand-alone book goes, I might like it best. But nor more than the Speaker series altogether.

zeroguy
Commander
Commander
Posts: 2741
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 4:29 pm
Title: 01111010 01100111
First Joined: 0- 8-2001
Location: Where you least expect me.
Contact:

Postby zeroguy » Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:10 pm

It still kind of escapes me, plus whenever he used a dead baby as stage dressing I was affected probably more than he meant for a reader to be.
Err.... what?
Proud member of the Canadian Alliance.

dgf hhw

pooka
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 7:11 am
Location: Maryland
Contact:

Postby pooka » Tue Oct 03, 2006 5:08 am

Well, there was the dead baby whose vitals had been eaten by ants in the field, and the dessicated baby corpse that blocks his parents door shut. If it weren't for those two, I'd probably accept the baby that falls off the cliff. There may be more I'm forgetting.

eriador
KillEvilBanned
Posts: 2512
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2006 4:02 pm
Location: North Plains, OR (read Portland)

Postby eriador » Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:19 pm

I haven't read Enchantment, but my favorite is by far Treason. I've only read A Planet Called Treason, which (I think) is the shorter, earlier version.

My least favorite would have to be The Folk of the Fringe, the Mormonism aspect really turned me off.

Seiryu
Toon Leader
Toon Leader
Posts: 718
Joined: Tue Nov 21, 2006 7:54 pm
Location: Texas

Postby Seiryu » Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:16 pm

Treason
Lovelock
Ender's Game

Although...I've only really read the Ender's series, the first of the Homecoming series, Lovelock, and Treason. I need to read more. I have two of the Homecoming books and one Alvin Maker book as well as Past Watch.
Image
I don't believe in fairies!
(Dresden's battle cry going against fairies in book 4.)

christine
Launchie
Launchie
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2006 11:23 pm

Postby christine » Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:56 pm

i really really really liked Treasure Box.
and Lost Boys made me cry. :(
At times I think the Alvin Maker series is extremely boring but has occasional good aspects.
but that's just me.
enchantment was cute too :).

i dont think anything tops the enderverse though.

Seiryu
Toon Leader
Toon Leader
Posts: 718
Joined: Tue Nov 21, 2006 7:54 pm
Location: Texas

Postby Seiryu » Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:33 am

I'm reading Treasure Box now. I'll say one thing for it: it's pretty good at keeping my attention.

Edit: Treasure Box is definitely one of his better ones. :D
Last edited by Seiryu on Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image
I don't believe in fairies!
(Dresden's battle cry going against fairies in book 4.)

luminousnerd
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 478
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 1:11 am
Contact:

Postby luminousnerd » Wed Dec 27, 2006 1:13 am

The Homecoming series is a very, very good series. The second and third of which are the best. It's difficult to compare these with Ender's Game, since even though they are bough sci-fi, Homecoming has a whole lot of Fantasy Elements, I think.

But one thing I can say with certainty is that Orson Scott Card is brilliant.

User avatar
Sibyl
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 206
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:17 pm
Location: Kansas

Lost Boys

Postby Sibyl » Wed Dec 27, 2006 8:50 am

I just finished "Lost Boys" on Christmas Day, by pure coincidence. I had no idea that the last big scene would be on Christmas Eve, and the book's been kicking around the house for a while--the cover and blurbs gave me the idea that it would be imiatation Stephen King, and I detest SK: I wouldn't have had this one at all except that it was the only OSC that I hadn't read one day when I was cruising Hastings, and then with that impression, there were always other things that I'd rather read. Well, I was wrong, and I should have known better. It's a fine, fine, powerful, beautiful book about marriage and family, and besides the rest of it, I learned more about Mormons as they are inside their culture, and there were things that are perfectly applicable to Church People and internal "politics" of any church I've been in.

I can't say that one or the other is my favorite, but this one surely comes close.
It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

Sibyl

User avatar
Sibyl
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 206
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:17 pm
Location: Kansas

Postby Sibyl » Thu Feb 01, 2007 12:29 pm

Every time I finish an OSC book, that one's my favorite--until I've finished another one.

This time, it's "Treason". I didn't even like it much as I was reading, and it took quite a while, because when I'd get up to go do something else, I had no powerful urge to go back to it, but the end is so satisfying that it washes back over the middle and beginning. I'll have to reread very soon, to see whether knowing the end creates that powerful urge, or what.

I have to make exceptions on the Ender/Shadow serieses, though. In the case of those, only one of the volumes is a complete book in itself, it seems to me, that is, "Ender's Game". The Speaker series isn't complete without EG, either, and the Shadow series is all one (though lacking a satisfying end) -- I think it _might_ be complete without having read EG, I'm not sure. As a whole Series, though, each of those shares the "favoriteness". Probably the same goes for Alvin Maker, but I'm not unsatisfied with it.

It can't be that the man gets better and better, because I'm not reading the books in the order he wrote them, so it's got to be me somehow.
It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

Sibyl

User avatar
Sibyl
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 206
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:17 pm
Location: Kansas

Postby Sibyl » Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:27 am

I didn't understand a lot of The Worthing Saga. It still kind of escapes me, plus whenever he used a dead baby as stage dressing I was affected probably more than he meant for a reader to be. Similar to his essay about why he removed the n-word from Ender's Game. There can be dead babies, just not random anonymous dead babies thrown in for effect. I have reason to believe he wouldn't do that in his writing these days. But, yeah, I don't retain the point of "floating the stone". I would have to re-read it.

I just finished Magic Street and really enjoyed it immensely. I think as far as a stand-alone book goes, I might like it best. But nor more than the Speaker series altogether.
I haven't read Worthing yet, but the body of work of his that I _have_ read is positively _littered_ with dead babies: but they're always _important_ (so far). I'm willing to lay a bet that you just didn't see the symbolic point in any you regarded as "just stage dressing": I'll settle it for myself when I do get to Worthing.

I don't think he uses dead babies casually: I strongly suspect that he writes them from his own pain of his lost children, and anointing of his scar tissue.

Way back when I was writing papers in college English classes, and interested in psychology and psychoanalysis, I discovered that it was an easy A to pseudopsychoanalyze writers, as long as it was also done with good grammar and spelling, which came naturally to me (no spellcheck in those days, and even now I have a good eye for other people's errors in homonyms, which spellcheck passes, as long as they're real words, and their overdependance on computers). Even then, I was cynical about it, and more so when I read CS Lewis' remarks about how mistaken such critics usually were when writing about living writers--how much safer they were by waiting until the writers were dead and couldn't contradict them. Nonetheless, it's still tempting.

Every parent I've known in the Real World who's lost one or more children, whether in the child's first day of life or in their adulthood, has been deeply scarred by the loss, and it's colored the remainder of their lives. My grandmother, who gave birth to eleven, was very proud of having raised all of them to adulthood, and still scarred and mourned for the rest of her own life the boys who died after her responsibility for them was past. Even though I've had and raised only one, and she's a mother now herself, her death (I even have trouble writing that as a hypothetical) is still my nightmare. I'm much more afraid of hers than of my own.

Getting back to the topic, I did just finish "Homebody", and I don't think that it's a spoiler to say that it's centered around a dead child, who dies before the start of the novel, but whose memory is the center of her father's life, or what's left of it.
It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

Sibyl

User avatar
wigginboy
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 277
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 11:38 am
First Joined: 0- 2-2004
Location: Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

Postby wigginboy » Wed Feb 07, 2007 12:36 pm

I characterize 'favourites' as books that I can read over and over again and feel like its a new and amazing book everytime. I feel this way with many of OSC's books, but the few that really stick out to me are Ender's Game (of course), Pastwatch (which im currently re-reading for the fourth time) and Treason. These books just struck me as being amazing, both the ideas presented and the way they are presented. Card has a distinct writing style and these books, I feel, exhibit that style and illustrate exactly the message Card wants to project.


EDIT:
I picked up The Worthing Saga a few days ago and im about halfway through. this book, despite being not all the way read yet, has officially made my favourites list. i love the shifts in time, the characterization, the language, the references to religion. this is a hell of a book, wild with imagery and written expertly to tell a fascinating story. i cant wait to finish it, im always wondering what new shift the story is going to make, and where it will lead.

more on this once i am done

turidoth
Launchie
Launchie
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2007 11:16 pm

my faves

Postby turidoth » Wed Jan 02, 2008 11:06 pm

in order:

Ender's game
Homecoming series
Pastwatch
Shadow series

I felt SofD, Xenocide and CotM were too long... Wyrms didn't make much sense to me

User avatar
Darth Petra
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 437
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2007 8:16 am
Title: Some call me... Tim
Location: The Bates Motel

Postby Darth Petra » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:35 am

Ender's Game is the best! But The Worthing Saga comes close to being bester.
"Death is the only serious preoccupation in life."
- The Count of Monte Cristo

CreoleBeanFan
Launchie
Launchie
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2008 4:48 pm

Postby CreoleBeanFan » Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:04 am

My favorite OSC book of all is Speaker for the Dead.

Pastwatch was also excellent.
Moi, Aussi.

Speaker for the Dead
Pastwatch

And then all the rest. I really enjoyed the Worthing Saga. I liked Enchantment, and Pandoro's box scared the Bejeezus out of me (I enjoyed it).

I've only read the first of the Alvin Maker series, and I attempted Homecoming when I was a teenager, but didn't get very far into it.

Jayelle
Speaker for the Dead
Speaker for the Dead
Posts: 4027
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 1:32 pm
Title: Queen Ducky
First Joined: 25 Feb 2002
Location: The Far East (of Canada)

Postby Jayelle » Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:59 am

Pandoro's box scared the Bejeezus out of me (I enjoyed it).
Do you mean Treasure Box?
One Duck to rule them all.
--------------------------------
It needs to be about 20% cooler.

User avatar
wigginboy
Soldier
Soldier
Posts: 277
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 11:38 am
First Joined: 0- 2-2004
Location: Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

Postby wigginboy » Sat Jun 28, 2008 5:21 pm

After I finished Worthing Saga, like it wasn't really complete. Maybe that's because it is just a collection of stories and we only see small glimpses of a long history. I did enjoy the characters and the writing style of each of the sections flowed well with each of the others. the parallels to Mormon theology are apparent but not obvious to the untrained eye.

that said, I would have to count Worthing among my favourites. If had to choose three top favourites, from the bottom up they would be: Lost Boys (3), Xenocide(2) Treason(1).

zeroguy
Commander
Commander
Posts: 2741
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 4:29 pm
Title: 01111010 01100111
First Joined: 0- 8-2001
Location: Where you least expect me.
Contact:

Postby zeroguy » Sun Jun 29, 2008 1:47 am

If had to choose three top favourites, from the bottom up they would be: Lost Boys (3), Xenocide(2) Treason(1).
Yay, another Xenocide fan! It often seems like we are few in number, around here.

I could never see myself putting Treason near that high, though, in my own hypothetical list. You'll be on your own there...
Proud member of the Canadian Alliance.

dgf hhw

LilBee91
Toon Leader
Toon Leader
Posts: 2081
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 5:43 pm
Title: AK Hermione
First Joined: 10 Jan 2005

Postby LilBee91 » Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:21 am

Yay, another Xenocide fan! It often seems like we are few in number, around here.
http://xkcd.com/304/

It's been linked before, but I couldn't resist.

I actually love Xenocide. It was my favorite for a while. Then I realized that I could not stand Qing-Jao, which kind of killed it (i.e. dropped it to the bottom of the Ender series, but still above almost anything else I've read). There are some characters I love to hate, but she just isn't one of them.

That being said, CotM and EG are probably tied for my favorite OSC book. I love the Shadow series (kill me later), and I thought Alvin Maker was pretty good, but I think Ender wins. Other than that I've only read Enchantment, which was a good read, but I don't think I'll give up my precious bookshelf space for it.
I used to hate gravity because it would not let me fly. Now I realize it is gravity that lets me stand.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

User avatar
Luet
Speaker for the Dead
Speaker for the Dead
Posts: 4511
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 3:49 pm
Title: Bird Nerd
First Joined: 01 Jul 2000
Location: Albany, NY

Postby Luet » Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:46 am

I guess I never replied to this, hmm.

Pastwatch, Worthing Saga and maybe Songmaster. Those would be my top 3 non-Ender books. I really like the first three Homecoming but the last two kind of ruin it. As far as the Ender books go, I love SftD and Xeno both immensely and on a much different level than I do EG. CotM was more...meh.
"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." - Albert Camus in Return to Tipasa

Eddie Pinz
Toon Leader
Toon Leader
Posts: 832
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:27 pm
Title: Ganon's Bane

Postby Eddie Pinz » Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:26 pm

I have only read three other OSC books. The ranking of them would be:
Enchantment
Worthing Saga
Pastwatch

I enjoyed Enchantment much more than I thought I would and Pastwatch less than the thought I would. Things just worked out too perfectly in Pastwatch. I started to get confused in the Worthing Saga with all of the stories, trying to remember who was who and all that. I definitely need to reread it. I don't think any of these would rank above the Ender books though.

User avatar
Luet
Speaker for the Dead
Speaker for the Dead
Posts: 4511
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 3:49 pm
Title: Bird Nerd
First Joined: 01 Jul 2000
Location: Albany, NY

Postby Luet » Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:41 am

Worthing Saga is one that definitely needs multiple reads to make sense. When I finished reading it the first time, I felt like I had forgotten the beginning by the time I got to the end. I've probably read it 4-5 times now and I feel like I get something more out of it each time.
"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." - Albert Camus in Return to Tipasa

OrsonScottCardFan
Launchie
Launchie
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:09 pm
Contact:

Postby OrsonScottCardFan » Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:50 am

My Favorites would have to be:
Ender's Game
Enchantment
Treasure Box
Homebody
Speaker for the Dead















The only book that I don't really like is The Folk of the Fringe.

User avatar
Astrum
Launchie
Launchie
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:11 pm

Postby Astrum » Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:37 pm

I'm undecided. Either The Call of Earth or Speaker for the Dead.
I'm too bored to think of some witty remark to go here. Just imagine there is one and laugh at how funny it is.


Return to “Other Orson Scott Card Novels, Stories and Adaptations”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests