67. The Memory of Earth by Orson Scott Card (Science fiction) 330 p.

After falling in love with the Ender series this year, I decided to get to know some of Card’s other series. I had never read a review of the Homecoming series, but I knew from reading his open letter (addressing concerns about plagiarism in The Memory of Earth) that it’s based on the story of the Book of Mormon. I was interested to see what Card would do with a sacred story from his own religion, in giving it a science fiction setting and thus opening it to a wider audience.

For forty million years, the world of Harmony has been a world without large-scale conflict. The Oversoul, an artificial intelligence satellite system revered as a god, has suppressed any thoughts that would lead to such conflicts. While some technologies have flourished, mechanical transportation and anything large than hand weapons have not been invented. Now a crisis has come: the Oversoul, designed by humans fleeing the destruction of Earth, has far outlasted its intended lifespan, but humanity has not yet learned how to live in peace. Despite its best efforts, the Oversoul is breaking down.

How closely the story of The Memory of Earth follows the Book of Mormon is impossible for me to tell, since I’m totally unfamiliar with the latter. I do know that Card, as usual, tells a brilliant and engaging tale, one which left me thoughtful and eager for the next in the series.

I had some of the same problems with this book that I had with Xenocide, namely that I found many of the characters annoying and unsympathetic. The fact that Card clearly intends them to be so didn’t stop them from diminishing my enjoyment of the book somewhat, but I wouldn’t say that the story itself suffers for their presence. Quite the contrary, since they all have a role to play in its moral framework.

And that’s important, because Homecoming, even more than the Ender saga, has a point to make, and it isn’t really possibly to evaluate the books individually, except as entertainment. In that context, The Memory of Earth is a success: I couldn’t put it down.

Pages read: 19,303

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, A ~ Z Reading Challenge, Cardathon Challenge Redux, Homecoming, Orson Scott Card