As I’ve said before, Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite authors, mainly for the books associated with the Ender’s Game novel, the sequels and other series in that “world.”
I have read several of Card’s other novels, since I enjoy his writing style – his novels are “clean” of language and sex, and yet they are intelligent, logic driven stories. However, I have yet to find another series of his that is on par with the Ender stories.
But I keep looking, and in that search, the Pathfinder series was recommended to me.
Pathfinder is the story of Rigg. Rigg is a young man raised in obscurity, and when his “father” dies, Rigg receives his inheritance and a quest. The rest of the book is an exploration of the world, the journey, and the gathering of friends around Rigg.
Overall, Pathfinder was interesting. It was somewhat predictable, but not enough that it made the story boring. I enjoyed the characters. The setup of the world (a little sci-fi and fantasy mix) was cool and had a lot of potential. A good portion of the book is how the main characters discover their “powers” and how they can use them individually and together, experimenting and using those powers to overcome obstacles. While this style of writing is far more common in sci-fi/fantasy today, Card has always done a good job describing the limits, the rules, of things in his writing and then showing how his characters manipulate those rules in an intelligent way to overcome obstacles. It is done well here, but it is also a large portion of the book.
As a novel, it was interesting and I enjoyed it, but I don’t know if I enjoyed it enough to continue in the series. It was an average story and a tad long-winded. Elements (the world, the setup, and the discovery of powers) were well done and engaging, but the story within could have been a little better, I feel. Entertaining and enjoyable. Recommended if you like Card’s style and that combination of sci-fi and power discovery and manipulation.
Peace.