Rating: 
Summary: Should have left it as a short story
Review: It is quite obvious that this was originally a short story. It should have stayed one. Instead, Card added 400 pages of side stories that never tied into the main plot line. Read the last 50 pages and skip the rest. I understand that there are many people who praised this book and I can only assume that they share Card's faith and enjoyed the detailed description of life as a Mormon. But if you pick up the book, read the synopsis on the back and buy it based on that you'll be fooled as 90% of the pages are unrelated to the "main" story. I kept getting angry as the story went no where until the last few pages. Skip it.
Rating: 
Summary: All the Reviews are On-Target
Review: Every so often I see a film or read a book that 'disturbs' me for several days. Symptoms including a dazed/off-center mental state and a distraction from 'reality' possessed me in the days after seeing. 'Schindler's List', 'The Sixth Sense', and reading Malachi Martin's 'Hostage to the Devil'. This 'disturbance' has its good and bad qualities. Best of all, it is stimulating, helps clear my mind and provoke deep thoughts. So I was surprised when 'Lost Boys' affected me the same way.If you're a parent, this book will disturb you in many ways. OSC puts in writing every nightmare a parent has over the sanity and safety of his/her kids--- kids getting lost, adjustment problems at a new school and town, creepy people whom you're not quite sure to trust your kids with, the evils of computer/video games, child predators... On a par with 'Ender's Game', 'Lost Boys' has good plot and fine 3-D characters. For you Ender fans, OSC spins a different kind of story here---one about the mundane issues of everyday family life. However, as you turn the pages, you care more and more about what happens to the family, while suspense and creepiness build higher and higher. Card skillfully moves the story and mood along. You also get an interesting and frank look at husband-wife relationship dynamics that portrayed each's side very well. Some OSC readers (or the uninitiated) may criticize the way he weaves 'Mormonness' into his work. I always found the tie-in of his Faith to his books as interesting and informative adjuncts to his story, and not as 'missionary work' for his Church. 'Lost Boys' is no exception. Faith and Family are important elements of this story, and Card gives us a little more than a peek at what Life-As-a-Mormon is all about. I agree in part with the reviewer who loved all but the ending. True, the pace is sluggish for the first half, and then increases steadily. The ending comes hard and with a jolt. But that's not all bad. Because at the end, that 'disturbed' feeling hit me, and I reflected long and hard about things I hadn't seriously thought about before.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy the audio tape version....
Review: I just picked up an audio tape version of this book in a bargain bin, and was held as its prisoner during a long drive. I don't have any doubt that Card spun a good tale in the book version, but if there were some holes left in the print version (as another reviewer pointed out) they came across as craters on tape. Unlike the print version, which I believe may have carried the subplots more effectively, I revealed the end of the book (out loud) to any empty car a good hour before it ended... the tape version was that transparent. It wasn't the worst way to spend 3 hours, but I have to think I may have cheated myself out of a good book by taking it in this way.
Rating:
Summary: Expect to be Disappointed
Review: This book starts off at a fast pace and after the first couple of chapters you will be hooked. It is about a family who moves to NC (so that the father may work for a small software company) and the stress and changes that affect all of them. Card sets a creepy tone for the book from the beginning and this is further enhanced by the environments he creates for Step at work, DeAnne at home, and Stevie at school. But it seems that Card either didn't know where the book was going or got tired of writing it, because the last 50 pages bring the story to an abrupt end and do nothing to address many of the sub-plots in the book. If you are fan of Card's you will buy this book despite a bad review, but when you are finished, don't say you weren't warned that you would be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow!
Review: I think this is possibly the best-written book Card has done, and I don't think enough people appreciate that. I first heard a reading of the original short-story version of this novel and it kept me awake nights for weeks thinking about it: This is one of those rare stories that does that. This is not a hard-core horror novel. It's about a family in their everyday struggles against evil. For Mormons, it holds a deeper lesson about learning how God really communicates to people, but you by no means need to Mormon to enjoy it. This book showed me that my marriage and family relations were normal. One of Card's strengths is his characterization. He is the only male author I've found that writes believable female characters that other women can identify with. He understands that children are also people with fully developed personalities. The children in this novel are just as real as the adults. Even in Card's descriptions of everyday life, I found it hard to put this book down. Read it -- it may permanently change your life.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome characters
Review: I usually read fiction to put myself to sleep. Lost Boys kept me awake and I read it cover to cover. My attention usually glides over the top of a story line but this novel had me read with anticipation. The strength of the novel lies in Card's characters and their depth. DeAnne, the wife, is particularly powerfully crafted. It is not often that an author can draw a character through events rather than description. While the emplotment is superior - there are no threads left untied - it is the frailties and foibles of DeAnne and the strongly male Step, her husband, that kept me awake until the wee hours. Their dialogues were vehicles of deep faith and an unabiding struggle to be authentic with each other, to be present amidst forces that usually divide and conquer. The pulsing undercurrent of the supernatural for me was the second theme to their relationship. The ending was a triumph of "bringing it all home." But the feeling I'm left with is I want to know what next happens with DeAnne and Step.
Rating:
Summary: orson scott card is keeping me up at nite
Review: my only criticism of this book is that i couldn't put it down. i've only read one other of his books and this one blew me away! he writes in such a way that you feel like he's explaining everything just for you. in this book, i especially liked the whole 80's computer thing. from programming on the atari to whether or not the lisa from apple would take off. this book is full of extra characters that you have no idea if they are important or not, but you just feel the need to keep an eye on them. some come back to haunt you, some don't. i do have to admit that some parts of the book are a little predictable, but it doesn't take away from the overall feeling you get from this book. by the time i finally finished it (4am) i just sort of put it down and sat there. reviewing in my head all that had just transpired. what an amazing family, lifestyle and mystery. wow.
Rating:
Summary: compelling , disturbing, and unforgetable
Review: I read this book in a single all day sitting. Only once before have I been so engrossed. It was a kidless Saturday and this book took ahold of me immediately. The characters seemed so human, so frail and yet amazinly potent. As the mother of sons it stirred up emotion in such a way that although it seemed my heart would break I couldn't put it down. Card knows good and evil in a way I just can't explain. I've now read his Ender series and am quite a fan of his Alvin Maker series but this book will leave you contemplating life for a good while after you close the book.
Rating:
Summary: Moving
Review: I don't think I had ever read a book which really haunted me. I read it the other night and I'm still thinking about it. Also, I'm used to reading books where I can predict the ending..This had a surprise ending. I'm ashamed to admit but it actually made me cry.
Rating:
Summary: It speaks to parents on a very deep level...
Review: I read this book for the first time not long after it came out, when I was still single and had no children of my own. I enjoyed it for the characters, and appreciated the innovative ending, which isn't what anyone would expect, even if you went in looking for a paranormal mystery. I just read it again, and it was vastly different for me, because now I am a parent and a husband. Now I noticed all the details about the moral and emotional dilemas faced by the characters, about the way people have to face the fears of the world outside. There isn't a false word in the book. Every observation Card makes about people, about love, about good and evil, rings absolutely true. as much as I love the book, I have to take away one star because it is absolutley heartbreaking. The grief in the ending, even though it is mixed with a wonderfully transcendent kind of hope, is simply overwhelming. If you have children you will want to grab them and hold them close when you finish this book.
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