Enchantment

Rating:
Summary: A great read for new and old Card fans...
Review: If you have read a few of Cards novels you may find this one to be very interesting and refreshing. If you have not, then you are in for a treat. Card uses his brilliance to take you on a whirlwind tour of fantasy. Many readers that claim to dislike SciFi begin a Card SciFi novel knowing what they'll think but come out of it surprised. Enchantment is no different on the fantasy side. He quickly develops real characters. People that you can actually believe might exist. He sends you to a time that sends a tingle up your spine in wonder and amazement. But in the midst of all the magic and adventure of this splendid novel, you can't help but question the people around you. (Is that just a necklace around your neck?) Card has made his work that believeable. If you are in doubt still whether to get this book... then all I can say is this: TRY IT!

Rating:
Summary: Man stuffs America into 9th century Russia
Review: This book failed on quite a few levels. To anyone who has a background in Russian folklore (I don't have a degree, I just grew up there), the villain characters will seem artificial and unrealistic. Card barely taps the deep vein of traditional Russian folklore. He barely even evokes the magnificent spirit. Card also seems convinced that profanity somehow lends credence to his writing. A number of unnecessary tangents coming off his characteristic "train of thought" passages distracts the reader. His utter lack of imagery leads to disinterest despite the tighly-knit story with several good characters. On the other hand, some points in the story were not explained enough, especially some parts in the beginning, leading to confusion. While Card means well (or does he?), he still manages to write several questionable opinions of religion that I'm sure SOMEONE will find distasteful. Finally, all characters behave as if they were just out of US: I felt no feeling of "immersion" into a foreign culture.

I'm not saying that it's a bad book. It's just the last book you want to open if you want to find out about Russian folklore.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent "What came next" story!
Review: I am probably the only sci-fi/fantasy reader in the United States who read "Enchantment" as her introduction to Orson Scott Card's fiction. As unbelievable as it may sound, I avoided reading every OSC book, despite the fact that my sister and best friend did everything but read "Ender's Game" to me. You see, "EG" was once a class assignment (I chose to read Dickens' "David Copperfield" instead -- talk about your opposite book!), and after that, I refused to read it more out of obstinance than anything else. But I'm glad I read "Enchantment."

Coming right off the heels of Robin McKinley's "Spindle's End," I wasn't sure "Enchantment" would be different enough to hold my attention. I was, fortunately, wrong! The best part about this book, aside from complete characters, effortless narration, and a compelling plot -- no small asides! -- was the fact that it had much more to do with what happened AFTER Ivan kissed and awoke the princess. We learned about her village, ancient Slavic culture and religion, magic (both ancient and modern) and the inner workings of an enchanted princess.

Card handled 8 viewpoints with ease, though of course the dominant ones were Ivan, Princess Katerina, and the witch, Baba Yaga. As I am completely unfamiliar with Russian culture and folklore, I found OSC's version of Baba Yaga a completely hideous and believable villain; I was glad to get her viewpoint throughout the story. I also appreciated OSC's depiction of modern and ancient Russia, which to me are now familiar in my head. He conveys incredible amounts of information in few words, and the plot never lags; though this is a long book, it is a quick read. We also feel like we get to know the characters right away, and he writes with equal believability about women and men (I guess it helps to have a wife who proofreads your work :-) ).

If you ever wanted to read an excellent story, get to know many interesting characters, and find out what happened after Sleeping Beauty woke up, read "Enchantment"!

Rating:
Summary: sleeping beauty brought back to life
Review: Orson Scott Card's unique voice stirs through the spec fiction world. Enchantment is a delightful view on the classic fairy tale sleeping beauty. We find a cast of intriquing characters. I find his use of Russian Folk Tales and insights into dark age Christianity and Judaism in comparison to our own times thought provoking. componed with a sprinking of pagan and neopaganism makes for an intriquing insight into how the world religions interact. But this book does have a few flaws. You find a dispassionate scholarly view of the world. Though it held my interest I didn't care about the characters very much. And in some ways the secondary characters start to blend. But I love cross over fantasies and Card is great at writing them.

Rating:
Summary: Enchantment really was enchanting...
Review: I fell in love with Card's books a few years ago when my English teacher forced us to read Ender's Game. I loathed science fiction and fantasy until I opened that book, and I've been hooked ever since. I ran across Enchantment at the library, and thought "He couldn't possibly have made the story of sleeping beauty any less boring than it was when I was little." I checked it out anyway, and I'm glad I did. There are so many twists and turns in Enchantment. Every page has a new surprise. And, just as with the Ender saga, I found myself attached to the characters, praying for them as if my little hopes would change the words on the page...and crying when things went well for them or when they weren't so lucky. If my grandmother had told fairy tales like this, I would never have gone to sleep. I've read for two days, barely stopping to eat. I'm glad I'm finished and can return to reality, but I can't help but wish there was just one more page.

Rating:
Summary: An engrossing and thoughtful book.
Review: Enchantment is a beautifully written story. Card has a gift for introducing deep concepts such as religion and morality and weaving them into the story in way that allows for deep introspection that is NOT boring. Besides that, this is a just a plain great story with real characters and an exciting plot. I enjoyed every aspect of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Masterful blending of modern fiction and fairy tales.
Review: A masterful work by Card. Weaves modern characters into a perfect blend of historical fiction and a classic fairy tale. Card amazingly manages to create a 9th century kingdom that is both historically believable and as full of magic and enchantment as any fairy tale. Card also writes extremely well. His prose is effective and descriptive and never dull. This is a book that is fulfilling to read without being difficult to read. Full of well thought out and developed charcters whose actions and motivations are realistic and compelling, and a well crafted story that does not always unfold has expected, but never forgets that underneath it all it's a fairy tale. Card aptly demonstrates that he can still write science fiction and fantacy equal to Ender's Game.

Rating:
Summary: Truly Enchanting!
Review: The novel Enchantment can essentially be described in one simple phrase: Impossible to put down. Normally, I read one chapter of a novel then become disinterested, but not with Enchantment. Orson Scott Card writes so fluidy, and the plot so flawless that this novel is truly "enchanting." After reading it, I felt as if I had learned a great deal about Russian heritage, as well as being entertained by the story of witches, magic charms, forgotten kingdoms, and most importantly, what true love really is.

Rating:
Summary: A new classic. Card's best ever.
Review: I'm a tough critic, and I don't throw around sentences like "this is the best work of fantasy I've read in a year" without giving the matter some thought. But this is a really superb story. I cannot see where it could have been done better, and I don't say that often.

It's superb because it is told vigorously and plausibly. Assume for a few hours that gods and magic have been real, and that there can be magic bridges across time, and the actions of the characters make perfect sense. They are all intelligent problem-solvers - not only Ivan and his parents and Princess Katarina, but the witch-queen Baba Yaga and her captive Bear-god. At no point does Card feel the need to make a leading character into a dunce or a lunatic to shove the plot along.

Card also avoids many pitfalls which you might be afraid that he fell into, given the subject matter and the fact that he really succumbed to some of them in the "Alvin Maker" series. For example, he does not bog the story down in discussing contemporary post-Soviet politics, or in the fine points of culture and technology in tenth-century Ukraine, nor in determining who the real heroes and villains were in Eastern Europe then, nor does he clutter the volume with every Russian folk tale element ever recorded. Nor, although this book does elaborate on the "Sleeping Beauty" story, is it merely a self-conscious "retelling" of the kind that we fantasy readers have come to dread, often in connection with Arthurian legend. The present and the past are nicely balanced and interwoven, and the center of attention throughout is on the story rather than on its setting and provenance.

Furthermore, he manages to throw in a few surprising plot twists, which is difficult to do in a story like this, considering that you mostly expect that the hero and heroine are not going to get killed by Baba Yaga and it's mainly a question of how they will win. Nothing here is trite. Furthermore Card avoids the temptation to explain "everything" at the end or to develop a textbook on the laws of magic. He recognizes that some things have to be explained, but other things just work because that's how they work in fairy tales, and he draws the line between the two sets of things quite well.

You know how you know that a book has really worked? After you are done with the book - you find that you aren't really done with it. You leaf back through it and re-read some of the nicely done parts and recapture how you felt at the first read-through. Then you put it on your shelf along with your other favorite books, where you can pick it up in a few months or a year and read it again. Not all that much stuff by Card has made it onto that shelf of mine, but this one has.

Rating:
Summary: From a reader in the midwest
Review: What I love about this book is how it tells a modern story that still feels like a fairy tale - that is quite an accomplishment - to make the point of view 'rational' but still preserve the feeling of myth