Rating: 
Summary: A great read!
Review: Innovatative, exciting, funny, sexy, written in Card's thoughtful prose. Worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Enchantment: Enchanting
Review: Once again, Orson Scott Card has done a masterful job of making fantastical situations seem realistic -- even the relationship between the malevolent witch, Baba Yaga, and her kidnapped Bear-god husband. This is a well written story of clashing cultures, modern and ancient, as well as clashing spiritualities: Christian, Jewish, Pagan. The novel is respectful of them all. It's also a romance with a happy ending that bridges both worlds. And contrary to what one reviewer wrote, Bruce Cockburn (whose lyrics are quoted in the novel) IS cool!
Rating: 
Summary: Well-wrought story - poor research
Review: While Card does a marvelous job at making his characters lifelike and close to the reader, I found the storyline to be almost laughable if you have any knowledge of Slavic folklore. The character names are as generic as they can possibly be (Prince John saves Princess Mary). Likewise, the choice of villains is puzzling at best - why choose a classic witch that never did any major harm but steal a few children (Baba Yaga is moderately comparable to a forest hag) when the tales offer a much richer array with more ambitions with an epic scope- the undead lord Kashchei the Deathless, the Nightingale Marauder, and numerous others?From a plot side of the book I likewise consider this to be one of Card's lesser successes: some readers may be... turned away at his graphic portrayals (just like they were in Ender's Shadow, where Card used the intensity of bowel movements as his tool) of various aspects. If you want an excellent "modern character in ancient setting" book, try Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever sagas.
Rating: 
Summary: A Gentle Read
Review: This is a book that gently pulls at you to keep readingSome books, including those by Card, hook you with an urgency to complete them. This book gently invites you to keep going. I strongly disagree with M.K. Whitmer's comments. This book is not prurient or obsessed with sex. The scenes which might be conidered carnal show vast cultural differences between the past and the present and show the difficulties of each main character in adjusting to the other era. The marriage bed scene is written to clearly emphasize the love in the relationship, not the sex. I was amazed at its gentleness.
Rating:
Summary: A Classically Literate Fairy Tale
Review: I purchased this book in hardcover at a book signing and since have recommended to approximately 25 friends and relations. The reasons for the high recommendation are apparent in the first chapter. Card has an unparalleled ability to pen 3-dimensional characters with just a few words of conversation. While this book is ostensibly a modern reworking of Sleeping Beauty, Katarina, the princess, is no idealized archetype and Ivan is the most unlikely of heroes, though a thoroughly modern man. The warp of 20th century values and the woof of mythology create a wholly original yet still romantic tapestry for the author's exploration of such weighty topics as one's "place" in society and how one defines one's self-worth. Like most of Card's books this can be read on several different comprehension levels and it is equally enjoyable on all.
Rating:
Summary: Card is a master storyteller
Review: I was amazed at the wonderful grace with which Orson Scott Card has transformed the classic story of Sleeping Beauty into a entrancingly original tale. I had a hard time putting the book down and was enthralled by the eloquent prose.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Read
Review: An excellent novel that tells a wonderful story with intelligence and grace. If we keep Card writing then the world will be better off.
Rating:
Summary: read ths book!
Review: this book did for me in fantasy what Ender's Game did for me for science fiction. Card truly understands humanity. This is a fun book to read, and he makes you THINK- he brings up many questions that most of us are too afraid to ask.
Rating:
Summary: I woke up in the middle of the night so I could keep reading
Review: One previous reviewer wrote that this book was so "carnal" that s/he didn't want to read it. For a book written in this decade there was hardly anything sexy. Frankly, I would've liked more! There are two kinds of everything: good and bad, and this book was simply great. The story was original, suspenseful, the characters well-developed and likeable, and every sentence phrased so beautifully that the content almost didn't matter.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to the standards Card has had in the past
Review: Having read many of Card's books I was very disappointed with the quality of this new offering. It seems that over the years he has become more enamored with the carnal side of writing. What could once be considered a small part of the text has now become so pervasive as to dilute any story or plot line he is trying to tell. It seems that Mr. Card is drifting to the side of the sensational and abandoning the real art of story-telling. I was so disappointed with this book that I couldn't finish... a first for me.
| 
