Lovelock (The Mayflower Trilogy, Book 1)

Rating:
Summary: A quick fun read - but typical Card....
Review: Whenever I long for good hard Sci Fi I reach for one of my well worn volumes from the Masters: e.g.:Heinlein and Asimov. Cards Sci Fi is, however, in many ways much more refined. His dialogue and characters don't feel as stilted (or, in the case of Heinlein, preachy). This does not come as a surprise. After all, Card is a master at characterization. But sometimes his deep characterization takes away, rather than enhances, a read as it does in the case of Lovelock. Please! Do we need ANOTHER book from Card about dysfunctional families? About poor interfamily relationships filled with internecine psychological warfare (carried to an even greater extreme in his Ships of Earth series)? Card NEEDS this type of characterization so badly that he fills this book with conradictions rather than try to write something without resorting to tired intrafamily drama. For instance, near the end of the book (I'm not giving away any important plot lines here for you that have not yet read it) he writes that "the Ark had been clearly limited to heterosexuals in order to maximize the breeding potential... on the new world." If this was the case, why does he fill his Ark with others with no clear contribution, much less breeding potential.. i.e. the idle grandparents and virtually every other character introduced (most of whom he obviously puts there for us to loathe). The Ark idea has been done many times before and is an excellent plot device but populating it with no good ne-er do well gossippers really caused me to sit back and loose my sense of suspension of disbelief. No one would go to the incredible expense of funding such a journey and then populate it with such idiots.
That said, the enhanced animal witness idea is marvelous. Lovelock is a wonderful character. I can't wait to read the next book just to see what happens to him. His thoughts about slavery and the human soul are fine reading. I just hope I don't have to wade through even more dysfunctional families to get to the real meat of this book. If I want to listen to dysfunctional people I'll just listen to Dr. Laura's radio show a while to get my fill. Still, I read it in two nights and mildly enjoyed it.