Pastwatch

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Summary: Very smart sci-fi; almost reads like a history book...
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Pastwatch. It is perhaps the most cerebral science fiction book I have ever read - not at all what I expected. It really applealed to me, mainly because it explores alternate/possible pasts and futures. The only complaint I could have is that some of the detailed histories, especially of the Central Americas, sort of bogs down. Very good, overall. Brian Hone

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing.
Review: This is very much an Orson Scott Card novel: the characters spend a good third of the book debating whether what they want to do (the main action of the story) is ethical or not. I found both the premise and the resolution intriguing; I thought things worked out a little bit too neatly at the end, though (this book was a long time in the writing, if his comments in the bibliography are any indication; it really seemed like the last part of the book should be 100-200 pages longer, since the whole story was building up to it and then it was over pretty quickly). I'm a little surprised that this is "volume 1"; I didn't notice any particularly loose ends. I liked it, but I like books where the characters experience moral quandries. You might or might not

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Summary: Provocative, challenging, fun--but admittedly unrealistic
Review: Card is famous for weaving fascinating metaphysical and philosophical questions into page-turning narratives. He strikes again with "Pastwatch," a time-travel novel that imagines how the world might be different if we could make small changes to significant historical events. We've all considered how much better our lives might be if, when we were younger, we knew what we know now. Card applies this idea on a macrocosmic scale, imagining what the world would be like if we could introduce twentieth-century sensibilities into the minds of sixteenth-century people.

In a not-too-distant future, the survivors of a near-apocalypse develop a technology that allows them to observe the past and to record historical events for posterity. Tagiri, her daughter Diko, and several friends and coworkers become obsessed with Columbus's voyage to America. While acknowledging his genius as an individual, they deplore the unintended (and intended) consequences: genocide, slavery, ecological destruction. After realizing that it is possible to convey information to the past, they attempt to stymie Columbus's success.

If you're expecting a work of historical fiction, "Pastwatch" isn't a book for you. While Card's fictional characters consider and discard a number of obvious objections to each historical speculation, readers can still find fault with certain specifics of Card's historical, scientific, and anthropological assumptions. The Atlantis myth, for example, is supported by evidence that has been thoroughly discounted by Rhys Carpenter and other historians.

It's equally implausible that a resurgent Tlaxcalan empire could have invaded and conquered Europe if Columbus hadn't traveled to America first. While considering this idea, the novel's heroes compare the epidemics that wiped out Native Americans to the occasional plagues that visited Europe. Noting that "not one nation in Europe fell because of these plagues," they determine that an American empire would have been able to survive as well. But the two situations are not remotely comparable: Europe had the luxury of dealing with one disease at a time, while several major epidemics struck America simultaneously and obliterated as much as 80% of the population (and entire communities). Furthermore, an invading army hit by such devastation would hardly be in any shape to conquer overseas territories.

Yet Card doesn't really get bogged down with all the "what ifs." He's much more interested in "if only..." I don't think he's expecting his readers to believe as much as he's challenging us to think. His novel compares civilization's evil elements (e.g., New World human sacrifice versus Old World slavery) and imagines what the world would be like if, for instance, Christians had behaved as their theology suggests. While neither preachy nor "politically correct," this is in fact a deeply religious novel. Like the best works of science fiction, "Pastwatch" considers some difficult human questions and wraps them in an electrifying story.

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Summary: Mind bending meddling with history
Review: Far in the future, earth's population has been ravaged by war, drought, famine and plague. But the survivors have learned their lesson. Efforts are expended to replant the rain forests, reclaim the deserts, save the species that remain. No one goes hungry or uneducated.

A few scientists use machines to delve into the past, trying to understand how humanity reached such a pass. These are the focus of Card's "Pastwatch" One, Tagiri, highly sensitive to the suffering of others, sees the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus and the enslavement and slaughter of the indigenous people, as the major significant event.

Discovering the strange vision that committed Columbus to his course she and her team begin to wonder if it's possible to change history - even though they know that change will not guarantee a better world and will cancel their own.

Card explores his themes through alternate narratives - Columbus' world and Tagiri's. The future is the more intriguing, especially as Tagiri's team learns the past has already been disrupted, with disastrous results. It takes a while for the Pastwatchers to jump back to Columbus' era but Card is one of Sci-Fi's best writers (winner of both the Nebula and Hugo Awards) and he keeps the pace moving.

A well-developed story with real characters and plenty of the paradoxes and moral dilemmas that make sci-fi more than space opera.

Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: Like many of OSC's stories this book is a fast read. And then...
You will find yourself thinking about it while you relax, while you try to work, while you try to generate conversations from people concerning thoughts that seemed simple as they were explained in the book only to see confused looks on the faces of your co-workers family and friends. This is a great story that look into how small things affect the world (I E the butterfly affect). One of the great questions in the story is "when did Christopher Columbus decide to be great?" and that question is explored in a way to change the way you think about history. This is a great book filled with great ideas.

Rating:
Summary: completely amazing book
Review: Honestly, I almost wish Orson Scott Card hadn't written this book, because I feel it was unfair of him to dangle such a tempting glimpse of what could have been. I cried at the end of this book, and I am not one who cries over literature. This book struck a chord in me, made me wish for a past that could never happen and afraid of a future that is all too possible.
I loved it, but at the same time it made me so desperately sad that I hated it as well. Read at your own descretion.

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Summary: Orson Scott Card at his best - rivaling Ender's Game
Review: Orson Scott Card has more range than any sci-fi writer working today. No one else could have written both the Ender series and "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus." I love this book because of its uniqueness within the author's writings. It's not outer space, or fantasy, it's almost mainstream fiction. He tackles the age-old sci-fi time-travel dilemma of altering the past in a way I don't think I've seen elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: Pastwatch is the best book I've read in a long time and I can't stop thinking about it. What makes it interesting is the dilemma of a future society altering ancient history. If the future society makes a small change the past, they will never have existed. Typically, history books itemize dry and boring facts about people, places, and dates. Card's descriptions of Noah and Christopher Columbus are so detailed, the story becomes plausible.

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Summary: Whatever it is, it's great
Review: "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus", like its titular character, could be called a lot of different things. It could be called a biography, or a history book, or historical speculation, or an alternate history, or a science fiction novel. It contains all of those elements, melding them into one coherent and powerful story.

The story revolves around Christopher Columbus, of course, and the idea that he was a "fulcrum of history". Card depicts him as an undeniably great man who was nonetheless human, with as many flaws as virtues.

It's interesting, then, that Columbus is what makes the first two thirds of the book a bit of a chore. Card intersperses a nearly biographical account of Columbus's life up until the point of his voyage to the New World with a growing story about the discoveries of Pastwatch, an organization initially created to study the past and now being used to change it.

The problem is that while these stories are interrelated, they don't have much direct effect upon each other until late in the book. And because there's little to no tension of "what happens next?" in the Columbus storyline until late in the novel, his sections tend to drag down the story of Pastwatch itself.

But because Card's prose is so easy to read and because the ideas presented in the Pastwatch sections are so intriguing, the novel still moves at a reasonable pace. Once the two storylines join, however, it's difficult to put the book down until you've reached the last powerful page.

Which presents the second problem. Card, in my opinion, did not spend enough time on this section. He wraps up a lot of events in one chapter, without taking us through what would have undoubtedly been an interesting part of the narrative. This fits with the sweeping, historical feel, but it detracts from the power of the conclusion and leaves us with a little less of what would certainly have been a delectable journey. One has to wonder whether this was an intentional choice, or whether he for some reason felt pressed for time, or worse, wanted to keep the novel to a certain length?

Regardless, the end is still powerful. It's the kind of conclusion that sends chills up your spine, and you're left satisfied that you've been informed, entertained, and most of all, made to think.

Orson Scott Card is one of the finest science fiction authors alive today. Even still, like any writer, he's had his ups and downs.

"Pastwatch" is one of his ups.

Rating:
Summary: An Instant Classic!
Review: Card shows brilliance and great insight in a futuristic tale that has a group of researchers studying history by having a viewer into the literal events of the past. With their own reality in danger of crumbling, they try to pinpoint an event in the past that could have changed everything and made their world better. They agree that if they can stop Columbus from beginning the New World exploration/conquering, their own future reality would be a lot better.

They determine that their viewing machine also has time travel abilities and they make plans to visit the past to change the present for the "better." Card has done an amazing amount of research into the life of Columbus and tells Columbus' tale almost like a novel, in the tradition of such classics as I Claudius and Quo Vadis.

Additionally, Card presents plausible explanations for Atlantis and the Noah stories. A good mixing of science fiction and history.