Rating: 
Summary: No way to soften the blow
Review: These stories are bad I mean not just your average run of mill (haven't I read this somewhere before) bad. No, picture a mirror. Now this mirror is looking good you like the concept you get into a few pages and all is well but then something odd happens. The stories lack the essentials A. Details B. Background info. We are never really told how this war came about just that it happened. We are never given an details about the main players. You expect something good (espically considering that these stories come from someone like Orson Scott Card.) In the end the stories just don't deliver.
Bottom Line-Great setup, but the stories make no sense that is what kills "Folk of the Fringe".
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not Ender's Game
Review: This book is actually a series of stories. The stories are actually well written, but the religious theme and what happens to some of the kids in them lead me to not recommend this book unless you are prepared to spend a sleepless night or two! Stick with Ender's Saga, Jay.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Collection Of Interrelated Short Stories
Review: This novel is actually five short stories, all interconnected to some extent. Orson Scott Card writes of a time in the near future after a few nuclear weapons fell on the United States and biological warfare eliminated most of what remained. Civilization has largely collapsed, anarchy rules in most places, personal survival is the name of the game. Card here writes in a very intense and personal way, he puts you directly into the minds of the major characters. The imagery he depicts is very graphic and rich in detail, with all five stories weaving together into a very fine plot, a post-apocalypse America well done. I won't give away any of the story here other than to state that as I read this book I found myself pulling for the people to succeed! I would have easily given this novel five stars instead of four, four was given due to the fantasy that was used in the last story. When it comes to novels I do prefer 'hard' fiction, where ideas and events portrayed could actually take place in the real world, but don't let this stop you from reading this, as this criticism is minor in regards to the otherwise great novel this is, to be savored and enjoyed immensely. This is the first Orson Scott Card novel I have read and I was impressed by his talent.
Rating:
Summary: Far from Card's best
Review: Unless you're a Mormon or you've read everything else Card has written (pretty much my situation), this book is probably not for you. There are a few interesting ideas in this collection of loosely-connected short stories, in which America has been destroyed by nuclear bombs from Russia, and biochemical warfare (new, more virulent strains of diseases such as syphillus have been let loose), and in particular, the Mormons in Utah have recreated society, scavenging off the old and reclaiming the desert for farmland. The Great Salt Lake area has been flooded, and the great Mormon Temple is submerged. However, for all this interesting background, Card doesn't so much concentrate on the details of how this has all worked - he throws in details as the stories need them, giving one a little more of an idea as to what's up. Instead, as is Card's wont, the center of the stories are people, families, and communities - how a perpetual outsider or loner gets himself accepted in a group, how members of a group bolster and undercut one another, how civilization gets built on the backs of people who feel hemmed in. The last story, America, doesn't quite fit with the others in this theme - it's more visionary, and more about 1-on-1 relationships as opposed to group dynamics. Still, Card has written much better short stories than these, in treating character, dynamics, and the like. He has also touched on Mormon themes, history, and scripture in his Homecoming and Alvin Maker series, and now that I've been primed for it, I can find it all over the place in his writings. However, Mormonism and post-apocalyptic science fiction are an interesting mix, so if you've exhausted your other avenues to Card, this isn't time wasted. It's just that he's written so many better books.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking short stories
Review: Well I have read some of the other reviews and I could see their point. A couple of the short stories are light. However I was blown away by the first story "West". This book's first puplication came out in 1990. Prior to much of the ethnic cleansing that happened during the 90's, particularly in ex-yugoslavia. It was interesting how Card presented a scenario where is could (easily) happen in our own country. just imagine how your own community could Balkinize around you and ponder who would turn against who. "Pagent Wagon" was also a good story in and of itself. Probably the most developed story in the whole book. The other stories were ok, but it is a book of "short stories" so what is the harm in reading them.
Rating:
Summary: AMEN......
Review: Well it starts out well enough, but it became a morman recrutment pamplet. I think Mr. Card is one of the best writers I've read, but everybody has a bad day. I do think you should give it a shot, it does have some interesting thoughts ,and if you like Mr. Card, that's part of the reason you buy his stuff.
Rating:
Summary: slow, boring, implausible
Review: World War III has occurred and America blames it all on - who else - those pesky Mormons! Mormons?!!! The least Card could've done is offer an explanation why. It would have been a little more believable if the scapegoats were Jews or Muslims (although Card can't be held responsible for not incorporating the dynamics of a post 9/11 world back in the 80's when he wrote it). After introducing the scapegoats, Card proceeds to drag us through four or five different stories about Mormons fighting for survival in a hostile world. I suppose it's fascinating if you're a Mormon, otherwise skip it.
Rating:
Summary: slow, boring, implausible
Review: World War III has occurred and America blames it all on - who else - those pesky Mormons! Mormons?!!! The least Card could've done is offer an explanation why. It would have been a little more believable if the scapegoats were Jews or Muslims (although Card can't be held responsible for not incorporating the dynamics of a post 9/11 world back in the 80's when he wrote it). After introducing the scapegoats, Card proceeds to drag us through four or five different stories about Mormons fighting for survival in a hostile world. I suppose it's fascinating if you're a Mormon, otherwise skip it.
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