Rating: 
Summary: Its okay but there is better out there
Review: This is an interesting book with some interesting concepts but I found it to drag quite a bit. If you haven't read the Dune series or the Foundation series, or even the Ender's Game series of books, then do not pass go, do not buy this book, go read one of those. Otherwise, enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Changed my view on life
Review: It seems a little outrageous to say that it changed how I view life, but it really did. I'm not a big reader of the fantasy genre and I just happened to pick this book up at a second-hand store on a whim. Wow! I don't think I have ever cried, re-read or dwelled on a book as much as I did with this one. And I love to read. The characters are fantastic, the storyline is captivating and the ending so utterly poignant I was dumbstruck for days. The book is actually many short stories and they do go back and forth in time so at first it is hard to understand what is going on. But, once you grasp the meaning of the timeline and why it is being told in the order it is, a bell rings and you just get a big mental "Ah". You can read what the tale is basically about from other reviews. I like to cover my incredible epiphany that happened towards the end of the book when I thought, "Maybe this is God's outlook on us. Well that certainly explains alot. I'm not always happy about it, but being a mindless sheep is not what I would want either." Read the book, you'll understand what I'm talking about.V. Canfield P.S. My book is titled "The Worthington Chronicles"
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant book
Review: This book is brilliant. It is actually a set of short stories which Card put together over a time, inspired by some other Science Fiction stories (timeless ones, just as this one is). Please: don't think that it is merely laser beams, aliens, and robots. It isn't. In fact if that is what you are aiming for in this book, you will see *none* of that. This book is timeless in that it doesn't matter when or where it is set. It transcends Sci-Fi, Nonfiction, Fiction, etc... Written like a set of short stories seamlessly woven into each other, it tells the story of, basically....God and the remaking of mankind. But it has so many facets that it is hard to describe. In a few short paragraphs, Card is able to take your mind over the course of thousands of years of human development, backwards and forwards in time, with visions of a vast empire and colonies spread out throughout the universe....and then you realize that that particular short story has only just begun. Imagine God narrating a story, as part of the story, and that's what you get. Some will know that Card is a deeply religious man, and some may find these stories "preachy", although I see absolutely no evidence of it. I am absolutely not religious and I do not find this work to be in the preaching vein whatsoever. Rather, it is a beautifully told story with many intricate stories which make it up. I have to say that the last story at the end....made me shiver and cry. Yes, it is biblical in nature, but it doesn't mean that it isn't a beautiful story. Anyone who is able to appreciate the fight between good and evil without the punches of morality in between stories will love this book. Read it as literature. If you've read Ender's Game, and you prefer more mature novels and stories, this book is for you. Ender's Game was very entertaining and the same theme applies here in many ways but in a much more mature manner. It is a book meant for adults who have probably thought things out about life a little more than some younger kids. I really, really, love this book. It goes on my shelf with works by Umberto Eco, Bernard Lewis, Tolkien, Joyce, Daniel Boorstin, Carl Sagan and Douglas Adams. Yes, it really is that good.
Rating:
Summary: Card's Non-Ender Masterpiece
Review: It took me a while to realize that much of the Worthing Saga was a collection of stories, just because they flowed together so well. Here Card presents an incredibly imaginative universe centered around the world of Capitol, a stagnant conglomeration of misguided humans praying at the altar of the drug Somec, which allows a select few to sleep away the centuries untouched by the effects of age. As in all Card's books, this work is character driven, which is why it adapts so well to the short story format. Each seperate character forms a sort of mosaic of the vagaries and sins of Capitol. But the truly beautiful and epic part of the story is the tale of Jason, his escape from Capitol with the help of the nearly omnipotent Abner Doon, and his seeding of a courageous and fascinating world at the edge of the galaxy. This part of the book reads like Brave New World on steroids. The world Jason creates is intricate, with the complex relationships between Jason, the quasi-god, and the fledling colonists. As it is no utopia, the world develops into an intense battleground, tenuously supported by a group of Jason's heirs. It all comes together beautifully, a masterful statement of the importance of pain in life, and the troubled responsiblity of those that have the power to alleviate it.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting mix of ideas and action
Review: The Worthing Saga contains bits and pieces from other SF books (Asmimov's "Foundation" and Herbert's "Dune") but ultimately is Card's own work, with his trademark fondness for rustic settings, abused, brilliant children, interpersonal squabbling and expositions on free will. Overall a very good read.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting mix of ideas and action
Review: The Worthing Saga contains bits and pieces from other SF books (Asimov's "Foundation" and Herbert's "Dune") but ultimately is Card's own work, with his trademark fondness for rustic settings, abused, brilliant children, interpersonal squabbling and expositions on free will. Overall a very good read.
Rating:
Summary: Card will grip your imagination and intellect
Review: Orson Scott Card is perhaps the greatest living science-fiction writer still writing. This book is prime evidence. The "saga" weaves together two series of short stories that Card developed, in parallel and in tandem, over serveral years and in several incarnations. The core series concerns an interstellar human empire (loosely modeled, as Card freely acknowledges, after the First Galactic Empire in Asimov's "Foundation" series) that revolves around the drug "somec," which lets one live life a few years or a year or a day at a time, skipping over the intervening years. (The "somec" stories were originally published in earlier collections, "Capitol" and "Hot Sleep.") One's economic and social status depends on one's level of somec, which determines how quickly or slowly one moves through not only life, but history. The first "somec" story, "Skipping Stones," sets the scene: two boyhood friends take two paths, one becoming an artist who lives out his life in ordinary time, the other an entrepreneur who spaces out his life for as long as he can afford. The artist pictures himself immersed in life: "I like to swim. It gets me wet. It wears me out." But his wealthy friend dips into the world only from time to time, and the world moves on without him; when he dips back into the world, it is for him as if only a moment has passed since he last landed there, but his friend has been living a full life and the world has been living a whole history between his awakenings. The other series concerns the "Forest of Waters," home of a community exiled from the stagnating somec-driven universe, guided at first by a godlike ancestor with paranormal psychic powers. While the somec stories are subtle parables, these other stories are much more direct inquiries into pain, suffering, and their role not only in human society but in a universe watched over by an aware deity. Card describes this book as "the most structurally complex yet thematically unified of my works of fiction." The "thematic unity" that weaves together all the book's multifaceted stories is indeed masterful, easily surpassing Card's "The Folk of the Fringe," a masterpiece in its own right. "The Worthing Saga" is a compelling read, one that will grip your imagination and intellect long after you have finished it. I reread it every few years, and enjoy it just as much with each reacquaintance.
Rating:
Summary: A Worthy Saga
Review: The Worthing Saga is a collection of short stories set in the far future. While it has some interesting twists and inventions, "The Worthing Saga" really is not a science fiction book, it is a morality tale. The writer, Orson Scott Card, uses this book to discuss what is, and what is not, important in life and how some of society's most sophisticated advances can set society back and harm people as a species. For example, in this future, people can live forever - sort of. People in this tale can use a drug, Some, to sleep for centuries at a time. Developed to allow travelers to sleep during long voyages in space, somec because a symbol of the rich, the powerful, and the important. Those with more power sleep longer so that they may experience more of the future. But when you sleep for centuries, your friends die and you become less attached to those around you - they probably won't be here when you next wake up. Your morality changes as the idea of consequences becomes less meaningful if those whom you harmed are dead for seven hundreds years the next time you wake up. Into this future is placed a revolutionary with the ability to read minds. He plans for the destruction of a society he can't stand. What will replace it, however, is initially unclear. One of his confidants becomes a pilot, explorer and founder of a new and primitive world, upon which a better future is hoped. But whether men are in an advanced future or on a primitive world, they are still men. Good, bad, creative, dull, even evil - All one's hopes for a better future only seem to result in a different society, not a better or a worse one. Written in a dark and sometimes depressing manner, The Worthing Saga seems to combine some of the best elements of Card's other books like Ender's Game with the more "serious" writing style of its sequel. Enjoyable to any Orson Scott Card fan, "The Worthing Saga" will probably have mixed reviews by people unfamiliar with his work. Overall though, I would and do recommend it. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Summary: Excellent. I can't believe I didn't read it sooner.
Review: A 'saga' in every sense of the word! I became a fan of Orson Scott Card after reading Ender's Game (Hugo & Nebula award winner) years ago, and as I've read more of his work, been ever more impressed at his ability to sculpt a story with words as surely as a sculptor uses clay. 'The Worthing Saga' uses many of the same basic plot devices that are found in his other works - particularly 'Ender's Game'. The main character, Jason Worthing is a singularly gifted protagonist: endowed with mental and intellectual gifts, becomes part of a 'master plan' that changes the fate of the human universe, lives to see the full fruit of his labors - with a twist to boot! The story begins near the end, and relies on a series of 'flashback' sequences to build the full framework. Very well done, excellent character development, and a compelling story. I DEFINITELY recommend this book...
Rating:
Summary: One of Card's best
Review: The Worthing Saga is a fascinating book. On one hand it's an interesting, compelling, thought provoking story. On the other hand it deals with various aspects of the art of storytelling, and you can see what the characters are saying about storytelling, in the book.
I always feel like I've learned something, or I can take something away from an Orson Scott Card book. This is partially because he almost always includes a foreword about his thoughts and his experience writing the book. This book is no exception, and it goes beyond that, to include older versions of the story from before he turned it into a novel. I'm sure an aspiring writer would get a lot out of that, but even me, who is just a reader, learned a lot about writing, and reading from this book. Great book. Great Author.
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