Rating: 
Summary: Overworked
Review: This book had some real potential. If Card had stopped with the first story thread, it would have been fine. A little preachy, but a gripping read.But this book is apparently a rework of some of his short stories and when Card couldn't work them all into the theme, he glued them in at the back as "other perspectives". For me, it failed. I found it confusing and pointless. Not nearly as much fun to read. If you knead bread for too long, it just doesn't come out right. Card had all the right ingredients, but he just worked this too much.
Rating: 
Summary: Both a thoghtfull and entertaining book.
Review: This is easily Cards best story since Ender's Game. A thoughtfull and cleverly made combination of a short novel with several short stories attached to it, the Worthing Saga looks at a captivating world in the image of the best 50's and 60's sci-fi. This book is written brilliantly going from idea to idea looking at each implication througly, but leaving before it becomes preachy or boring. While their are many interesting ideas in this book, it is mainly about the place that pain and suffering hold in our lives. Few authors can take such personal issues and make such a great story out of it. This book is highly sugested, I consider it one of the most relevant sci-fi books written in the last 20 years.
Rating:
Summary: Though somewhat derivative, Worthing is worth reading
Review: Card says in his introduction that the Worthing stories were really the first science fiction stories he wrote or conceptualized. It took him years to refine and rewrite them to the point at which he was finally satisfied with the results. Voila: The Worthing Saga. This is a work of huge but not particularly original vision. Like Dune, it tells the tale of a future in which humanity has stagnated and become dead. As in Dune, only a very few are aware of this, and it is essentially through the vision and efforts of one uniquely gifted man, who later becomes worshipped as a god, that humanity becomes unstuck and begins to evolve again. Other aspects of Card's vision seem to be derivative of Brave New World. Although the details differ, it's hard not to notice that the elites of Card's anti-utopian society of Capitol use a drug called "somec," while the elites of Aldous Huxley's dystopia use a drug called "soma." But more importantly, the fundamental message of both novels is that pain and tragedy are the very things that allow the possibility for joy and meaning in human lives. Having said all that, Card tells a good tale. His characters are human, their situations compelling. This story focuses more on the characters than on the science and technology of the future. Those who want Sci-Fi to be front and center should skip this one. But if you prefer your sci-fi to play a supporting role for a human story, The Worthing Saga is worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING!!!
Review: Ok, I haven't even finished the book yet and I can already tell that it will leave such an impact on my mind, I will never forget it. The story, is so good. The characters are even better. The class structure based on "somec", the sleep drug is very thought provoking - I can relate it to things rich people do in our society to make them seem powerful. I'm not even half way through this book and I'm already saying it's my second favorite book ever, next to Ender's Game.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, interesting stories
Review: This book is really a collection of short stories that are all set in one alternative future. The first half of the book is a condensed version of the stories, told within the context of another story (ie. flashbacks), that follow in the second half. This isn't hard science. The stories drive the interest along. The stories deal with different consequences of psychic-like abilities and the ability to 'sleep' through centuries to wake up in a future time. Overall, all the stories are very good and explain a different aspect of the world Card is trying to create. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Entry level SF
Review: This popped up on the "Page you made" box a few minutes ago, and I just had to stop and write something about it. The Worthing Saga was among the earliest of Orson Scott Card's books I read and I remember it fondly. Together with Ender's Game and Treason, it made me realise this writer had something to say that I wanted to read. Many people I know dismiss science fiction as a genre - I guess they've been scared off by some representations of aliens and robots and stuff. They don't realise what a wide range of work falls into this category, and even though I have become a SF fan over the past 20 years or so, there is a lot of stuff in the genre that doesn't interest me. But there is no other form of fiction that sets my mind working the way SF does, and I will never stop trying to get people to experience that for themselves. Because I want people to read something that opens up their minds to possibility (without scaring them off) and want to share Card's writing, I recommend this book without mentioning anything about SF. After the initial shock of finding they've been tricked into reading SF, they usually realise they're reading a wonderful story, intelligently and skilfully told by one of our time's great storytellers. Somehow, people who have no problem reading fiction about people pioneering the vast, unexplored spaces of America, Australia, or any other earth-bound place, seem to have a problem reading of space pioneers. That's why I call this "entry level SF" - basically, this story is not so dissimilar from many of those stories of pioneers; the trials, tribulations and perseverence of the characters differ only in the technical details. However, this story has the good fortune of being told by Orson Scott Card, a writer who manages to make me feel I have only gained from seeing life from his viewpoint.
Rating:
Summary: A question... and an answer
Review: "If God is kind and merciful, why is there still such pain in the world?" I've heard this question many times, and never could really come up with a satisfactory answer, other than a few platitudes about free will and understanding ourselves. Now, I do have an answer, and it is this book. This book is a compilation of short stories written by a young Orson Scott Card, along with the title novel which ties them all together. It opens with the story of a "Day of Pain" where a people who have never felt pain before feel it for the first time. The rest of the story is spent explaining how this all came about, and what caused Worthing to finally reach the decision to unleash pain again upon the universe. All of Card's usual strengths are here; his well-developed characters tie in with a plot that is exquisitely beautiful. The question he chooses to tackle is difficult, but his answer tackles it well.
Rating:
Summary: Sort of Good
Review: This book, while not quite a book like Enders Game, is still very good. The plot is better then most sci-fi books. The neat thing about this book is that it is a bunch of unrelated, yet interlocking stories about humanity in the future. Very diffrent from what most sci-fi authors write, this is a good book. All in all, i advise you to buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Jumps too much
Review: This is another excellent book by Orson Scott Card. However, it jumps around too much. You must read the book all the way through before you really understand what it is about. I highly recommend this book despite the jumps.
Rating:
Summary: Epic
Review: Card could have easily made "The Worthing Saga" into a three-part trilogy - in fact, it is probably the only one of his novels that cries out for it. There's A LOT of story here. The worlds of Capitol. Worthing and Flat Harbor are brilliantly realized - they each have enough history, characters and plot-threads that an entire novel could be devoted to each. The concept of "somec" alone is enough to jump start an entire series (he did much more with much less in the Ender books). However, card opted to write it as a montage of loosely connected short stories - and it is much the better for it. Card is always at his strongest when it comes to short stories. It is in the short story form where he truly shines - he focuses his talent into something purely majestic and beautiful. His short stories always leave me weeping for more. This is probably why I've read "The Worthing Saga" at least once a year since I bought it six years ago.
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