I had to distance myself away from this book before I wrote this review. If I did not, I would have just hit the caps lock and type, THIS IS THE COOLEST YA BOOK EVER!! Shift 1. Shift 1. I just did exactly that, didn’t I? Oops. After being blown away by Ender’s Game last year, you think I’ve learned my lesson and expect nothing less from Orson Scott Card? I didn’t, but I know a lot better now.
Rigg can see path human and animals made whether it’s from the distance past or the near present. He has been living most of his life isolated in the woods with only Father as his companion. Father taught him a lot things, most of which Rigg believes he will never need. That changed when Father suddenly died leaving him a task to find his sister, 19 jewels and his name. A name that could also be his death sentence. Rigg soon realized that Father prepared him for something bigger than what he can ever fathom and there’s more to his ability than just seeing people’s path. At the beginning of each chapter, we follow the character of young Ram as he command a ship journeying from Earth to a distant planet for human to colonize. It will only take you half-way through the book before you can put two and two together and see the larger picture.
Orson Scott Card combines tropes commonly found from young adult fantasy and science-fiction and produced a book that proves his mastery of both genre. Although marketed as a young adult novel, Pathfinder possess a very complex and sophisticated narrative involving space and time-travel and filled with secrets and intrigues that will keep the reader turning the pages. At the acknowledgement page, the author stated that he started writing the book knowing that he’ll challenge common rules of time travel, and he did. I don’t consider myself an expert on time-travel but neither am I a novice. I started reading Pathfinder with my preconceptions on how time-travel works. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the rules Card set for this novel. But after I suspend my preconceptions, everything made sense and needless to say, I love every bit of it. I guess it would not be an empty statement if I say that Pathfinder has a very intelligent plot the we rarely get to see in young adult novels. Pathfinder doesn’t force you to think so you can follow the narrative or else you’ll get left behind. It dares you to and that’s one of the many the beauties of it.
Space time travel plays a huge part in this book but it is not the only thing this book can offer. The main storyline(Rigg’s) was set in a land called Aressa Sessamo. This land was previously ruled by a monarchy that was decreed to be ruled only by the females until an uprising came that turned the government into People’s Revolution. Fast forward to present time, there are factions who want to maintain the Revolution but there are some that wants the female-ruling monarchy back and a few in favor for a male-ruling monarchy. The political intrigue in this novel is very complicated and for an unfortunate reason, Rigg is in the centre of all of it. For some this could mean that Card has got into his political babble once again. Not for me. The political situation of Aressa Sessamo is a consequence of what happened in the land’s past therefore will play a vital part on our heroes future.(Excuse the vagueness of that statement. I am carefully treading on a spoiler-mined land here.) And I’ll be honest, it was really fun figuring out whose on which side of the fence.
Genius is what Pathfinder is. The only reason I can think of for you not to enjoy this is if you hold bias over the author’s opinion on certain topics before reading the book. I am also in opposition with some of the author’s perspectives. He can have his opinion and I can have mine, but this won’t stop me from enjoying his books. It’s not like he is exploiting his fans like other fan-fiction writer authors do. Having an opinion is not a crime, is it? A great storyteller is a great storyteller no matter what. There’s a reason why Orson Scott Card has been in this business for a very long time and Pathfinder is definitely one of those. If you haven’t tried any Orson Scott Card novel yet(my god, what’s wrong with you?), this is a good place to start.
