Enchantment

 

By Orson Scott Card

Ivan Smetski never knew he was Jewish until his father decided the family need to leave Russia, and, based on their Jewish ancestry, immigrate to Israel. However, immigrating to Israel was just the excuse to get out of Russia. In reality, the father's goal was America.

Before Ivan left Russia for America, he spent some time at his cousin Marek's farm. One day, while wandering around the nearby woods, Ivan stumbled upon a Sleeping Beauty, a princess on a pinnacle. But as he approached her, he saw she was being guarded by some kind of hidden monster. As he was just a lad, Ivan had to leave the sleeping princess behind. 

Once in America, Ivan went to become a scholar of ancient Russian languages and fairy tales. He returned to Russia to do research and decided to visit cousin Marek's farm again. He remembered the Sleeping Beauty in the forest and found his way back to the site. She was still there, asleep and still being guarded by the monster which turned out to be a giant bear. Ivan managed to defeat the bear and wake the princess with a kiss. 

The princess, Katerina, took Ivan back to her land, thousands of years in the past. She had been cursed by an evil witch, Baba Yaga, who wanted to acquire Katerina's father's kingdom. And now Katerina and her father were relying upon Ivan to defeat Baba Yaga and save the kingdom. But the only way Ivan can do that is to return to the present with Katerina, now his wife (in name only) and enlist the help of his father and mother in defeating the evil witch.

I really enjoyed this story, it's just wonderful. Ivan is a sweetheart as are his amazing mother and loving father. Lots of surprises, one of which is cousin Marek who turns out to be an ancient weather god. And Baba Yaga is a formidable foe who almost succeeds in her evil designs.  

For another opinion see this review by Kirkus Reviews.

The Memory of Earth

By Orson Scott Card

Millions of years ago, humanity fled Earth after ruining it with their weapons of mass destruction. Scarred by this, on their new home on the planet of Harmony, they built a super-computer to control their thoughts and keep mankind from developing any technology that would lead to such a disaster again.
So forty million years have passed and the super computer, the Oversoul, is starting to fail. People are once again on the path of conquest, empire-building and developing forbidden technology.
To save itself and humanity, the Oversoul reaches out to powerful local family, sending them visions and dreams and influencing their actions to thwart a growing and dangerous faction of violent men trying to take over the local government.

This book is the first in the Homecoming saga which consists of five novels. The series is based on the Book of Mormon according to Wikipedia.
This was a fairly interesting story but not interesting enough to entice me to read any others in the series. I did find it rather disappointing that after forty million years, people are still the same stupid, selfish pigs they have always been. I mean, forty million years is a long time to stay virtually the same!

Review by Kirkus Reviews.

Songmaster

By Orson Scott Card

This is the story of Ansset, a Songbird, one of the most coveted singers in the empire. Trained since a tiny child, Ansset doesn't sing just any old song. He sings what people feel, what he himself feels and his songs have the power to soothe, influence, instruct and lead.
Not just anyone can have a Songbird. The Songmaster of the Songhouse judges who is worthy to have a Songbird. (It is also very expensive to have a Songbird.) A person can only have a Songbird if they have the ability to truly appreciate it. Traditionally this meant that Songbirds could never go to someone who had killed, who was greedy or a glutton, to a person who loved power. So when the terrible, ruthless conqueror Mikal showed up at Songhouse demanding a Songbird, the Songmaster naturally assumed Mikal did not have the qualities required to possess a Songbird. But amazingly Mikal did have the required appreciation and so the Songmaster promised to send him a Songbird as soon as they found a child best suited to sing for Mikal. They warned him it might take a while to find the perfect candidate. It ended up taking more than seventy years until Ansset, the beautiful young boy singer who was exactly what Mikal needed.
So after spending his early childhood training at songhouse, Ansset is sent to Earth to live with Mikal in the imperial palace. He sings for Mikal and gradually a strong trust and affection is built between the two, as Ansset comes to veiw Mikal as his foster father. But uneasy lies the head that wears the crown and Mikal is very old and there is much plotting going on as factions struggle to gain control of Mikal's throne. And little Ansset is smack in the middle of it all.

This book was not to my taste. Ansset was too perfect for me. I found him rather repulsive and felt the whole book reaked of pedophilia. Ansset was just too precious for words and not in a good way. Plus, I don't really care for books about politics and all the dynastic stuff. Still, it was an interesting story, even if I found the characters all pretty unsympathetic. So I will rate it a fair read.

Wyrms

By Orson Scott Card

Eight thousand years ago, a space ship happened to pass too close to the planet of the wyrms. Singing her siren song, Mother Wyrm called the captain of the space ship to her side. He landed the ship and was compelled to mate with the huge disgusting worm-like female, a mating that resulted in 4 new creatures: geblings, dwelfs, gaunts and unwyrm. Unwyrm was the only unwyrm born and at his birth he devoured Mother Wyrm and, in the process, gained not her memory and knowledge but the memory and knowledge of every mother wyrm before her. He then rested, high on the top of the mountain in his dead mother's cave, knowing that his time was not yet, that it would not be until eight thousand years in the future. At which point he would take a mate, a human woman, a woman who would either save her people from Unwyrm or send all humanity to its doom. The seventh daughter of the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter is that woman and her name is Patience and she is only fifteen when she is called upon to face her fate in Unwyrm's cave.

Well, this certainly was an imaginative and compelling story. The wyrms have got to be one of the best aliens ever thought up by an author. There will be a final clash between human and wyrm, as the son of wyrm, Unwyrm, makes a desperate bid to save his people from anihilation by humankind. It's survival of the fittest as two opposing species struggle to save their respective peoples and only one will come out alive. Who will be the ultimate ruler of the universe, Wyrm or Human? An epic battle will played out in the small confines of an icy, mountain top cave. Quite an unforgettable and fascinating story.