Publisher Description
From Orson Scott Card, the internationally bestselling author of Ender’s Game, comes the second novel in the Pathfinder trilogy, the riveting story of Rigg, a teenager who possesses a special power that allows him to see the paths of people’s pasts.
When Rigg and his friends crossed the Wall between the only world they knew and a world they could not imagine, he hoped he was leading them to safety. But the dangers in this new wallfold are more difficult to see. Rigg, Umbo, and Param know that they cannot trust the expendable, Vadesh—a machine shaped like a human, created to deceive—but they are no longer certain that they can even trust one another. But they will have little choice. Because although Rigg can decipher the paths of the past, he can’t yet see the horror that lies ahead: A destructive force with deadly intentions is hurtling toward Garden. If Rigg, Umbo, and Param can’t work together to alter the past, there will be no future.
The adventure, suspense, and time travel continue in this second installment in the critically acclaimed New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestselling Pathfinder series.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Continuing the epic science fiction series that began with 2010's Pathfinder, this overstuffed but fascinating second installment sees trapper-turned-royal-exile Rigg and his companions exploring more of their compartmentalized world, while mastering their various time travel related abilities and negotiating complicated interpersonal relationships. The brilliant yet complicated premise, which sees the young quintet racing to save the world while unable to fully trust anyone they meet or anything they learn, is weighed down somewhat by roundabout conversations and overly angsty internal monologues in which characters simmer over perceived slights or insecurities. However, the way Card explores time travel, logic puzzles, and parallel societal development, as well as the clever fashion in which various problems are resolved and the engrossing details of the world he has created, keep the plot moving forward and often backward in time. For all its twisty, intelligent, and thought-provoking intricacy, the story still seems best summed up by the observation of one character: "I really hate philosophy.... You talk and talk, and in the end, you don't know any more than you did." Ages 12 up.
