Pathfinder
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4.4 • 489 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From Orson Scott Card, the internationally bestselling author of Ender’s Game, comes the first 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.
A powerful secret. A dangerous path.
Rigg is well trained at keeping secrets. Only his father knows the truth about Rigg's strange talent for seeing the paths of people's pasts. But when his father dies, Rigg is stunned to learn just how many secrets Father had kept from him—secrets about Rigg's own past, his identity, and his destiny. And when Rigg discovers that he has the power not only to see the past, but also to change it, his future suddenly becomes anything but certain.
Rigg’s birthright sets him on a path that leaves him caught between two factions, one that wants him crowned and one that wants him dead. He will be forced to question everything he thinks he knows, choose who to trust, and push the limits of his talent…or forfeit control of his destiny.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Card entwines two stories in this fascinatingly complex series opener. In one, 13-year-old Rigg is living a contented life with his acerbic and intellectually challenging father as a backcountry trapper, using his magical ability to perceive paths that show the past movements of people and animals anywhere from minutes to thousands of years earlier. Then his father dies suddenly, and Rigg becomes an outcast with his friend Umbo, after Rigg is wrongly blamed for Umbo's brother's death. Interwoven is the story of starship captain Ram Odin, whose interspatial jump toward a new colony world results in a bizarre paradox with far-reaching consequences. The result is an amalgamation of adventure, politics, and time travel that invokes issues of class and the right to control one's own life. Yet despite its complexity, the book is never less than page-turning. While Card delves deeply into his story's knotted twists and turns, readers should have no trouble following the philosophical and scientific mysteries, which the characters are parsing right along with them. An epic in the best sense, and not simply because the twin stories stretch across centuries. Ages 12 up.
Customer Reviews
Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card
Card has a great imagination and grounds much of his work in deeply thoughtful themes surrounding human nature. At the same time, he also knows how to tell an exciting tale. In this case, the tale centers on Rigg, a thirteen year old boy who has spent his youth living off the land under the tutelage of his father who has taught him a bewildering array of subjects including rhetoric and physics which seem to have little use to him in his life as a trapper. His life changes dramatically when his father is killed by a falling tree, and he must flee for his life after being accused of murdering a young boy he was trying to save from plunging over a waterfall. Accompanied by another village boy named Umbo, Rigg embarks on a quest that was the dying wish of his father, to find his sister. As he journeys, he discovers all the teachings of his father were useful after all. When it appears he may be the prince of the deposed royal line, the action really takes off!
Although the dual narratives - the story of Rigg and the story of Ram - are a bit confusing at first, patience will allow readers to discern the connection before too long. Be warned, however, the conclusion is totally unsatisfying, evidently in order to assure sales of a forthcoming sequel. Are there any authors who tell a story in a single volume anymore?
Excellent, but not the easiest read
I was glad to find a new book from Card. His words always carry the reader with them, and Pathfinder is no different. The disjointed storyline, made necessary by some plot segments, may be a little hard to follow, but does an excellent job of expressing the probable confusion of the characters.
soooo creative!!
As a science fiction / fantasy reader for over 30 years I often wonder how could strange worlds in stories relate to Earth and humans. I finally have my hypothetical answer!! Orson Scott Card is such an awesome writer and provides me with intelligent entertainment. Big fan of Enders Game series.