Pretty much all of [a:Orson Scott Card|589|Orson Scott Card|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1237932066p2/589.jpg] fantasy books are my least favorite of his.

I don't read Card much any more since learning what a virulent public homophobe he is, but I had bought this one at a used bookstore a long time ago and just got around to reading.

I listened to the audio version of this CD via the Libby app.

I am a huge fan of Orson Scott Card. I have read probably 10-15 of his different novels, from the Ender series to the Gate series.

I just wasn't a fan of this one.

I'm not quite sure what turned me off of it. It reminded me a bit of the Gate series, but also made me think of The Bear and the Nightingale series. Even with the comparisons to books I really liked, this one I just did not like as much. Maybe it was the darkness of most of the characters, maybe it was the sense of gloom and doom through the entire piece, or maybe I just wasn't able to connect with the main character well.

Never ever ever have I given such a violent book, such a sad book, 5 stars before, at best it would have received two stars and a haughty look from me before I tore it up as Rat cage litter and satisfyingly forget its existence. This book has rape, it has violence, it has despair...

Spoiler

And gosh dang it if people would just stop peeing on everything and each other, even in kindness!! (It makes sense in context but really...!)

But oh, none of this is ever used gratuitously or graphically! Nothing is written that makes you wrinkle your delicate little nose in distaste, because everything is how it should be to create such a glory of a story!

The whole book has heart (hart?), the tale is phenomenal, the characters, oh you ache with them, you rejoice with them, you never know whom you'll like and whom you don't, for it changes direction like a leaf in the breeze, and the whole thing has such an air of magic you're pretty much powerless to stop reading it till the very very last word, on the very very last page.

Spoiler

I utterly ache that we don't find out how Orem's story ends! The poor guy has been through so much, to lose all you love like that... in my version of the story all works out well and everyone reunites and things are explained and love conquers all, and since that is the only version I have, make it so!

I'm so glad I read this book, I really hope you do as well!

http://dms.booklikes.com/post/382192/post

Although Orson Scott Card is one of my very favorites, I really didn't care for this book...

When the author signed my copy, he wrote "For Dan: a tale of sweetness and light".

He didn't mean it.

This is possibly the darkest, bloodiest, most unrelentingly depressing fantasy I've ever read, and I love it. I've read it six times. This probably says something not very flattering about me, but there you are. It also is beautifully written, thoroughly realized, and haunting. I can't recommend it highly enough, provided you've got a taste for the disturbing.

Which I apparently do.

Well. I don't really know what to say.

I think I first read this book when I was around eleven and didn't have a very good grasp of what the heck is happening in this book--that being lots of child death/rape, torture porn, and other ickiness. Maybe I blocked it out. I knew it disturbed me back then and now but I thought I'd give the audiobook at double speed a listen yesterday, and well... hm. I don't think I'd recommend this book to anyone.

The best element is probably the worldbuilding that Card references in [b:How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy|31363|How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy|Orson Scott Card|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924121l/31363._SY75_.jpg|10966] that I also read all that time ago. The religion and layout of the land was really interesting, and that's coming from someone who usually doesn't really care about that sort of thing.

I think I can safely get rid of my hard copy that I've kept around all this time because OOF this is not a story that's very fun to relive. I feel like I'm being a little generous giving two stars but I also didn't despise it outright enough to give it only one even though I probably should.