Wyrms Audiobook By Orson Scott Card cover art

Wyrms

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Wyrms

By: Orson Scott Card
Narrated by: Emily Janice Card
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The sphere is alien in origin, but has been controlled by Man for millennia. A legend as old as the stars rules this constructed world: when the seventh seventh seventh human Heptarch is crowned, he will be the Kristos and will bring eternal salvation...or the destruction of the cosmos.

Patience is the only daughter of the rightful Heptarch, but she, like her father before her, serves the usurper who has destroyed her family. For she has learned the true ruler's honor: that duty to one's race is more important than duty to one's self. But the time for prudence has passed, and that which has slept for ages has awakened. Patience must journey to the heartsoul of this planet to confront her destiny...and her world's.

Wyrms is an Orson Scott Card classic, one of the novels that helped forge his young career.

©1987 Orson Scott Card (P)2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Science Fiction Heartfelt Scary

Critic reviews

"Another outstanding science fiction novel from the prize-winning author of Ender's Game....This is a fast-moving, absorbing story." ( School Library Journal)
"A wonderful, textured fable." ( Publishers Weekly)
Compelling Hero's Journey • Unique World-building • Excellent Narration • Thought-provoking Concepts • Philosophical Depth
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Wyrms is among the best and among the most obscure science fiction. Overshadowed by the "softer" (yet still brilliant) Ender's Game, in my opinion Wyrms really shows what Card is capable of when it comes to SF. This book is a perfect balance of soft and hard, with both the social and scientific issues of a colonized planet explored in Card's usual lyrical, dark manner.

As usual for OSC, the plot is tight and fast-paced, the writing is gorgeously spare, and the characters are unforgettable. From the royal court of Heptem to the caves of Cranning, you will never forget this book once you've read it - or listened to it, as the case may be. This book has had a permanent place on my shelf for many years, and I was thrilled to see that it's finally been released as an audio book. It will have a permanent place in my audio library as well, along with Card's other masterworks.

With her performance of Wyrms, Emily Card firmly establishes herself as a true equal to the other brilliant narrators Card audio fans know and love: Stefan Rudnicki, Gabrielle DeCuir, and Scott Brick. Ms. Card's reading and character voices are spot on and a delight to listen to.

Even if you've never read or listened to an OSC book before, but are a fan of science fiction, do yourself a huge favor and spend the credit or the cash on this somewhat obscure title. You will not regret it.

Card fans, don't miss this one!

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I love the world this is set in with all the very unique races. Very creative! The assassin "princess" and wise furry kings are very different from the norm but work well.

But as lovely as the fantasy creatures are, this is not a children's book. It contains some rather graphic violence and quite a bit of talk of sexual desire. It is handled fairly tactfully and is not senseless but intertwines deeply into the questions of good and evil, power and weakness, free will and slavery with many thought-provoking ideas.

Very curious

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Orson Scott Card has brilliant ideas about what it truly right and wrong. I can easily see where the ethical dilemmas that became the "Seaker for the dead" came from. I want to see more stories in this world!

Orson Scott Card is brilliant as usual!

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Patience is one of the most strongly developed characters I have read in a long time. She is a girl raised to be a coldblooded killer, and so is not a typical heroine. She is suspicious, clever, and stubborn, never doing what her adversary expects. She lives in a dark world, as cruel as our own but with necromantic body horror and violent interspecies conflict thrown into the mix. Following her as she struggled with the horror and sacrifice of her destiny was intense, and the ending was well worth the read.

Superb Characterization

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I just finished Orson Scott Card's Wyrms and I don't know what to say. This book pulled my mind apart. I liked and hated it the same time.

It was full of awesome ideas. I loved that. The heads in the jars preserved by alien lifeforms... awesome. The genetic basis of the story and the interaction of different species are compelling. Here is a book which is not about aliens attacking humans or humans attacking aliens. The alien life-form chose to mix with the human genes in order to survive, moreover, to produce a much more dominant new race. The memory-storing crystals in people's mind was also an excellent idea, especially because it could be passed to the next generation.

This being said, I almost fell asleep when the characters gave philosophical speeches to each other. Maybe I'm a shallow guy who easily get bored over deep philosophical thoughts, but my finger was itching to push the fast forward button. At some points I even considered giving up.

There are some very, I mean very disturbing events in the story. I already found odd how Patience dealt with his father's head. However the most awful thing was the mating between the heroine and the worm-like UnWyrm. Not only the act itself, but what happened right after that. I would have thrown the book on the ground if it wasn't on my smartphone.

Some of the characters simply irritated me. If I were the author I would have killed the fat woman character early in the book.

I still cannot decide if it was a brilliant or a very bad book.

Weird book

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Interesting concept. Card paints a unique sci-fi/fantasy world but it is his characters that shine. There is deep dialogue that revolves around plot. The narrations is performed very well.

Unique

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Didn’t appreciate all the religious overtones because I kept trying to compare it to Christianity but loved the adventure Card is displaying here. His endeavor to show faith and love in a true Sci Fi novel is pretty unique. Much better then some of his other works like Worthing Saga.

Would make a cool movie

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Yes there is an ending! You don’t have to commit to six or seven books to get to the ending of this story. Which is a good change of pace for some of the sci fi book series out there.

Great start to end

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The plot of this story resembles other stories I have read where the hero travels for months to get to place very far away where the antagonist dwells. The hero and antagonist struggle because the antagonist will destroy the lives of the hero's people. The hero's side wins and life is better.

Wryms (worms) is well written but falls short of The Lord of the Rings (probably a bad example - comparing 1 book to 3 books.

however, I really did enjoy the story. the narration was very good.

the thing I liked about the book the best was that the hero, who becomes the planetary leader, make changes making the government more fair and having a leader with integrity who wants to do the best for her people.

Not my favorite story from Olsen Scott Card

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This is a great story, and I love getting to know the authors, especially when they voice their own notes. OSC recommends another series or two, and they're not his own.

I love author's notes

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