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dreamtokens is now reading a book. (see 3 more books added to shelf)

dreamtokens reviewed a book.

“I finished reading Ender’s Saga by Orson Scott Card Thursday. It’s been quite a journey.

One weird thing is, I’ve bought and tried to read Children of the Mind in 2006, but I didn’t understand a thing and threw it back on a shelf. Of the whole saga, this fourth book is the only one that...”

“I finished reading Ender’s Saga by Orson Scott Card Thursday. It’s been quite a journey.

One weird thing is, I’ve bought and tried to read Children of the Mind in 2006, but I didn’t understand a thing and threw it back on a shelf. Of the whole saga, this fourth book is the only one that doesn’t stand by itself, making no sense if it isn’t read after Xenocide. So, maybe, in some weird way, it could have been meant to be, for me to read it at this time in my life. Because it was, indeed, a beautiful read. It healed me of all previous obsessions, creating a new one: sci-fi. And now, I often think about Ender, or other characters from the book, like Wang Mu, Peter, Valentine, Jane, or Miro. They’re as alive as anything else.

I can’t sum up just how alive this book is. It contains a whole universe, with heavy feelings and deep thoughts. It poses all kinds of questions: morality, consciousness, guilt, community and communication, spirituality, life beyond death, intelligence, power of words, stories, forgiveness and understanding.

The first book, Ender’s Game, isn’t as mature, but the others three, I think, are a must read for any sci-fi lover, but, really, for any literature lover who finds himself in front of guilt, or failure to communicate with one another, or to understand. ”

dreamtokens reviewed a book.

“Xenocide by Orson Scott Card has not disappointed me. After falling in love with the first two books of the series, this one has done it all: has managed not only to keep alive perfectly shaped characters, but also to question and answer all there is. Life, death and the universe, morality, good...”

“Xenocide by Orson Scott Card has not disappointed me. After falling in love with the first two books of the series, this one has done it all: has managed not only to keep alive perfectly shaped characters, but also to question and answer all there is. Life, death and the universe, morality, good and bad, freedom and free will, the roles of genetics in all of this, the power of a single story. This book has it all. I can never quite get from what multitudes did Card get his ideas: the duality of human existence from Descartes maybe, the power of will from Schopenhauer, the cruelty of Peter from Nietzsche? I don’t know, but what I know is that his story is real, it’s a good story, it’s full of life and full of ideas, it’s wonderfully complex and well-structured and it’s a pleasure to read. I just couldn’t put the book down. I became a slave of it - I only thought about when I would get to read the next page, and the next one.

Orson Scott Card has one of those distinct voices that stay into your mind. Even now, after closing the book, I can still feel that part of his writing style has been imprinted in my mind. Some words. Sometimes, I see my own sentences italicized, like in the book, and I know they are similar to his. It happens. If you became attached enough to a book or a writer, if it gets close enough to you, it swallows you for some time. You connect a lose a bit of your old self, getting a new self, a symbiosis. Or, if you will, kind of like a philote connection. ”

dreamtokens reviewed a book.

“Fascinated by Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card), I started reading the second volume of the series, Speaker for the Dead. It has certainly not disappointed me, no, for it was even better. In fact, it was one of those books which “speak” directly to the reader’s heart. What I think is the central...”

“Fascinated by Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card), I started reading the second volume of the series, Speaker for the Dead. It has certainly not disappointed me, no, for it was even better. In fact, it was one of those books which “speak” directly to the reader’s heart. What I think is the central idea around which the whole saga evolves is that “you can love anyone as long as you understand them”, which goes hand in hand with the idea of the first book, that “after you know someone, and understand their motifs, you can’t help but love them”. I’ve long thought so and finally I found a book in which this idea embraces a whole universe of diverse races, not to speak of cultures, trying to communicate.
The Speaker for the Dead is Ender Wiggin, trying to redeem himself for the war he lead. His story gets tied to the story of the Zenadors from Luisitania, a planet on which human discovered a second intelligent race, called the pequeninos. They are pig-like creatures with a mysterious culture on whose exploration the Stellar Congress has put severe limits. Because of those strict rules, terrible things happen, and the lives of all are tied together to tell a compelling story of love, family, community and understanding. I cannot say how many times tears burst out of my eyes while reading this book, or how many times I felt butterflies in my stomach, or got angry, or exclaimed all by myself. This story is real, it’s great, it’s heartfelt.

Now, I want to say a few words on something I discovered just before finishing Speaker of the Dead. It’s related to some of Orson Scott Card’s real opinions, publicly stated, on different subjects I will not go into, but some are opinions I strongly disagree with and consider anti-humanitarian. First, it surprised me very much to read something like this from an author who demonstrated such profound understanding of human psychology, emotions and sense. Ender is not only a genius trying “to do good in the way he understands it”, but he is thoroughly humanitarian, or, in the case of the book, pro-equal rights and treatment for whatever culture/intelligent species. Having said that, it was somewhat incredible to believe that the author could not think in a similar manner. However, the real question here is whether the life of an author should interfere with his work. Of course part of the author is inside the book, but, when the book closes itself as a separate universe, with a narrator who belongs there, should we really change our judgement of the book because of the personal life of the father of ideas, one who breathes in a different world (even if that is our own)?”

dreamtokens reviewed a book.

“I’ve read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card in an afternoon, a night and a morning. I’m so glad I did, because it was so fun, so entertaining and so smart. In fact, I just couldn’t stop reading, so today I went to the library and borrowed the following two volumes of the saga.
Ender’s Game...”

“I’ve read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card in an afternoon, a night and a morning. I’m so glad I did, because it was so fun, so entertaining and so smart. In fact, I just couldn’t stop reading, so today I went to the library and borrowed the following two volumes of the saga.
Ender’s Game introduces in the world of fiction a new strong, genius leader: Ender, a kid. This book is the story of how he became the commander of all human armies against the alien invaders, the story of Battle School, of his troubled childhood and all “games” he had to pass to prove he is worthy of leading the great war. I knew I would like it, but I didn’t know I would like it this much. In fact, I even regret a bit I didn’t read it when I was 13 or 14, I would have loved it even more than. But, truly, my child-soul hasn’t died. ”

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Kata rated a book.

• Rated 5 stars

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Iulia rated a book.

• Rated 4 stars

Kata rated a book.

• Rated 5 stars

dreamtokens reviewed a book.

“It wasn’t exactly what I expected, but it didn’t disappoint me, either. It’s full of life, pure life, in all its forms, thoughts, colours and sensations, all typical of Henry Miller. It’s a pleasure to read and a long immersion into someone else’s life, as real as any.”

“ It wasn’t exactly what I expected, but it didn’t disappoint me, either. It’s full of life, pure life, in all its forms, thoughts, colours and sensations, all typical of Henry Miller. It’s a pleasure to read and a long immersion into someone else’s life, as real as any. ”

dreamtokens reviewed a book.

“I still wonder why do I even read his books, because, will, they are full of teachings of other worlds. This one, for example, exposes knowledge about three hallucinogenic plants, one, the peyote, which leads the one who takes it to a teacher, “Mescalito”. The other two take the brujo/diablero to...”

“ I still wonder why do I even read his books, because, will, they are full of teachings of other worlds. This one, for example, exposes knowledge about three hallucinogenic plants, one, the peyote, which leads the one who takes it to a teacher, “Mescalito”. The other two take the brujo/diablero to an ally, whether he takes the Datura (whose power is feminine) or the little smoke (prepared from a certain mushroom, whose power is masculine). ”

dreamtokens rated a book.

• Rated 2 stars

dreamtokens reviewed a book.

“it contained such delicate beauty, so subtle and full of emotions. It’s really a nice read.”

“ it contained such delicate beauty, so subtle and full of emotions. It’s really a nice read. ”

dreamtokens reviewed a book.

“Read in French.”

dreamtokens rated a book.

• Rated 3 stars

dreamtokens rated a book.

• Rated 3 stars

dreamtokens reviewed a book.

“Roccanon’s World was fun. I decided to indulge into some sci-fi and took up Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel from which, I must say, I didn’t have big expectations. I knew it was her first and, because I didn’t hear much about it on the internet, I did expect it to be a bit flat, or at least, not as...”

“Roccanon’s World was fun. I decided to indulge into some sci-fi and took up Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel from which, I must say, I didn’t have big expectations. I knew it was her first and, because I didn’t hear much about it on the internet, I did expect it to be a bit flat, or at least, not as deadly interesting and well written as The Dispossessed, for example. I was right - it was a nice read, not as smart as the others, but it was good an it had some philosophical moments I liked.

Roccanon, the book’s hero, is an enthnologist who takes up the responsibility to save planet Formhault from its enemies. Together with some of the planet’s inhabitants, who end up becoming good friends, he embarks on a journey that borders legend and will be remembered as so. It’s a talk on myth, on life, on isolation, on change, even of names and culture, expected of Le Guin. I enjoyed it, but it’s not the best and I don’t recommend it unless you’re really a fan. ”

dreamtokens reviewed a book.

“This book is beyond words, it’s beyond itself even, it’s more than a book, and books are quite a lot. The story of Siddharta, who refuses all teachers and teachings and chooses to go his own way, to find his own path, is poetically written and enlightening. I recommend it to anyone, at least once...”

“This book is beyond words, it’s beyond itself even, it’s more than a book, and books are quite a lot. The story of Siddharta, who refuses all teachers and teachings and chooses to go his own way, to find his own path, is poetically written and enlightening. I recommend it to anyone, at least once in one’s life, one shall stumble upon this book and enjoy it.”