Ditched this one at 65%.Completely lacking any rhythm, the novel bogs down and wallows in the protagonists' endless musings on time paradoxes, their relationships with other group members, the whole "does he/she love me or not?" drama, or just whatever random nonsense popped into Mr. Card's head.A total drag, basically. If you're looking for gripping science fiction or fantasy book reviews, this isn't it. While Orson Scott Card is usually a reliable author, "Ruins (Pathfinder, Book 2)" just does...

I think a lot of the criticism leveled at "Ruins (Pathfinder, Book 2)" is unfounded. First off, it's Orson Scott Card, and for whatever reason, his writing style just sucks me in regardless of the content. Unless it's several books into the Alvin Maker series. So yeah, I'm somewhat biased. However, this is one of Card's more complicated timelines, packed with deep content. According to some, that includes religious and political views that Card allegedly pushes on the reader, assuming the reader...

Oh my goodness, I don't know how I finished this entire book, but I did, and to put it bluntly, it's awful...I enjoyed Pathfinder #1... but Ruins (Pathfinder, Book 2) was just plain bad...What's wrong with it, you ask?First, the characters whine way too much, and they don't stop whining... entire chapters are filled with nothing but incessant complaining.Second, the characters become unlikable... because of all the whining...Third, the preaching... wow, there are pages and pages of Orson Scott C...

This book, Ruins (Pathfinder, Book 2), was absolutely amazing! Orson Scott Card weaves such a deep and richly complex story that I was genuinely thrilled to discover it's not the last in the series (though for a while there, it felt like things could have wrapped up nicely within this volume). Card's characters possess his signature richness and philosophical depth, and their individual struggles are almost as captivating as the overarching conflict itself. I can't sing Card's praises enough fo...

Ugh, this was a slog. I actually had to force myself to finish *Ruins (Pathfinder, Book 2)* after putting it down day after day. I remember really enjoying *Pathfinder*, but this one was a dud. I think Orson Scott Card is a brilliant writer, but sometimes that brilliance doesn't translate well onto the page. And sometimes a writer's views on things get a little too heavy-handed. This is one of those books. Card has crammed a lot of political and religious rhetoric into *Ruins (Pathfinder, Book 2...

Ruins confused the heck out of me.At the end of Pathfinder, our time-traveling crew had busted through the Wall, opening up a whole universe of Wallfolds. The idea of a robot you couldn't trust? Solid start. Then the whole facemask thing went down, and I was officially lost.Look, I'm not an idiot. I've plowed through tons of sci-fi and fantasy, including most of Orson Scott Card's other stuff, and I usually get what's going on. But from the second Vadesh started rambling about these crazy bug fa...

Ruins is Orson Scott Card's followup to Pathfinder. Rigg and his companions have passed through the Wall and entered a world much bigger than anything we saw in the previous book. Beyond that, I won't try to describe the story because, one, it would sound absurd in summary form, and two, it's so complicated I'm not sure I could explain it if I wanted to. But Card's gift is that he can ground the most fantastical stories by telling them through the eyes of his very relatable characters. The meat ...

I was so excited to read this book because I really enjoyed Pathfinder. It was disappointment. There was so much philosophy and theories- not to mention the confusion of the time travel. The characters were constantly lecturing each other with these grand thoughts and ideas. Most of the characters were extremely annoying- especially Param, and unlike Umbo, she never redeems herself. This reminds me a little of the Ender Series, in how the first book draws you in with great characters and plot, b...

In French class I could never roll my "r's" properly so my teacher would have me practice holding my lips together and blowing air out to make a sputtering sound. I never could make my lips sound like a motor boat. I ended up spitting all over the desk and sputtering all right. Sputtering... I can't take it anymore. I'm sputtering at this book the same line. I finished it, but was relieved when it ended. If you love philosophy, physics science, genetics, epidemiology, sociology, biology and lots...

I started to read Ruins less than a day after I finished Pathfinder. Now, that’s 672 pages of time travel, followed by 544 more pages of time travel. These books are quite heavy, and require paying lots of attention.I didn’t quite pay enough attention. The time abilities are so complicated, and since OSC said he made sure to defy all normal rules of time travel in fiction/theory, well, my small knowledge in the matter became null. For the most part I got what was going on, but if I had to explai...