Wyrms

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Emily Janice Card

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.

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)

Card fans, don't miss this one!

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.

Very curious

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.

Orson Scott Card is brilliant as usual!

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!

Superb Characterization

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.

worth a listen

interesting story and premise, but just couldn't, quite, make the transition from generally interested to fascinated. I think it was imputing only busted human intentions and emotions to the bad guy. several other seeming inconsistencies distracted me, also writing and narrator were very good. Overall, if you like Card, you'll like this, even if you must aquitaine occasionally.

I liked it

Easy listen. Not as good as the Ender series. But still a good listen. Enjoy.

phenomenal

great story and narration. absolutely enjoyed it. wish I had found it sooner. but it's over shadowed by enders game (which is amazing as well). simply amazing author.

A clever story ignores the reality of pain

I am a fan of Card’s work. This book however feels like a string of contrived encounters designed to explore the cleverness of the authors mind rather than build an interesting story. To be fair, there’s plenty of cleverness, and a few brilliant moments, but this is a story from a woman’s point of view and the elements that touch upon love, rape, and child birth feel like they were written without meeting any actual women… ever.

Weird book

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.

Unique

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.