  | Ruins Author: Card, Orson Scott | |
| Price: $23.28 | ||
Summary:
To prevent the destruction of his planet, teenaged Rigg Sessamekesh, who can manipulate time, must assume more responsibility when he and others travel back 11,000 years to the arrival of human starships.
Audio Prevew:
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG+ Reading Level: 5.70 Points: 21.0 Quiz: 154844 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 6-8 Reading Level: 6.20 Points: 30.0 Quiz: 59244 | |
Common Core Standards
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
Grade 6 → Reading → CCR College & Career Readiness Anchor Standards fo
Grade 7 → Reading → RL Literature → 7.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 7 → Reading → RL Literature → 7.RL Range of Reading & LEvel of Text Complexity
Grade 7 → Reading → RL Literature → 7.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 8 → Reading → RL Literature → 8.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 8 → Reading → RL Literature → 8.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 5 → Reading → RL Literature → 5.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 5 → Reading → RL Literature → 5.RL Integration & Knowledge of Ideas
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (09/15/12)
School Library Journal (11/01/12)
Booklist (+) (08/01/12)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (12/12)
The Hornbook (00/11/12)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 08/01/2012 *Starred Review* At the end of Pathfinder (2010), Card left readers’ minds sugar rushing from some of the tastiest brain candy in recent memory. The head trip continues here and dives even deeper into deliciously paradoxical logic traps. The story is nearly impossible to describe without revealing spoilers. But the central crisis that faces Rigg and his time-manipulating companions is the impending destruction of life on Garden (a planet colonized by humans more than 11 millennia ago). Card doesn’t craft the most artful of stories here, as the loads of explanatory passages can get a bit top-heavy. But the ideas he has his characters confront as they square off against hyperdeceitful machines, alternate versions of themselves, parasitic species, and dissension in their own ranks are so enthralling and tricky that it’s easy to forgive him. This is philosophically challenging, mind-pretzeling stuff about time travel, engineered evolution, gene splicing, artificial intelligence, xenocide, and the very nature of what it means to be human and have a soul. Whatever sacrifices Card makes in craft are more than made up for in pure fascination. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Card is not only one of the best sci-fi writers alive, he is also the best-sellingest. Expect considerable demand from both the YA and adult crowds. - Copyright 2012 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 11/01/2012 Gr 10 Up—"Conservation of causality," evolutionary divergence, preemptive self-defense, and what makes a being "human" are all topics explored in this sophisticated novel. Readers unfamiliar with Pathfinder (S & S, 2010) shouldn't begin with this one: the characters, their relationships, and the progress of the plot are too complicated to be understood by those who don't know the world of Garden. Rigg and his companions have entered Vadeshfold. Now that he has fulfilled his father's instruction to find his sister, Param, he is responsible for determining the direction of his journey. From Vadeshfold, they travel through the next wall to Odinfold, where the inhabitants inform the party that soon their world will be destroyed by a spaceship from Earth, and only Rigg and his friends will be able to save the planet. The more they learn, the more it becomes clear that no one, including the expendables or the ship's computer, has been completely honest with them. They must discover the truth and save the planet. Throughout their journey, the characters maintain a constant philosophical and intellectual dialogue to make sense of the time-shifting conundrums and the moral dilemmas inherent in their spectacular abilities. Card is definitely a master of his craft; from characterization to dialogue to setting, his work is flawless. Such inventions as parasitic facemasks that enhance the senses of the affected and mice with the intelligence of humans will appeal to mature readers who enjoy the challenge of an extremely complex premise.Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Bulletin for the Center... - 12/01/2012 In Pathfinder (BCCB 12/10), precocious young Rigg and his friends escaped a hostile army by finding a loophole (time travel) that allowed them to pass through the mysterious Wall that segments their world into nineteen parts. Each “Wallfold” represents a different evolution of passengers from a spaceship that carried human settlers to the planet, accidentally sent them back eleven thousand years in time, and created nineteen replications of the same ship. Now Rigg and co., guided by the “expendable” Vadesh (an enigmatic robot who has guided human progress from the beginning), try to piece together the secrets of this world before a new wave of human settlers reaches the planet—and causes their destruction. Lacking the straightforward quest and coming-of-age structure of the first book, Ruins instead dives deeply into explanations and philosophy at times; fortunately, the world itself is still intriguing enough to hold interest on its own terms, and the thought-provoking, impeccably developed particularities of the various parallel worlds that have grown up on this planet are reminiscent of those featured in Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. Readers may also appreciate the Shakespearean scope of the resentments and power struggles brewing among the company as they work through issues of succession, free will, and the nature of humanity in a series of stage-ready dialogues. Adding issues of genetic engineering and colonization to the already complex thematic backdrop, this is a sci-fi fan’s science fiction epic, reveling in the possibilities of scientific advancement and exploring their consequences with a palpable and contagious fascination. CG - Copyright 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
