What a strange book I just finished. Strange, but very interesting. Orson Scott Card’s Wyrms is a look at a society that isn’t quite what it seems, that is pushed on by a driving force that is incredibly powerful and mysterious and dangerous. Like the other Card books I’ve read — especially his older works, from the ’80s — this one is pretty well-written and defies the sort of easy categorization that a lot of sci-fi is subject to. From the start, Card messes with the the sci-fi dogma, just like he does with Speaker for the Dead, and while the payoff may not be what you’d expect, the story does stay interesting pretty much until the end.
The “hero” of the story is a 15-year-old girl (well, she’s 15 for most of the story, though it starts a couple years earlier), Patience, who is ostensibly the daughter of the Heptarch’s slave/prime minister. Little does she know that the Heptarch she serves really isn’t Heptarch at all — her father is. If that’s not enough, she also finds out that she’s not an ordinary Heptarch-to-be — she’s the one that’s been prophecied about, the seventh seventh seventh daughter who is destined to either save the world — or destroy it. Funny things, these prophecies. (At this point, this story reminded me quite a bit of another 15-year-old girl who’s name starts with P and is destined to recreate or destroy the world. Of course, Scrapped Princess is an anime that is newer than this story by over a decade, but it makes me wonder if it was somewhat based on Wyrms.) However, Patience isn’t particularly happy to be pigeonholed into this role and decides to fight it. She picks up an unlikely entourage of allies along the way and hilarity ensues. Well, not exactly hilarity. More like drama. (Gimme a break — I’m trying not to spoil you.)
In any case, if you’re familiar with Card’s writing at all — or at least his Ender stuff — you’ll be familiar with this one. A big cast with diverse characters; Card admits in his forward for Speaker that keeping all his host of characters memorable isn’t his strongest point, and it does show a little here. That said, the central characters are interesting enough, and the story works quite well. A couple things to warn about: If you’re going into this only used to his Ender stuff, like I was, you’ll find Card a bit more blunt with some of the more ribald aspects of human interaction than he was in Ender’s Game. He pulls fewer punches, language- and sensibility-wise with this one. And the book’s climax (no pun intended, if you’ve read that far) is downright bizarre and somewhat off-putting, though most of the book tries its best to prepare you for what happens there from about one-third of the way on through. Let’s just say that it’s an interesting take on what Tolkien does with Frodo at the moment of decision in The Lord of the Rings.
Pretty good and fast read. Not without its faults, but it kept me interested throughout. I’d recommend it.