It's funny. Even the religions we put in our Science Fiction are works-based religions. I'm glad my God isn't as limited as the Oversoul. The implications of a God that isn't omniscient or omnipresent is devastating. I like how Card makes me think about these things though, and I really enjoyed the two main characters of this book. ( )

The Memory of Earth. A computer called the Oversoul has been given guardianship of the planet called Harmony. But the Oversoul is in need of repair, so it selects a few people to learn about space travel and return to Earth in hopes of finding the means to fix it. First of a five book series. Rating 4 of 5. I always hate describing the premise of sci-fi books, because people roll their eyes. But it's good, really! The characters are fantastic, and the interpersonal problems posed are intriguing. The book is about so much more than just a galaxy far, far away. ( )

After falling in love with the Ender series this year, I decided to get to know some of Card’s other series. I had never read a review of the Homecoming series, but I knew that it was based on the story of the Book of Mormon. I was interested to see what Card would do with a sacred story from his own religion, in giving it a science fiction setting and thus opening it to a wider audience.

For forty million years, the world of Harmony has been a world without large-scale conflict. The Oversoul, an artificial intelligence satellite system revered as a god, has suppressed any thoughts that would lead to such conflicts. While some technologies have flourished, mechanical transportation and anything large than hand weapons have not been invented. Now a crisis has come: the Oversoul, designed by humans fleeing the destruction of Earth, has far outlasted its intended lifespan, but humanity has not yet learned how to live in peace. Despite its best efforts, the Oversoul is breaking down.

How closely the story of The Memory of Earth follows the Book of Mormon is impossible for me to tell, since I’m totally unfamiliar with the latter. I do know that Card, as usual, tells a brilliant and engaging tale, one which left me thoughtful and eager for the next in the series.

I had some of the same problems with this book that I had with Xenocide, namely that I found many of the characters annoying and unsympathetic. The fact that Card clearly intends them to be so didn’t stop them from diminishing my enjoyment of the book somewhat, but I wouldn’t say that the story itself suffers for their presence. Quite the contrary, since they all have a role to play in its moral framework.

And that’s important, because Homecoming, even more than the Ender saga, has a point to make, and it isn’t really possibly to evaluate the books individually, except as entertainment. In that context, The Memory of Earth is a success: I couldn’t put it down. ( )

I fall in love with OSC's writing time and time again, and The Memory of Earth was not an exception for me.

It is a new world in which I had some trouble finding my bearings, but I was grateful that OSC didn't spend too much time giving me all of the bits of information that I would have needed to be completely comfortable. Instead, this familiarity came with the passing pages, as I became more in tune with the characters.

There are still many questions that I have, such as, how would humans come to the decision that a computer is a necessary watch dog? How can a human even begin to hope that their programming is intricate enough to deal with humanity's many paths? How can a parent who knows the truth that an ultimate being is a computer program teach his child to believe in the Almighty as a power, and not as satellite?

Perhaps these questions will be answered in the next books, which I will be sure to pick up. ( )

A little slow going at first. Intriguing ideas about an alternate life style for humans who have escaped the destruction of Earth.

Is the Oversoul supposed to be a substitute for God? Or does the author just imagine that future earthlings would be able to create a program capable of protecting people from themselves?