Pathfinder, by Orson Scott Card

Sunrise was at 7:07, sunset will be at 4:39.

Man, it's cold. Cold, cold, cold. Heater died on Monday. It happens every year on the day we finally decide we can't hold off turning it on any longer. Called the Furnace Man. He'll be here on Friday and I will sit with my feet on the heating vents, blankets tented over me. The cat will take up residence in front of the kitchen vent. Our bird is in D's office, warmest room in the house due to all the electronics. I can barely feel the keyboard.

I just finished reading Orson Scott Card's new book for young adults, Pathfinder. It was GOOD!

I have always been a fan of his books. I don't know much about him or his politics but I love the way he writes. Ender's Game is one of the few books I can re-read and still feel like I am reading it for the first time, and Lost Boys was one of my favorite "horror" books. Brilliant writing.

Rigg, is a young man with special powers, he can see the paths of past lives, who is thrust into an adventure against his wishes. His father's dying wish is for Rigg to search out the sister he's never met. When it's time to go, he goes to the woman who has been closest to them and she gives him jewels and clues as to what he will be looking for. Along the way he picks up exiled Umbo, a childhood friend who has tried to blame Rigg for the death of his little brother. Together, they travel far beyond the world they know, and begin to realize that they both have talents that no one else has and that, together, they can actually change the past.

Pathfinder was a really good story. Thought provoking, difficult, frustrating at times. Funny! I absolutely love science fiction because you can kind of trace how the future could happen from the now times and I like the solidness of that.

Pathfinder starts, and each chapter begins, with a side story, the one that makes it possible for Rigg's tale to happen: a boy, Ram, is on a ship heading into space, searching for a planet to settle. At a certain point in the journey, Ram and his ship will fold space and jump forward to a likely planet (he TESSERS! Like in A Wrinkle in Time!) where, eventually, the colonists will make a new life for the other earthlings to come. But, has something gone wrong? Are things going the way they should have gone?

I read this in a couple of late nights, cold arms, cold nose, frozen fingers holding this brick of a book aloft over all the quilts. It will be a good read for anyone who likes science fiction and long books. It reads quickly, it's just a lot of pages. I'd say ages 12 and up, especially good for someone who either "understands" time travel or who can read certain things without having to know all about it. I am sure it took me longer to read because I had to keep following the logic.
(Simon and Schuster. Available 11-23-10. Hardcover, $18.99.)