Children of the Mind

is my new favorite book!

And ...... spoiler alert.

I'm not opposed to weird, out-there speculation about how the universe works. Card's books are full of that. But what he doesn't do is take known laws of physics and toss them out the window. I just realized, really realized, how terribly horrible are the writers and producers of such series as Star Trek. This is probably the geekiest post I've ever written—but I just can't help but be completely appalled that in the new Star Trek film they claim that Spock was able to time travel because of a black hole. GAAAHH! Why? Why?

It's just as easy to come up with some far-out, esoteric reason it happened. Why just throw in something that obviously couldn't happen and rely on the dimness of viewers to either not notice or not care? I guess part of my frustration is that I'm embarrassed I didn't notice the first time I saw it how bad the science really was.

So now I'm becoming a science fiction geek. All because a few Christmases ago I decided it was about time I seriously tried to understand science, and not just the watered-down, random textbook version I got in school (I seriously doubt I ever had a science teacher who cared about science). My first step was to go to the library and check out a book by Stephen Hawking, whose name I remembered from watching my dad watch NOVA when I was a kid. Also, because I knew my own limitations in grasping big and significant ideas, I got the version with pictures. Thus, I read (and mostly even understood) The Illustrated Theory of Everything. Talk about life-changing experiences. I no longer see myself as incapable of understanding scientific thought—I just see myself as having wasted many chances in my youth to understand scientific thought. But better late than never.

Now I tend to get most of my science from discussions with my brother, reading biographies of prominent scientists, the occasional science documentary, and science fiction books.

Aside from the implausibility of what happens in Children of the Mind, including all the instantaneous space travel, the transference of souls in and out of both natural and synthetic bodies, and inter-special cohabitation, it never broke any known rules.

And get this—just as I was convincing myself that Card's strength was not in the beauty of his writing but the pull of his ideas, he wrote one of the most beautiful passages of prose I've ever read. I almost didn't want it to be over—the part where Jane "dies" because the computer network is shut down and the "space" she inhabits isn't there anymore. First she tries to take over Ender's bodies (weird), but they fight her back. So she goes inside the Hive Queen next, which is an interesting little interlude. Finally, she goes to the Pequenino Mothertrees, and by doing so fills them with sparkly lights and helps them grow and make blossoms and fruit. They don't resent her intrusion or her energy, because they have a greater capacity for that sort of thing. It was so joyful to read.

I also really liked just about every one of Wang-mu's inner thoughts, as well as all the things she said to people. I guess I'm still a sappy romantic, because I liked the love parts too—like where Peter was analyzing whether or not he was in love with Wang-mu, and all the stuff Miro feels about Val-Jane and what happens to her. Very sweet stuff.

The other thing is that I loved the Afterword. It's completely cool.

Now I'm out of things to say, with no sophisticated way of wrapping up my thoughts, but because this is a blog and not an English paper, I'll let it end with my favorite quote from the book.

Miro, after an intense inner battle about why he does/doesn't want Jane to take over the body of Val/Ender: "I want all bad things to go away and everybody to be happy. I want my mommy. What kind of childish dolt have I become?"