Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven
Title: The Call of Earth
Series: Homecoming, book 2
Author: Orson Scott Card
Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki
Copyright: 2008, blacstone Audio
Duration: 10 hours, 40 minutes
Genres: science fiction
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Review copy provided by Blackstone Audio.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: For millennia, the planet Harmony has been protected by the Oversoul, an artificial intelligence programmed to prevent thoughts of war and conquest from threatening the fragile remnant of Earth's peoples. But as the Oversoul's systems have begun to fail, a great warrior has arisen to challenge its bans. Using forbidden technology, the ambitious and ruthless General Moozh has won control of an army and is aiming it at the city of Basilica.
Basilica remains in turmoil. Wetchik and his sons are not strong enough to stop an army. As Lady Rasa, through whom the Oversoul speaks, attempts to defeat Moozh through intrigue, Nafai and his family prepare to voyage to the stars in search of the planet called Earth.
©1993 Orson Scott Card; (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Mankind fled the Earth after finally destroying it with their weapons of mass destruction. The few humans left after the holocaust, vowed never to let their species develop the ability to destroy itself again. And so, when they colonized the planet Harmony, some 1000 light years from Earth, they built a super-intelligent computer, calling it the Oversoul, to watch over their descendants. For almost 40 million years, the Oversoul did what it was programmed to do, guiding humanity and always steering their thoughts away from any inventions that could lead to war on a large scale. Then the Oversoul’s network of satellites orbiting the planet began to deteriorate, and the thoughts of men returned to conquest and greed.
According to its programming, if the Oversoul ever began to lose control of its charges, it was to gather up a faithful few and lead them into the desert, where the great ships still lay waiting, with the purpose of returning them to Earth, an Earth which should by this time have healed itself, to begin again. The Oversoul searched Harmony, and found fourteen-year-old Nafai and his family.
It will not be an easy road for Nefai. As the youngest member of his family, he will have to convince his three older brothers to follow him into the desert. And that’s not all. The Oversoul’s purpose is to begin a new colony on Earth, so Nefai will also have to get his brothers to find wives to go along, and a scientist who can restore some of the useful plants and animals they will need.
But what will the brave travelers find if they make it to Earth? The Oversoul often speaks to the people of Harmony through dreams, but now some of the key players are receiving dreams from somewhere else. The Oversoul admits that it does not precisely know where the rogue dreams are coming from, but thinks it may be the Keper of Earth, an even more powerful computer left behind to watch over the planet, and call its children back when the time was right. But what message is the Keeper sending? The dreams are full of hairy flying creatures, and giant rats that burrow in the ground. Is the Keeper truly calling them home, or is it warning them away?
The Call of Earth is the second book in Orson Scott Card’s Homecoming series. Card is doing a nice job of piecing the story together. Nafai had a hard enough time convincing his father and brothers to leave their home and go on the Oversoul’s errand, but it is unlikely he could ever have convinced the women to leave behind their comfortable existence.
That’s where General Moozh comes in. Moozh figured out a long time ago that there was something like a deity watching over Harmony. He also noticed that whenever his thoughts turned to war and conquest, it became more and more difficult to focus on a clear path. Rather than follow the Oversoul’s urgings, Moozh trained himself to fight against the urges, and follow his own path toward glory. That’s what brings Moozh to the city of Basilica as a conqueror.
Moozh isn’t quite as clever as he thinks he is though. The Oversoul knows that Moozh can resist it, and so uses the old reverse psychology trick on him. Whatever the Oversoul wants Moozh to do, it urges him in the opposite direction, therefore getting exactly what it wants from Moozh anyway. This is an important piece of the puzzle, because if Moozh had not come to conquer Basilica, the women would never have left their beloved city with Nafai and the men. Everything fits together nice and neat.
Having said all that, I have to admit that the pacing was a bit slow on this one. Card showed us an important piece of the puzzle here, but I really felt like he took too long developing it. I mean, General Moozh conquered Basilica and all sixteen of the travelers finally come together in the desert to prepare for their journey, and that’s pretty much all that happened. I didn’t feel like there was enough plot development here to warrant an entire book. But if you skip this one, the rest of the series won’t make as much sense, so there you go.
The most interesting thing to me about The Call of Earth, and the series as a whole so far, is the parallel Card seems to be drawing to the bible. In the scriptures, God placed man on Earth, a fresh and unspoiled planet. Over time, man became more distant from God, following His urgings less and less. Finally, God got fed up and destroyed the Earth, choosing one faithful family, Noah and his sons, to board the ark and be spared to start over. In Card’s Homecoming series so far, we’ve seen mankind placed on a new, unspoiled planet with the Oversoul as their guide and protector. Over time, man listens to the Oversoul less and less until finally the Oversoul chooses one faithful family to spare while the rest are presumeably left to war and devastation. It hasn’t happened yet, but Nafai and his family are on their way to board their ark, a spaceship this time, and have a whole new world to start over in. Kind of makes me wonder if Orson Scott Card is a religious man.
The Call of Earth, and the entire Homecoming series, is narrated by sci-fi regular Stefan Rudnicki. There isn’t much I can say about Rudnicki that I haven’t said already. He’s a good narrator that never becomes dull after a while like some. You’ll never go wrong with a Stefan Rudnicki narration.
So the die is set, and the key players have finally come together. I can’t wait for them to make the trip to Earth and see what the planet has been doing for the last 40 million years without the plague of man on it.
CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
Venus by Ben Bova (Audiobook review)
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (Audiobook Review)
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (audiobook Review)
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If you like this audiobook review, you can purchase the audiobook here:
Get “The Call of Earth”, book 2 in the Homecoming series by Orson Scott Card (Unabridged Audiobook) from Blackstone Audio.
This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt
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