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Book Review By sayruh
Wyrms by Orson Scott Card

Humans colonized a planet and set up a kingdom. There are two other alien/mutant groups residing on the planet, one group has no will and since they don't care what they do, they're pretty much everybody's servants. The other race has all but died off and one wants to breed with the humans to keep the race alive. His mate of choice is a princess. Luckily for him he has mind control or something, otherwise he'd be hard pressed to get a beautiful young princess to even consider calling him on the phone, let alone accepting the role as the mother of his child. The princess, along with a motley crew of misfits including a fat chick/would-be assassin and a head in a jar, heads off in search of this alien/mutant, though she's not too keen on the idea of mating with it, she, like a cat in heat, just can't help herself. A thoroughly unfulfilling book, to say the least. While the majority of characters have moments where they are interesting and even likable, they are not strong enough to hold up the sex with alien/mutant creature plot and one had to wonder if Card originally had something better in mind and lost it somewhere, or if this was something he just threw together for some quick cash to sustain him while he was thinking up a story more meaningful and interesting. A terribel tragedy, unless your into that kind of thing.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Explore:
Political power play Yes
Political plotlets - overthrowing govt/kingdom
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Religious overtones? Yes
Cultural problems, alien culture Yes
Culture clash- - one culture tries to impose its culture on another group
Descript. of chases or violence - 10 %
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20 %

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - a teen

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male Alien
Age: - long-lived adults
Has magical powers? Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist: - mind control
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a futuristic society - inhabited by friendly aliens - unfriendly aliens
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - weird alien sex - main character impregnated against her will
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog
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