Pathfinder

I am long overdue to be talking about this rather incredible book.  A couple of years ago, I bought Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card for my brother for Christmas.  I'd heard through the Mom-line that he wanted me to buy him a book.  So, I scoured the internet searching for the perfect book I thought he would like.  I wanted to get him something new, exciting, and of course something with a beautiful cover.  (My brother loves art almost as much as I do.  If the whole package isn't right, he's not going to read it.)  Then I found this little baby.  It was the one!

Much to my sadness, it took him nearly a whole year to read it!  Who does that, right?  But he kept saying, "Mal, you have to read this when I'm done." 
To which I would respond, "Why?  It must not be any good if it's taking you this long to read." 
"Yeah, I know," he'd say.  "But it really is good."
"Mm-hmm."
"It is!  And the cover is amazing, look at it!"

We had many of these conversations.  They all went about like that.

At long last, he finished and conveniently placed it upon my bookshelf so that it would be the one I read next.  Then I finally picked it up.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!  Orson, you've done it again.

This is the story of Rigg.  Rigg has a special ability to see the paths every person throughout time has walked or moved.  His father is a man who goes by many titles and doesn't always seem to be the most loving of men.  Rigg's father taught him many things that the other villagers seemed to have no need to know.  One day his father is killed in the woods while the two of them were out trapping and hunting.  His father tells Rigg to run home and talk to their caretaker.  On his way something very strange and unique happens to him.  The paths he sees begin to slow down and he can actually see the people moving through time and not just their path.  What Rigg learns next takes him on a journey he never planned, and becomes someone he never expected. 

The writing is beautiful and well crafted.  There are many difficult concepts in this book to grasp and I frequently had to set the book aside for a second and make sure everything the author said was sinking in before I moved on to the next chapter.  While it took me a little while to read it during this exhausting bit of summer, I don't understand why it took my brother a whole year!  This story is very well told and unlike anything I've read before. 

Hope you love it too!