I am not a connoisseur of Science Fiction. I know very little about it and coming to this novel, part three in a series, probably did nothing to help.

Now, I'm going to tell you a secret and probably something you will all laugh at but when I requested this book I didn't know it was Science Fiction and fantasist that I am, you can probably imagine my dismay when I opened the parcel!

I was, however, pleasantly surprised. The book was intensely readable and it was not difficult to pick up what had occurred before.

There were references throughout and if the whole story wasn't given, enough to ensure understanding of this part was.

In this novel, Card focuses on the youngest of the Wiggins brothers, Peter. Known, from what I gather, in the earlier parts as Locke or Demosthenes. From the three brothers, Peter is the one who is most politically minded and in this part we meet him after acquiring the position of Hegemon.

The plot is concerned mainly with the insinuation of Achilles, the known enemy of the people into Peter's confidence and the overthrow of the battle school graduates Petra and Bean.

As I said earlier, the book was short and fun enough for me to read. I enjoyed this projected view of the future which I found entirely plausible but as novel that made huge statements, I found it lacking.

It passed the time pleasantly, made me think about possible future realities but didn't grip me and I think that if I wasn't trying so hard to escape writing my next Shakespeare essay at the time and if it wasn't so short I probably would not have finished reading it.

This is not to say that the novel was a failure, just that it was too simple. It did not require much thought, because everything was given and I found myself bored.

So I'm very sorry if you are an Orson Scott Card fan, probably gnashing your teeth at the temerity of a fantasy fan casting aspersions but I don't think I'm converting any time soon.

Sana Master