High above the planet Harmony, the Oversoul watches. Its task, programmed so many millennia ago, is to guard the human settlement on this planet–to protect this fragile remnant of Earth from all threats. To protect them, most of all, from themselves.
The Oversoul has done its job well. There is no war on Harmony. There are no weapons of mass destruction. There is no technology that could lead to weapons of war. By control of the data banks, and subtle interference in the very thoughts of the people, the artificial intelligence has fulfilled its mission.
But now there is a problem. In orbit, the Oversoul realizes that it has lost access to some of its memory banks, and some of its power systems are failing. And on the planet, men are beginning to think about power, wealth, and conquest.
The beginning of an exciting science fiction ride Card gives us the first of four very good volumes in a five book science fiction series. Basilica is a wonderful world and the characters that we meet will gain depth and develop over the series. Card is sometimes slow and tedious in his plot advancement. I liken his writing to a journey in which each step is mundane, but when taken one after another, cover long distances and present vista after vista.
Intended to make you think… Especially LDS Here is the thing…I think that CJ Cherryh is the greatest science fiction writer of our time. She writes for me the most original material taking me to places I could not have imagined existing before I read them, and cannot imagine not existing after I read them.However…Orson Scott Card has written my most favorite stories (Ender’s Game / Ender’s Shadow, Lost Boys)… Because what he is, is the greatest story teller of our time. He takes new slants on things we are familiar with and tells the story in a way that leaves you thinking for hours, days and years.Case in point, Memory of Earth.Anyone who has seriously read the Book Of Mormon, will see where all the storyline comes from in the “Home Coming/ Memory of Earth” series. But what is the value of putting the Book of First Nephi in science fiction form? Nephi’s character is a much more complete character in this Series, giving the Book of Mormon reader things to ponder. Like what…
The Oversoul begins the question to bring humanity home The accusation that the Orson Scott Card “Homecoming: Harmony” series is a thinly disguised retelling of the book of Mormon came as a surprise to me, mainly because I am not that familiar with the book of Mormon. However, “The Memory of Earth,” the first in the five volume series, certainly has the tenor of an Old Testament story. The planet Harmony was settled 40 million years after the destruction of Earth, and the mother planet is now more legend than dim memory. The human population is cared for by the Oversoul, a computer able to communicate telepathically with some of the inhabitants. However, now the Oversoul is breaking down and needs to be returned to Earth for repairs. The problem is a combination of believability (no one remembers earth) and technology (this is a planet where caravans coexist with a floating chair for Nafai’s crippled brother, Issib).