Review of Stonefather by Orson Scott Card

Stonefather
By Orson Scott Card; Read by Emily Janice Card
Audible Download – 3 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Published: 2008
Themes: / Fantasy / Magic / Nature / Politics / Youth /

Runnel is nothing special. He was never good at anything nor exceptionally bad at anything, just plain ordinary. He is frequently beat by a just as frequently angry father. He lives in a house with more than a dozen children. “Runnel” is a water name, which he was given out of piety to the god Yegut. Even though he has a water name, the only thing that Runnel is better than the other children at is rock climbing. He can find footholds and crevices where other children can’t.

As Runnel approaches his “man height” the other kids begin playing mean jokes on him. During one of these jokes Runnel finds himself on the top of a mountain all alone looking at a road heading to Mitherhome, the city of water mages. He decides to leave and starts to walk towards Mitherhome which is an island surrounded by a deep gorge in the land. He walks to the town of Hetterfairy, the only way to get to Mitherhome. Here he meets a servant named Lark who becomes his first friend. Runnel persuades her to take him to her masters house where he gets a job and discovers something amazing about himself.

This book is written by Orson Scott Card and is read by his daughter Emily Janice Card. Orson Scott Card is the famous award-winning author of the Ender series, Bean Series, and the Earthfall Series. “Stonefather” is a story set in a series he is writing, an introduction you might say.

Emily Janice Card read this book amazingly. This is the first audio book that I have heard that she has read and I was pretty surprised. She is not the best reader in the world but she is very very good. I could see the same voice in all the characters but this did not distract me from the story.

Card’s clever use of words had me from the beginning as all of his books do. I could tell each character not only from their voice but from their style of words. Some had very similar styles but there was always a little tweak in it that I could see and it made it all the better. I dislike books in which I can not tell who is speaking.

Posted by DanielsonKid (Age 14)