The Pathfinder series is a completed series of novels by
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...
that is notable for its unusual fusion of the themes of science fiction and fantasy, with some elements of historical fiction. One significant aspect of the Pathfinder series is its uniquely complex but well documented set of
time travel
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
rules.
Plot
The narrative follows the adventures of a young man named Rigg, an unknowing colonist of a planet called Garden in a seemingly medieval state of scientific advancement. Rigg, at first a fur trapper's apprentice who has been educated in nearly every skill by a mysterious figure claiming to be his father, prominently exhibits a seemingly magical ability to see "paths" (hence the series' title), or the physical traces of living entities through time, to his benefit. Rigg and his companions, a band of unlikely friends, young and old, who have similar time-altering abilities, travel across Garden through many varied societies and environments to use their talents for personal benefit and heroics.
The story line develops in parallel with another story which converges as the story of the colonization of Garden by Terrans some 11,000 years in the past.
Reception
The series is critically acclaimed for its fast-paced, yet detailed, action, and the complex international power games that characterize much of Orson Scott Card's latest works. Some readers did complain that the ending of the series did feel "lazy" or weak, the writing uneven.
[
Users say things such as, "I hate to say it, but the conclusion of this series feels incredibly lazy to me." and "Yes, the ending felt very weak to me as well"]
Books in the series
* ''
Pathfinder
Pathfinder may refer to:
Businesses
* Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International
* Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature
Computing and information science
* Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser
* Pathfinder (w ...
'' (2010)
* ''
Ruins
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
'' (2012)
* ''
Visitors
Visitor, in English and Welsh law, is an academic or ecclesiastical title.
Visitor or Visitors may also refer to:
Geography
* Visitor (mountain), a mountain in eastern Montenegro
* Lake Visitor, a mountain lake in eastern Montenegro
Literature
* ...
'' (2014)
See also
*
List of works by Orson Scott Card
The Orson Scott Card bibliography contains a list of works published by Orson Scott Card.
Ender's Game
The Tales of Alvin Maker
The Homecoming Saga
Women of Genesis
Pastwatch series
Mithermages series
Mayflower
''Mayflower ...
References
External links
The Pathfinder series on Goodreads*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pathfinder series
Book series introduced in 2010
Novels by Orson Scott Card
Novel series