Songmaster

This book gave me a really slimy feeling, and it was hard as hell to read. I'm not sure if it was Card's inexperience as an author or some repressed predilections coming out, but the constant focus on the ineffable beauty of a little boy and the running theme of everyone's assumption that his masters use him as a sex toy wore thin in a hurry. Ansset was definitely a prototype for Ender and later boy wonders, but more than that, he's a classic mary sue; perfect, beautiful, talented, everyone desires him and wants to protect him.

It all felt like too much of a glimpse into Card's innermost urges, even if it wasn't meant to be. Card's assumption that a cute blond, blue-eyed boy will stir the hearts of all men and women gives off intense creepy vibes, especially when it all comes to a head in an extremely explicit gay sex scene, complete with explosive climax, that "spoils" Ansset forever. The author doth protest too much?

The rest of the story alternated between sweeping descriptions of future bureaucracies and overlong silted conversations. The few scenes with any kind of action are resolved almost before they begin, leading to a plodding, uneven pace, and doing very little with what had been built up for a hundred pages before launching into a new direction.

The good ideas here are more fully realized in the Ender's Game series, with much better writing and without as much of the squick factor, leaving historical completeness the only real reason to read this.