Lost and Found

This was well-written overall. Every once in a while the narrative would oddly jump into first person “I” thoughts (with no italics to indicate it) instead of third person, but the story flowed well and definitely made me want to keep reading. The understated humor was great, the premise was really original. I loved the Micropowers bit, as opposed to the characters having Superpowers. The author’s writing style made for some intriguing dialogue—the characters were very lively and snarky (or “snotty,” as Ezekiel would say). At the end it sounded more like the author philosophizing about life and love and friendship than Ezekiel and Beth having a conversation, but the conclusion was still quite satisfying.CONTENT: A few swear words and off-color humor instances were included, along with a mature situation regarding kidnapping and child porn but with no distasteful details given on the latter.

When I consider the things that make an Orson Scott Card book worthwhile, it's a compelling situation / story line, and emotionally vigorous, and satisfying relationships. This book has them all in spades, instead of just some of them, and or just for part of the book. Which is not meant to say anything negative about his books I've read, but more like trying to say if those books were fine wine, this book is an incredible bourbon, distilled goodness and concentrated to the extent (but not over- concentrated) that when you're through with it, you are almost worn out, and for two days, every waking hour has been spent reading the book or thinking about it.It's hard to describe... The first OSC book I read was (of course) Ender's Game. The emotional content of this book was over the top, for the first half. I have also enjoyably read Wyrms, one or two other Ender's books, the entire Homecoming series, and the Empire series. These books were all enjoyable for the well-thought out science, intricate and fast-moving storyline, and believable and strong family relationships.Let me also add that I deeply love Zenna Henderson's People stories, as well as The Abandoned by Paul Gallico, which my mother checked out of the library for me when I had the mumps and was confined home for two weeks, and which opened the door to igniting my Reading As Movie micropower, beginning my career as a voracious serial reader of (ultimately, mostly) science fiction, because that's the kind of story my mother liked - how cool is that?But back to this story - this is the most compelling book (besides the Bible) I have ever read - I could not put it down, could not do my work, could not help thinking about it - could hardly think about anything else. An incredible emotional tug was part of that - Card's uncanny ability with family relationships is in full swing here, and for the first time in any Card book, everything fits together wonderfully, powerfully, and the high-voltage continues right to the very end. I cannot emphasize this last part enough. This book will be an emotional catharsis, and I don't mean that it's mawkish, but rather that it is pure distilled goodness. Be prepared to expend some tissues here, I don't care how much of a tough guy you are. Be prepared also to expect sharp disappointment that It's Over.In some of the movies I've seen over the last five years, there's always a spot to get teary in, but I'm always aware that I'm being manipulated. That may be true in this book as well, but I couldn't find it, I'm not aware of it, these are just the sort of things that really matter to me, that really get me right here, and when I find it, it's really really good.Or maybe precious is a better word, as in when referring to something that is rare, and for which you would sell everything you had to buy it if that were the price. Like the parable of the pearl of great price or of the Lost coin in the Gospels. If you have a heart, you'll be glad you read this book. It is the sort of a book that, when it's over, you wish it were real, that you were in these people's circle, and you didn't have to wake up and go back to living your own life. It is the same element that grips the heart in the other stories I mentioned above.Some people have mentioned the repartee to be a little over-the-top, but if you are feeling starved for fast-moving, intelligent conversation at home, you will enjoy it, at least the first time through. As I have just read it for the first time, I can't speak to subsequent rereads, which all of the books I find worthwhile not only stand up to, but endure repeatedly, old friends that I like to visit with every year.So, I don't know whether this book will endure or just be a flash in the pan, so to speak, because some of the elements, like humor, are best only the first time. I will say I've never laughed so much in the first hour of reading any book. Certainly the relationship parts won't be, I expect to be unpeeling those for many rereads.If I could give this book 20 Stars, it would not be excessive. It's only shortcoming is that it's not long enough, and also that it is not part of at least a trilogy. If it were, I would buy book number two without even thinking, but right now I'm thinking what if it wasn't that good? The disappointment would be almost too great to bear. It's almost better like this, this is the Apex, it canNOT get better, and so it stands alone.Of course, the second half of Ender's Game was like that for me, and yet this book lay in its future. Osc has proven that he can outdo himself, and so I will hope, even though (without knowing the copyright date) this book is probably at least 10 years old, and has no sibs yet

While I waited for my copy of "Lost and Found" to arrive, I decided to read some of the reviews here on Amazon. I was surprised to see a few reviews that said the book was good, but the dialogue was too witty or snappy and felt forced. Other reviews mentioned that the story goes to "dark" places, so they couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be a Young Adult novel or just regular adult fiction.After reading the book, I can say that those criticisms are slightly valid, but not enough to in any way make the book bad. Yes, the characters speak in a more clever way than most people I've met in the real world. But... I do know people who speak like this. They are usually very bright and just interact with the world differently. And yes, the book does speak about dark, mature topics a bit past the halfway point. I wouldn't read this book to my daughters (ages 8, 9, and 13) because it might freak them out. But... as an adult reader, I knew that the topics brought up are actually real and these things happen in real life. Card didn't make up something horrific to be scandalous - he picked a real-world topic and added it to his story. So I didn't mind.After saying all of that, how is the book? It's good! It isn't quite as engaging as some of Card's other books, but only because it is smaller in scale and scope. The Ender saga (which is up to approximately 12 books by now) feels important. The themes, moral dilemmas, and human interactions all have weight to them because of how epic the story is."Lost and Found" has a bit of adventure and danger, but it is much more grounded. It is focused on (almost) regular humans living their lives in contemporary times. So it is a touch lighter, a touch simpler than some of Card's other books.Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book from beginning to end and would love to find out more about micropowers and just how inane they might be. The world-building is good enough to make me crave more.One last note: the micropowers discussed actually *do* relate to the Ender saga, because they seem to be based (intentionally or not) on philotic rays. The main character can "feel" a connection between lost items and their owners. Another character can "feel" where spiders are. And one can "feel" other peoples' navels. It instantly reminded me of the ansible, the hive queen, and philotic webs. So that's something.

Just enough detail to get you interested in the characters as people before you even find out how interesting and exceptional they are in the story line. I read this one in one sitting unfortunately so I am going to be really tired at work today!

I thoroughly enjoyed the book , finding a quote worth memorizing on almost every page.In ‚Lost and found’ the dialogues explore what is behind seemingly obvious ‘common knowledge’ in the typical Orson Scott Card style. Humorous, but nonetheless capturing the nature of things on a deep and true level.This way, even scenes and dialogue from every day life allow us a glimpse of deeper truth and reality, for which we usually do not have words.

I really enjoyed this and even got misty eyed at the end. The MC was such a bratty, immature teenager I found it very difficult to like him. So, well characterised, not likeable but very real and age appropriate. By about 30% in, the storyline gripped me, so it didn't really matter that I really didn't like the MC. Plus, he had some personal growth. All the reasons I didn't like him are the reasons I don't like the person I was at age 14.

Nice book about the value of friendship, with a unique twist on being an awkward teenager. As an adult, I enjoy the odd book for he youth market, and I LOVE Orson Scott Card. Was a bit disappointed in this for some reason (probably because it WAS written for a much younger audience. Not as rich or deep as I'm used to from this author). A good read, with drama and tension, with room for growth, as there is a support group of people with oddities that could be explored.

Ok, this comes from one of my favourite (if not THE favourite) authors in SF, but it is far below my expectations. The prose does not flow naturally as in so many other of his books, the plot is shallow ( although the idea is interesting), and the characters just seem to «hover» above the level that would make me consider them acceptable. I must confess that reviewing a book by Orson Scott Card, especially if the review is not positive,is no means an easy task, but in my opinion, this is a book not in par with Songmaster or many other masterpieces by the same author.