Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

There is a popular phrase that my kids repeat whenever they come upon something completely different from desired expectation, "I reject your reality and insert my own." This phrase is applicable in many ways to this book. OSC has always been one of my favorite authors and so I had pleasant expectations that this would be an intriguing take on a classic story. Sadly, it is not. Yes, there is rampant and ham-fisted homophobia here. The shock is not that Card is against Homosexuals, one only needs to Google him to see where he stands, the shock is that he deals with his message so incredibly poorly. If anything, he comes across as strident and pathetic. One would have thought he would use the incredible amounts of nuance he was capable of once upon a time to craft his tale. He didn't. He couldn't be bothered, and it shows. The other problem the book never overcomes is how he rejected Shakespeare's Hamlet and inserted his own. Hamlet is unrecognizable. If anything, he is a shamefully embarrassing Mary Stu of the Author. There is no glorious angst, as the Prince tried to wrestle with truth/loyalty/death/existance. There is only silliness and an increasing feeling of discomfort. The feeling you get when you watch someone make a fool of themselves in public. If you truly want something to give you an expanded idea of what is going on while Shapespeare's Hamlet plays out on stage before you, I recommend Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Trust me. You will never watch Hamlet without having an expanded understanding of the tale again. This? You are forced to go see Hamlet in order to ensure that all is still right in the world and scrub this book from your psyche. It is my belief Card has lost it, not just in his repulsive political views, but in his craft. The man can no longer write. It's sad, really.