This is not Orson Scott Card's best work. The focus of the book is on the children in the story and is so similar to his other books that you could easily search and replace names of characters. There are frequent typographical errors and it generally lacks polish. Indeed, the review on the jacket isn't even for this book, rather it is for 'Xenocide'. The story line plods along and you could easily skip entire chapters without noticing. Towards the end of the book it becomes obvious that this was an introduction to a series rather than something that would stand on its own. I'm saddened to write a bad review of an author I am otherwise impressed with.