Children of the fleet - book review

Children of the Fleet

A few years ago, I was blown away by Orson Scott Card’s classic, Ender’s Game. Since then, I’ve been in search of any book, which added life to the Enderverse and I wasn’t disappointed. Seems there are seven books in the Ender series (about the further adventures of Ender Wiggin). Then there’s five novels that make up the Shadow saga about another brilliant kid from Battle school named Bean. His stories run parallel to Ender’s and delve into Bean’s efforts to help save Earth from the aliens (or Formics) and itself. Sprinkled throughout these twelve books is the history of Ender’s and Bean’s families and how they intersect. Add to this mix, three books about the First Formic Wars (long before Ender’s birth) and a one novel (so far) about the Second Formic War. There are two more in this series that have not yet been published.
 
Reading Orson Scott Cards work is always an intellectual experience with plot twists and well-rounded character development. Needless to say, I was overjoyed when I found that Children of the Fleet was available (which is set right after the events of the original Ender’ Game).
 
I was quite excited to start reading but that was about the height of my excitement. Without hitting any spoilers, the story is about ten-year old Dabeet Ochoa who has the potential to become a great military strategist. The problem with the story begins once Dabeet is aboard the Battle Station (which is now a Fleet School for children training to be planetary explorers). At times, the characters conversations are repetitive and their thoughts are too long and drawn out. When Dabeet is faced with a particular life-and death training, a few pages are used to describe the young boy’s thoughts when a few paragraphs would have been sufficient. The bottom line is that there is so much unnecessary detail that it becomes boring.
 
Perhaps Card is simply setting the stage for this new character to begin his adventures in possible new sequels but as a stand alone novel, Children of the Fleet is disappointing. Overall, the storyline is okay but not up to the level of the other series mentioned. I give the novel three stars.

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