Invasive Procedures

reads like the worst of robin cook

I frankly find it hard to believe that Orson Scott Card had anything to do with this. Unbelievably bad writing - terrible cliches, two dimensional characters, with a dumb plot.

It's also got to be hard to make potentially fascinating science (gene therapy) so boring. I just don't know how this one got out the door.

Purely sold on Card's name; I can only hope that the writing is mostly Mr. Johnston's, but I fully put the responsibility on Orson Scott Card who should have stopped such an awfully produced project.

8 people found this helpful

I should have read the reviews

Orson, Orson, what happened here? On your worst days you are better than this. Tedious, uninspired, boring, predictable, juvenile and, let's not mince words, just plain awful. Please don't ever do this again.

I couldn't bear to hear the last two hours of the book. Listen carefully, that sound you hear is me flinging this virtual book out my virtual window.

15 people found this helpful

It pains me.

It pains me to write bad things about Card as he is my favorite author, but sometimes you have to call a dud a dud. Don't get me wrong for some authors this would be a masterpiece, but out of Card we expect better.

This starts out as a poor imitation of Michael Crichton, then moves into an ok imitation of Dean Koontz and finishes as Stephanie Myers. Sprinkled through are touches of Card, such as characters questioning themselves and there inner strife.

At one point a 40 year old in the future references the Marx Brothers. I am 54 and living now and I would never reference the Marx Brothers. The amount of endless debate in action situations is unbelievable. These people are trying to escape a building, time is an issue and they are debating the most minute details. In one part Card gives a boy lessons on how to be a coward.

There is a lot here on genetics. I really liked the part where a megalomaniac makes four copies of himself in order to better rule the world, yet he is too stupid to figure out that four copies of himself would try to kill each other.

Before there was Scalzi and Wheaton, there was Card and Rudnicki. Rudnicki does an excellent job.

If you have never read Card, please don't start here. Card has written the best sci-fi book ever in "Enders Game". You must read that. Then if you want great fantasy read Seventh Son and the two books that follow, skip the rest in that series. For scary read Treasure Box. Hart's Hope is real good and Songmaster is Card in a nutshell.

24 people found this helpful

A boomer wrote this

It's very obvious that the author is old and for a younger audience outdated. If you like CSI Miami you'd probably enjoy the book. Character dialogue is where it shines the brightest. Other than that portraying an NSA like organization as benevolent and the state as having a glass door is distasteful and delusional. It's something that you'd have to be in your 40's or firmly in the middle classes to appreciate to any measure.

1 person found this helpful

Orson you're better than this

Unfortunately Mr. Card has set such a high standard since Ender's Game that we greet each work with "great expectations." The narration is the best feature of this book since the original narrator for Mr. Card's works, with his fantastic voice and pacing, is on board. But this plot is time-worn and the characters are uninteresting (frankly some are downright annoying). Perhaps having a co-author is the problem here. Has Orson run out of ideas? Will he go the way of James Petterson and just stamp out mass produced pulp? Please, turn back the clock and let the ideas flow like the past. If you're burned out, Orson, rest up...

11 people found this helpful

Mesmerizing

Any additional comments?

I was hooked within 10 minutes of starting this story. In true Card style I was quickly whisked away into a world of the "almost possible and potentially probable" alternate reality he presented.
The characters flew to life for me, and I felt connected almost intimately to their feelings.
Fiction that completely lifts you out of reality and places you into an entirely new world is rare but this story did it with flare! I was loathe to turn it off and saddened when my visit into their world was over and the tale finished.

2 people found this helpful

i liked it

i dont see why a lot of people dont like this one.
i liked it.
read the story line, try the simple, read all the reviews.
must be kids that dont like this.
Stefan Rudnicki is a good narrater.
im glad i took the chance.

2 people found this helpful

Lost (not in) the Details

Ok, first I must say that I enjoy Orson Scott Card's works immensely. However, this one I only kinda enjoyed. The concept was good, and I believe original. The story line was good, though rather predictable. The details, though, had me pulling my hair out. The story is set in the not too distance future...no year is given, but that is obvious from cues in the text. But suddenly we went back 40 years to using IV needles (instead of plastic catheters) in patients? If you have ever had an IV in the past 50 years and pulled it out (after it has been inserted, and already in use), you were probably holding a plastic catheter, not a sharp metal needle. Similarly, gurneys have not been "strapped" into ambulances for decades--they are held by metal brackets and latches. Early in the book an pivotal "anti-virus" is described at great length as being red in color, and the reason for the coloration is given. At the end of the book it is green. These are just examples, there are others. Perhaps because of my background in the military and medicine I zoomed in on these and other points more readily, but I think that the average reader/listener would pick up on them too. If you are just looking for something to wile away half-a-day and are willing to gloss over the fine points, this book is a good one. Otherwise...

10 people found this helpful

Not as expected.....

I thought Orson Scott Card would have done a better job with this book. I felt it to be a bit lame in spots. Perhaps I missed the overview and it was meant to be read by a juvenile, as that was how it was written.It had some good points and entertainment value of 3 but was far too predictable and difficult to conceive as even remotely plausable which for me gives it an edge.

3 people found this helpful

An Interesting Read

The book definitely shows how much Aaron Johnston has grown as an author. I believe the reason Card is listed as an author is because the book is based off of a short story he wrote called "Malpractice" in 1977. It seems to me that he had very little to do with the book, except make money off of it. Don't let this read lead you away from other books written by this pair, those that I've read are among my favorite of all time.