Fans of Card will finish this book, but I would be surprised if anyone else did. It is a TOUGH read.Card is one of my favorite authors and I STILL thought it could have used about 1/3 of it cut out. Unnecessary traveling descriptions, ponderous and repetitive dialogue, detailed (sometimes TOO detailed) explanations of the technology at work.Maybe some readers won't get it, but I got it the first time. Really. We readers of Card aren't a stupid lot, I hope. Smart enough to get where you're leading us, at least.I gave it 4 stars for its originality and the fact that in the good spots, I couldn't put it down.It doesn't get 5 stars because there were several times I thought about putting it down.