Interesting use of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was quite original and clever. However, at times the narrative just did not ring true for me. I also didn't like some of the themes and ideas in the book - it made me feel very uncomfortable.

Personal Note: I am anti-homophobia, and as such I usually refuse to buy books by authors who express homphobic views - whether these are present in the book or not. As such, Orson Scott Card's views were something of a surprise. This did not effect my rating or the review above, as I had written them before I found this out.

Not one of my favorite OSC books but interesting.

Menudo bodrio.

First half had me hooked. The last half was repetitive, disjointed, and managed to completely weaken the character development of the first half. By the end I finished it just to finish it. Love the idea, but tragic execution.

Una historia de fantasía contemporánea, es decir magia en situaciones de la vida cotidiana. Es la primera vez que leo algo del subgénero y ha sido una lectura interesante; me encanta la fantasía, sin embargo, este libro me supo a poco.

Había leído con anterioridad a Scott Card por un libro de cuentos y fue un gran descubrimiento, quise conocer más al autor, pero creo que esta historia no fue la indicada, la verdad solo me dejé llevar por la portada y el título xD

Aunque la sinopsis es un poco ambigua. La historia va así: Mack es niño negro cuyo origen es todo un misterio, es encontrado por Ceese un chico del barrio y, sin saber qué hacer con él, lo deja al cuidado de una enfermera llamada Ura Lee. Es así como este chico crece gracias a este par y poco a poco va descubriendo que es diferente a los demás chicos del barrio y que, por si fuera poco, cosas extrañas suceden el barrio y todas están relacionadas con sus sueños y con los sueños de sus vecinos. A lo largo de los capítulos veremos el crecimiento de Mack y toda la magia que se desprende en el barrio, también, personajes misteriosos que aparecen al inicio, más adelante son revelados.

Creo que debería leerse con anterioridad “El sueño de una noche de verano” antes de abordar este libro, ya que sus personajes tienen una especie de cameo en esta historia, o es un calco de la historia original, no estoy seguro. Y debería leerse porque las referencias sobre esta obra, y sobre Shakespeare como tal, son muchísimas, convirtiendo a este último, casi, en un personaje más. Pienso que, si hubiese leído esa obra antes de adentrarme en este libro, hubiera disfrutado mucho más la lectura. Por lo que los invito a que primero conozcan esta obra de Shakespeare, antes de darle una oportunidad.

La narración es sencilla y fluida, pero por momentos se torna pesada y confusa, tal vez tenga que ver la traducción, no lo sé. De cualquier forma, me mantuvo enganchado y quería saber cómo terminaba, perfectamente la historia oscila entre unas 2 o 3 estrellas por lo anteriormente descrito, pero por las últimas páginas que fueron emocionantes, va de un 3,5 a 4 porque realmente no es una gran historia, pero por momentos es emotiva y emocionante.

Whose idea was it to let O.S. Card interpret Shakespeare? Great idea! Midsummer Night's Dream further fantasized.

Such a great story & love the connection to A Midsummers Night Dream

This is my second time reading this novel from years ago. I was sharing the story with my relative telling her what a great read it was and had to come back and reread it myself. Totally worth the time to do so as I enjoyed every minute. Clever writing, great storyline, unexpected plot twists, deep character development, and you fall in love with the characters. Would highly recommend.

Ummm, no.

I'd given up buying Card books since he's become so free with his bizarre political and religious opinions, but I was rather hard up for a good read one day and grabbed this at the library, hoping, on the basis of the early Ender and Alvin books, that it would be worthwhile. Unfortunately, the story was plodding, the characters were two-dimensional (and frequently nonsensical and contradictory), and his attempts to portray African-American characters and dialogue were just cringe-worthy.

Couldn't bring myself to finish it.

A modern look at Oberon, Puck, Titania through the eyes of a young black man in Los Angeles. I really enjoyed this book. Card's heroes are compelling, smart and heart-strong and this mix of the old world fairies in modern life is a new one, not an old story retold. I am not sure if I should put this in young adult fantasy -- its pretty great to read as a 35 year old -- but the hero is young, strong and likeable, so I hope young adults will read it!

This book has not aged well. After reading recent, new work by so many POC, a white man trying to write black characters rings hollow.

Un libro que salió ganador del club de lectura que pertenezco, al principio no le tenía mucha confianza pero a lo largo de su lectura me fue enganchando de a poco, de lectura fácil y entretenida. El autor logra desplegar una mente plagada de fantasía como muy pocas veces vi en un libro...siento que es una lectura para distenderse y leer algo diferente, no me voló la cabeza pero me hizo pasar momentos amenos.

Direct Quote from dust jacket: “A novel that uses realism and fantasy to delight, challenge, and satisfy on the most profound levels.” Liars.

This should have been a good book. Written by Orson Scott Card, a tried and true literature giant, combining the world of fairy and Midsummer Night’s Dream with urban realism, and telling the classic story of the outsider who rises up to save everyone, it had so much going for it. And for the first half of the book, it held up to its promise. Watching young Mack Street grow up and learn about his powers and who he really is was thoroughly enjoyable. Mack is a great protagonist, likable and surrounded by a colorful cast of characters that add a great sense of depth and realism to the world. Plus, like I said, this is a familiar story being told. Fans of fantasy and literature alike will recognize the classic tale of the orphan/peasant/nobody learning they’re special, having to fight through hardship, and eventually coming out and saving everyone. It’s a classic tale, but Card is a good enough author that he should make it interesting. Hell, he did it in Enders Game, he should be able to do it here. Except he didn’t. So what happened?

Exposition. Oh god, so much exposition. For some reason, half way though the book, when the inciting incident happens and things are supposed to get really interesting, Card decides to take a step back and make sure that we all know what’s all going on here. In fact, he decides to make sure that everyone in the book knows what’s going on as well. And for some reason, he does this by having the same basic conversation over and over again, with different characters involved in different places. He even introduces a brand new character that just happens to have an interest in mythological folklore just so the characters can sit down and talk about what needs to be done, and then never really mentions him again. All surprise and suspense was removed, all forward motion halted as the characters sit around having conversations about what they will be doing soon. Even potential plot twists are ruined as the characters involved are so self aware that they tell you what’s going to happen before you even have a chance to guess or wonder. It was like watching a magician that tells you how the trick is done before he even does it. It still might be fun to watch, but all the wonder, all the magic is gone. More frustrating because it started so well, I feel that Card unfortunately squandered an opportunity here. I wanted to like it; I did. But I didn’t. I really didn’t.

Bottom line: Magic Street is a dead end. Turn around and go back home.