A very pleasant story all the way through. It’s got humor, love, magic, action and even some cringeworthy moments. It was surprising to learn OSC wrote something like this after reading a few of the Ender series.

I was waiting to add this to my books until I read it again, but I saw it, so I'm adding it now. I would say that this is one of my favorite novels. I love Card's story-telling and this has a wonderful yarn to spin. :-) The story of Sleeping Beauty with a modern day twist. I adored how he weaved in all of the religious aspects (and there were several). I've read it several times and plan to read it several more.

It's ok. a bit uneven in tone, and I didn't particularly like the forays of the fairy tale princess into the modern world. The stuff in old Rus was far more interesting.

This could just be a personal thing, but I don't really like deconstructions of legends. This veers a bit close to that by offering some "cute" explanations for the some of the staples of Russian fairy tales like the hut on chicken feet and Ivan the Idiot. I prefer to have a sense of mystery around my legends.

Still, it was enjoyable.

Fun read novel. The tale of Sleeping Beauty retold.

Originální, neotřelé, zajímavé, pohádkové a vtipné... co víc si přát? :)

No teda, to hodnocení si ještě musím rozmyslet, váhám mezi 4 a 5 hvězdičkami...
Ale vážně by mě zajímalo, jestli Orson Scott Card někdy viděl Mrazíka... Ha, Ivan! :)

There are things that make this a 4 star book and things that are 1 - 2 stars.

This is a fairy tale retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a Russian twist, mingling in Baba Yaga and the peasant Ivan.

I’m sure Card writes crudeness and foul language into stories to make them “realistic”, as people out there think and say those things. Well, there are people out there that don’t think and say them. Vulgarity is actually shunned by some, and not even a temptation to participate in. I wish Card would write for those people.

Different world views were represented, paganism and its craft which ruled the story, and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob represented by Catholics of the Dark Ages and modern Judaism. I understand it is a fairytale retelling, and so that worldview would be the most powerful, but it was still disturbing that paganism’s power only lessen because less and less people believe, and not because God is most powerful. So why would Card, a Christian, do that unless he meant for God to actually be most powerful by bringing Ivan to first see Katerina, and by being responsible for the note. Those deliberate questions were left unexplained.

I appreciated the symbolism of being naked and reborn into each country by the other, but his experience was still a little too cringe worthy.

I liked the treatise on love and marriage and how necessary it is to fully understand the world that each partner comes from. There are probably some good quotes to be found in there, and was most likely the main point of the book.

It’s sad that the potential for a 5 star book was there.

En esta se cuenta la historia de la bella durmiente pero desde una visión más moderna y tomando el cuento original ruso del que está basada la historia que la empresa del ratón publico en pelicula.

En esta historia un hombre de la actualidad que viaja a Rusia para estudiar escritos antiguos, se encuentra en medio del bisque una muner sobre un pedestal rodeado de hojas caidas, llevado por la curiosidad querrá acercarse a esta misteriosa mujer, pero no le será fácil acercarse y cuando lo haga comenzará su verdadera aventura.

Orson Scott Card is of course best known for Ender's Game, an sf classic to be sure but he has written several other books which to my mind are equally good. Unfortunately these tend to be overlooked as readers are so enamored of the Ender series. Consequently Enchantment is unjustly less than famous.

As the title suggest, this is a fantasy novel. The story is based on the original Russian version of Sleeping Beauty, folk tales, and some Slavic history. Card's writing is always crystal clear and elegant, none of the chopped up sentences so beloved by William Gibson fans. The characterization, the pace, the use of magic and spells is first rate. Most of the book takes place in our world, but is no less magical for that. I love it when the magical world intrudes upon our world, the sort of thing you get in urban fantasy.

While the story is less than epic in scope I still had an absolute blast with this book. This book is pure joy and a must read, you may even learn something about Slavic history which will undoubtedly come in handy at parties and such.

Warning, I'm being totally honest. You may not agree.

This book is awful! If it were a movie, I should have walked out hours ago. Instead, I just wanted to know what happens. And when I actually got to the end of the book about 3 minutes ago, it wasn't even a very good ending!! It took 350 pages to build up to an anti-climactic ending.

Why is it awful? The author uses every opportunity to throw in a foul word or sexual comment. It's like he's a 14-year-old boy who thinks it's fun to talk about being naked or private parts, etc. I got so tired of reading cuss words and the nakedness was such a ridiculous element of the story - so forced! Also, it had, in my estimation, sexually explicit scenes that I don't need to be reading.

I won't be reading anything by Orson Scott Card again.

Very under-wowed by this tale who's only enchantment seemed to be that it'd never end. I love fairy tales and I love folklore and I love Orson Scott Card. But I did not love the mix of them together.

I might have had too much expectation going into this book thinking it'd be magical like The Bear And The Nightingale with the deep thinking and fast paced storyline of Ender's Game. I think I'll just stick with the Enderverse when it comes to Card's other novels.

The only reason I finished this book was because it was for a book club, or else I would have quit.