Veteran audiobook narrator Stefan Rudnicki reads The Ships of Earth, an unabridged audiobook rendition of the third volume of the "Homecoming" epic science fiction saga, by multiple Hugo and Nebula award winning author Orson Scott Card. In The Ships of Earth, the artificial intelligence guardian of the planet Harmony that is the Oversoul is gradually failing, and due to its decline, Harmony's human colonists are degenerating into a state of endless war and conquest. The remnants of the Oversoul has called a group of sixteen refugees from the fallen city of Basilica to an abandoned spaceport, and now Wetchik, Nafai, and their family must cross desert wastes, guided by the Oversoul, to prepare the hidden interstellar ships to fly again. But not all present have opted for exile, and their resentment could potentially sabotage the mission. An enthralling saga of destiny, highly recommended. 10 CDs, approximately 13 hours.

I have enjoyed nearly everything that I've read from Card. The first 2 books in this series were interesting enough, but this one failed to captivate me. I reluctantly kept going with it, after the story just bogged down and became uninteresting. I hoped the ending would improve it, and return some enthusiam for the next one in the series. It didn't. In fact, it reminded me of the later volumes of the Alvin Maker series. The protagonist becomes nearly all powerful, which causes the story (at least for me) to become far less interesting. I enjoyed the Maker series overall, but I guess I'm just not interested in re-reading it, set against a different background. The theme behind these stories and the Maker stories are essentially the same... The hero tries to convert the doubters into believing in the cause, and ultimately becomes too powerful for them to resist. Those involved in the struggle are again mostly family members, divided by their own agendas. Overall, this one was a yawn, though I hate to say so.

I remember reading this series about 10 years ago, and for high school, it was a good read, but nothing outstanding. Now I find that there is absolutely no follow through, these books are just a thinly disguised re-write of parts of the book of Mormon. For those of us that wanted good SF not a religious treatise, it's downright disappointing. Now I know why Card never resolved the issues concerning the characters. It's because they were just the 'hook' to get us all interested in the Mormon theology.
I review the whole series here, some spoilers.
The first three books are just good enough, that when you get to this and the fifth book, you find yourself very annoyed that the characters become flat and lifeless, just caricatures, really.
Nafai and Elemak never really resolve their differences, or even have a 'final' showdown. The last book carries the reader far into the future and all references to those other characters, like Luet, Hushidh and Issib to name a few, are dropped, never to reappear again.
The series really started going downhill once the Rats and the Bats were introduced. I mean, how lame is this? After 40 million years, the only species to evolve are rats and bats. Not dolphins or the cockroach or - birds even? This is an insult to the reader's intelligence. This becomes the star of the show, with the characters stories taking a back seat and finally disappearing altogether. I read the last few pages of the fourth book hoping to find out what happened after Elemak woke up to find the Nafari gone and his wife with them. After all his cruelties, he never really gets what's coming to him. Nafai turns into exactly what Elemak hates, rather than becoming a full fledged personality of his own. The Prophet Nafai, hm. Ugh.
You find yourself scanning the few moments featuring Shedemei in the fifth novel, to see if she ever even mentions any of them. She doesn't. You have no idea how they died, what happened to the next generation, nothing. Why spend so much time building these characters if they were nothing more than a cheap ploy to get us to read a watered down version of the book of Mormon? I feel cheated and disgusted.
I guess Card did this series as opposed to walking around door to door sweating his 'hooy' off trying to sell his religion. This was done in air conditioned comfort I assume, and he fulfills whatever obligation. I just know I will not be picking up any of this author's works without serious thought beforehand.

General Moozh is now the leader of Basilica, but Nafai and his family must leave their home for good. The Oversoul has given them a quest, but everyone in the quest is not completely behind it. The Ships of Earth is the story of eight couples, married and not, family and not, loving and not, and their caravan across the wilds of planet Harmony. By the Oversoul's lead, they strike this journey to a place where they will depart Harmony and be bound for Earth, many light years away. But, the issue of leading the caravan leads to dissension among the travelers. Nafai's oldest half-brother Elemak is a born leader but is not overly sensitive to the Oversoul, something which Nafai is and that fact continually burns Elemak and his younger brother Mebbekew.

This is a wonderful study of a very small closed society and their travels across the land. Marriages, children, hunting, surviving, loving and fighting each other. Nafai's parents, Volemak and Rasa and married, but all the other "couples" have to decide if they are going to marry. This requires a change in customs. In Basilica, the women determined whether or not to continue the marriage contract each year. In the travels, it becomes necessary to remain monogamous in order to retain order. The Oversoul continually speaks to Nafai and his wife Luet, the water-seer and also Issib and his wife, Hushidh, warning them of treachery and guiding them through the lands.

The Ships of Earth is the third book in the Earthbound series by Orson Scott Card. He writes science fiction, fanstasy and historical fiction. Arguably, his most popular book is Ender's Game.

The gist of this series is that all people are inherently sinful, all people will always hate and kill each other, men and women will always clash in a ridiculous power struggle of the sexes, - oh yeah, and gay people are unnatural and should pretend they're straight.

I'm a big fan of Card's Ender and Alvin Maker series, but this one is poisoned by his Mormon background. His ideas about human nature are downright depressing. Not to mention the disturbing themes of inbreeding, 13 year old brides, and strong women who are degraded to becoming nothing but baby-making machines.