I kept having to check the original publication date as I read this book, to remind myself that it was written in 1977. Like other scifi masters (Verne and Asimov come to mind) Card does an amazing job of predicting technological advances in this book. Writing in the days of Pong, he imagines complex computerized games very much like Knights of the Old Republic, an incredible piece of forward projection. Remarkable, too, is the author's prediction of the influence Internet bloggers have come to have over the political realm. But future prediction was not the only incredible feat accomplished by Card in writing this novel. For unlike most books, this one actually surprised in its plotting and characterizations. At the beginning, I thought I knew exactly where the whole thing would end up, but I couldn't have been more mistaken. The book got better and better until the final chapter reached a lyricism and depth almost unparalleled in anything I have ever read. What a joy to have experienced this book at long last.