Hardcover, 672 pages
English language
Published Dec. 8, 2010 by Simon Pulse.
The book begins with Rigg, a boy that has the strange ability to see the path of any living being, no matter how long ago it existed. He spends his time hunting with his father in the mountains, trapping for valuable pelts. His father is his mentor, and so he has taught Rigg everything he knows. His father dies impaled by a tree, and the man's parting words were to find not Rigg's mother, but his sister, a person of whom Rigg had had no knowledge. After his father dies, Rigg tries to save a boy named Kyokay on the Stashi Falls (the waterfalls close to Rigg's home). During this rescue attempt, the paths around him solidify and people begin to appear in these paths. Someone else's path overlaps with Kyokay and because of that he is unable to save the boy. His brother Umbo sees this, starts throwing stones …
The book begins with Rigg, a boy that has the strange ability to see the path of any living being, no matter how long ago it existed. He spends his time hunting with his father in the mountains, trapping for valuable pelts. His father is his mentor, and so he has taught Rigg everything he knows. His father dies impaled by a tree, and the man's parting words were to find not Rigg's mother, but his sister, a person of whom Rigg had had no knowledge. After his father dies, Rigg tries to save a boy named Kyokay on the Stashi Falls (the waterfalls close to Rigg's home). During this rescue attempt, the paths around him solidify and people begin to appear in these paths. Someone else's path overlaps with Kyokay and because of that he is unable to save the boy. His brother Umbo sees this, starts throwing stones at him, thinking he could make him fall, and tells the villagers that Rigg murdered his brother. Shocked at this discovery, Rigg returns to his town only to find a mob ready to kill him for what they perceived as the murder of Kyokay. The innkeeper, Nox, hides Rigg, and gives him money, an address, and nineteen jewels inherited from his father. As Umbo's father was ashamed of him for perceiving it wrongly, he kicked Umbo out of their house. Umbo travels with his friend Rigg as he had nowhere to go. In a place called Leaky's Landing, they meet a new man, Loaf, who offers to take the duo to the city of O, where they can sell the jewels for more money. During their stay in O, General Citizen, from the army of the People's Republic, arrests the trio, for it is found that Rigg is the supposedly a dead prince. Umbo and Loaf escape by jumping off the boat, but Rigg must endure an assassination attempt in order to make it to the capital city of Aressa Sessamo. Rigg, upon arriving in Aressa Sessamo, he is met by his mother, the queen. His sister, Param Sissaminka, has the ability to scatter her molecules, speeding up the world around her in the process. When Rigg's mother decides to restore royalty, she decides that she will kill her children to make way for her children with the General Citizen. Rigg, Param, and Umbo all flee to the wall in an attempt to go through it. The wall is unbreakable, and every time one goes near it, he/she starts going insane. With the combined forces of Rigg, Umbo, Param, Loaf, and Olivenko (Rigg's guard that was supposed to keep him under constant watch, who later turned into a deserter), they were all able to get past the wall. There, they found out Father was an expendable (a robot from Earth made approximately 12,000 years ago). They also found out that the 19 jewels were the keys to unlocking the Wallfolds on Garden (the name of the planet). The team is now setting off to other wall folds.
I really enjoyed this one. In particular, I enjoyed Card's take on the time paradox, the combination of science fiction and fantasy elements, and the P.O.V. characters within multiple timelines.
