Mar
7
Treasure Box
“Treasure Box” by Orson Scott Card (1996) – 2/5 stars
As a one-off, non-sequel mystery novel by Orson Scott Card, a reader should have high expectations, but will inevitably feel let down, unless they happen to be one of the few who hasn’t read the Ender’s Game series or know of OSC.
This novel follows a central character, Quentin, from young childhood to middleaged life, and begins with a rather boring set of events – eventually, the main plot point is revealed, which revolves around his older sister, setting the tone for the oddity of the remaining pages. Throughout the book, Quentin has a series of adventures that range from annoyingly see-through to mildly amusing, culminating in a lackluster climax that was predictable from only a few pages in. It is, essentially, a character-filled ghost story infused with a touch of magic, love, and familial ties.
To the outside observer, this might not sound like a bad novel, and, at first glance, it’s truly not – there are alot of great ideas between the covers. There are, however, a series of major problems that detract from the experience. First, and most important, is the political and religious commentary OSC injects into the text, not at all subtly; his Mormon and ultraconservative beliefs show up in a number of places, not the least of which are a few out-of-place potshots at President Clinton, similar to his behavior in the Enderverse’s War of Gifts. After religion and politics comes the worst fault an author can have: bad dialog. Most of the dialog feels like a Quentin Tarantino movie on fast-forward, as it’s so fake, hurried, and entirely unbelievable. The final major sticking point for this work is the novel’s plodding pace, with the first hundred pages slowly going nowhere, giving no reasons for the reader to keep focused.
While Treasure Box had potential, it doesn’t live up to the standards that most readers expect from OSC – Dean Koontz would have done a better job in its writing, which is not necessarily a compliment. It’s hard to gauge OSC’s talent, because he produces so few great works outside the Enderverse (Empire being a brilliant exception), but he has a backcatalog that, for some reason, seems to lure readers in again and again, hoping for a few hours of the genius that is sometimes Orson Scott Card.
