Reawakening

The Side Step Trilogy #2

by Orson Scott Card

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ender’s Game comes Reawakening, the thrilling sequel to Wakers, following Laz as he uses his abilities to travel to parallel worlds and fight to save them.

Laz has already saved humanity before.

As a side-stepper, Laz was born with the power to jump his consciousness to alternate versions of himself in parallel worlds. He used this power to find a new home for humanity after learning his own Earth was destined to be destroyed. And he hoped his help would never be needed again.

But now he’s being called on once more to use his powers to change the course of history. This time, it’s not just the fate of the world at stake—but many worlds.

And only Laz has the ability to stop the coming interdimensional war from consuming them all.

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction

464 pages, Hardcover

Published November 11, 2025

About the author

Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.

Reviews

[Chip Mattis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A slog of repetitive, sarcastic dialogue

I'm struggling a bit with how to fairly review this book. I have read a lot of Card's work, primarily the Enderverse and Alvin Maker. However, his more recent novels about side stepping and micro powers are interesting concepts. I've given him the benefit of the doubt.
First, this novel has elements of classic Card: creative sci-fi storyline, witty banter, teenage heroes. These are what drew me to Card to begin with 30 years ago. I wanted to think and argue like the heroes of Card's books. I wanted to be unapologetic in my convictions.
However, this book was a slog. It suffers from several crucial issues. The main characters are male and female, late teens, and clones. They are basically the same person. The tension in their relationship felt more like a man vs self storyline than a romantic storyline. Their constant bickering is exhausting. They continually rehash the same conversations about time travel and their relationship. For some reason, Laz wants to remain chaste in their relationship until they're married. That's great! But there is no explanation for that conviction. It causes repeated tension between them, but as a reader, I'm left scratching my head about things like this that have no explanation for their character development.
Last, and this is the most important point, there is no discernable plot. Card introduces what you assume is the villain about halfway through, but it's resolved neatly in short order. There is no crisis to avert, no journey to complete, nothing relevant to the world they're in. It would spoil it if I complained about the ending, but suffice to say, I felt nothing for the characters involved in the resolution and the epilogue, no relief. It didn't even seem to resolve a question or concern I had from earlier. That might be a bit harsh since there were some hints about where it was going, but I felt no payoff.
Basically, the book failed to capture my full attention. I cared little for the characters, had no concerns about whether they would make it in the end, and constantly plodded through exhausting, overly biting and sarcastic dialogue.

[Ryan Work · Rating 2 out of 5]

I keep yearning for the Orson Scott Card books of yore, but no. Reawakening is not that. I'm used to a lot of dialogue in his stories, but it seemed like that was all you get in this book. Reawakening continues in the world of Laz and Ivy from Wakers but with much less action and all talk.

[Ricardo L. Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok. Just ok

The dialogue.
So irritating. As if someone challenged him to see how irritating characters could be to each other.
I will admit also that at one point in the denouement he lost me. The problem and the resolution I get but not the risks.
And I didn’t care enough to know.
Not his best work.
And it’s a trilogy. Yay.

[Daniel Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit I have read almost everything the author has written up to this point. I listened to the book this time instead of actually reading it. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the story flowed Laz and Ivy the two main characters and their time sliding as the author explained it. I'm already reading a different book called Time Diver's Dawn by L E Modesitt jr. I highly doubt that the author read his book but a lot of the writting seemed very similar especially when talking about time travel.

Laz and Ivy spend the majority of the book trying to find diffrent time lines that lead them to what they call the safe place. Also Laz and Ivy at the end choose to be together even though there is a 20 year age gap. However I felt that the story focused on Laz and Ivy trying to find a timeline where Laz didn't almost kill a man was kind of confusing. Also the two finally ending up together was nice finish but Orson scott Card left it open for possibly a third book.

[Chichi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laz and Ivy are awakened again to find more timelines and open more portals. The story is interesting, and this time, Laz and Ivy's relationship felt more realistic. They communicate really well, much better than in the first book.
There is a lot of dialogue between the characters, which did help get ideas across, but at times, it felt a bit much for me.
Overall, this is really developing into an intriguing series. I'm looking forward to book 3, I want to know where this is going.
The audiobook narration by Stefan Rudnicki is as excellent as expected. His voice brings a grounding to the story that balances moods in all the right ways.

*Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

[Desmond Shepherd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this because I enjoyed the first book a lot. There's a bunch of theorizing, speculation, and philosophy. While I didn't mind it, it felt like too much and hindered the story. I would have given it 3 stars but the last 25% redeemed the first 75% and made for a good book. Not for everyone but neither was the first.

[Lanniece L. Lewis]

A solid encore performance!

This was a thoroughly enjoyable sequel to the first book! The characters are all uniquely themselves and the story is engaging and fun!

[Judith the Book Gobbler · Rating 5 out of 5]

out of the ball park & a love story too!! ❤️ the bomb!!

[Asher Freestone · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book sucked