Stonefather

Mither Mages #0.5

by Orson Scott Card, Tom Kidd (Illustrator)

When Runnel, a friendless peasant from a village so humble that money is a new concept, leaves his mountain valley, he is completely unaware of his magical talents. Seeking his fortune, he stumbles into a centuries-old feud when he travels to Mitherhome, the city of the water mages. He accepts a servant's position in the household of the sole stone mage permitted within the city walls, and there his untapped magical talents and his fascination with his master's abilities are a predictably dangerous combination. Soon, without meaning to, he complicates and endangers the lives of everyone he has come to know and care about, for when it comes to magic, there are rules and laws, and the untrained mage-to-be must be careful not to tap into deep forces and ancient enmities. Otherwise, other people might end up paying the price for his mistakes.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Fiction, Young Adult, Classics, Short Stories, Novella

150 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2008

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

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it's hard to separate an author from his works. I'm not a big fan of Card's beliefs and statements in public. But you know what? He's an amazing writer and world builder. This novella is testament to that - in a little over 100 pages he has created a fascinating new world that stands apart from his others (Ender Saga, Prentice Alvin, Songs of Earth, etc.). The idea of battle between stone magic and water magic played through a city and history makes for a rich mythology that is discovered through the protagonist Runnel's eyes in an organic way. It tells a complete story but leaves so much space for new tales that I'm anxious to discover more of it.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good "little" book. This is a short one I got through in one sitting last night.

This is (if you've read both) obviously the "proto-The Lost Gate" (The Lost Gate). There are some differences, here people are simply refereed to as mages and we get an intro level look at the "magic system". The mythological deities used in The Lost Gate aren't mentioned here. On the other hand we get an introduction to some of the terms we'll find in that book. According to Card this idea peculated in his mind for some years before it found print.

Here (also) we start with a young man who leaves home and comes into the knowledge and possession of his unsuspected inborn powers. A standard fantasy, folklore, and even mythic story line (and the boy in the story sees the parallels between his own case and the case of a legend or old tale he's familiar with) it's handled well here and makes a short but enjoyable tale.

While it has no direct tie in with the recent book (is it taking place on the other world referenced in that book? That's not made clear but Card may do so later. Will he tie them in? I don't know.) this one is a book I think you'll enjoy.

[Colleen Houck]

I haven't started this series yet but the novella is interesting enough to make me want to read more. I love the water mages vs stone mages and the concept of a stonefather. I want to learn more about his powers and love the idea that his body can sink into stone.

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an entertaining introduction into Card's new universe for this series. However, the story felt modified to fit a need. The first 2/3 of the story is an interesting narrative, eventful, introducing characters and situations and world logic, and it frankly had an obvious ending that would lead on to the start of the series -- this being the pre-cursor story according to Goodreads. However, you get the impression that Card decided that the obvious story would take too much time or make too long a book, so at one point the plot, already well laid out and appropriately telegraphed, changes immensely to an alternative and shorter ending. While fun and action-packed, the ending felt rushed and not matching - like wearing both stripes and plaids. This had the feeling of some of the older westerns that were written for magazines and you can tell the author was paid for a certain number of words -- the story ends somewhat abruptly given the circumstances.

[Nicholas Kotar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely lovely, and way too short. I wish he had made Runnel's story into a full series. I'd read that in a heartbeat.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
This was a fun quick read but it felt needlessly rushed. As a result, I think the characters were rather shallow, which was a disappointment. I'm sure this disappointment can be rectified by reading the following books, but for now, I'm sticking with 3.5 stars based on this book alone.

[Gummih · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having previously read and liked the Mither Mages trilogy I knew pretty much what I was getting into.

It doesn't disappoint, it's rather simple and straightforward, the plot moves at a brisk pace. taking place in an enjoyable world. Reading it after the main books was fine and I don't think reading it ahead of them would be any worse.

[Alista Aghaee · Rating 1 out of 5]

توصیه‌ی اکیدم اینه که به‌هیچ‌وجه این کتاب رو قبل از مجموعه‌ی اصلی نخونید. روی صحبتم با اوناییه که مثل خودم کِرم این رو دارن که جلد‌های اصلی و فرعی مجموعه رو به‌ترتیب بخونن نه براساس سال چاپ‌شون. کتاب برای من چیزی نداشت. با اینکه نوشته شده بود تا دنیاسازی و سیستم جادوی مجموعه‌ی اصلی رو تقویت و ترسیم کنه اما بشدت ملا‌آور، کسل‌کننده، پراطناب و بدون هیچ شگفتی‌ای بود.
شخصیت‌ اول و شخصیت‌های فرعی توخالی و سطحی، پلات داستانی بشدت تکراری و بدون پیچیدگی و خلاقیت، نه جهانی که ترسیم شد به‌وجدم آورد و نه سیستم جادویی‌شون.
با توجه به چیزی که از مجموعه‌ی اصلی شنیدم باید جذاب باشه. البته شنیدن کی بود مانند خواندن ولی خب جلد فرعیش که چنگی به دل نمی‌زد. هرچند از نظر داستانی هیچ ربط و اشتراکی با هم ندارن. ولی کلا با این جلد فرعی شروع نکنید.
البته اونایی که از سبک روایت و ریتم آثاری مثل دریای زمین خوش‌شون میاد، شاید یه کوچولو خوندن‌ کتاب براشون راحت‌تر باشه.
در نهایت در عجبم از این همه امتیاز چهار و پنجی که به این کتاب دادن.

[Keith Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this simply because it was so short, not knowing it was a part of a universe - so maybe I’ll read the others, I’m not sure. Either way it’s an interesting concept that could make for a very interesting universe. Mages and magic rather than space and science.

[Rebecca is book-hooked · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great concept, good story. Somewhat underdeveloped because it is so short. But there’s a lot of potential and more books in the series. Definitely intriguing enough to continue reading the series.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Stonefather” is a short novella by Orson Scott Card. It’s is a short enjoyable fantasy story about a boy named Runnel, who is raised in a secluded little village until one day he leaves home in search of a better life. He goes to a town run by water mages where any type of sorcery is forbidden, especially stone magic. Runnel finds employment with a local lord, but quickly gets tied up in that lords secrets. These secrets will lead to nothing but problems for Runnel, but they will also reveal why Runnel may have been so shunned growing up.

This was a quick easy fantasy read that leaves much to be desired. I have seen Orson Scott Card come up in my recommendations a lot over the last year or so and I realized outside of his “Laddertop” manga and a How to write Fantasy/Sci-fi book, I have read nothing of his. I found “Stonefather” in the free section and figured I’d give it a shot. Now I will say that this is a prequel and a novella, so I wasn’t expecting anything ground breaking. What it accomplished in the short amount of pages was impressive. It gave a brief introduction to a world that seems to have a cool and unique magic system, the problem is the page count didn’t let us dive into it as much. I finished the book and felt like it was right about average. If it was a full length young adult novel I could see it being excellent. I decided to look into the “Mither Mage” series, which is what this book is supposedly apart of, and it seem like they have completely different settings and premise. Now with knowing that I probably will not continue onwards.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm interested in reading more from this author, particularly Ender's Game since apparently it was an inspiration for Red Rising. This book was one of the few available on Libby, so I decided to start with it. XD
For being such a short book, it does a good job establishing a distinct world with its own history and magic. It also does a good job with the few amount of characters it has. It was enjoyable!

[Epper Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just wish it was longer.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Card once again demonstrates himself to be a master storyteller and matchless at world building. This is, unfortunately, too short and the ending especially feels rushed. I read the first two Mither Mages books when they were new and while I like them, I don't recall them being as good as this. Looking forward to rereading those and finishing off the series.

[Cyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Audio book was narrated by Card's daughter, and she did a fantastic job. The book itself is short and sweet, with a likeable main character and incredible worldbuilding.

[Miss Ng · Rating 4 out of 5]

Card will always be a fantastic writer. His world building is just too good. This is a fun short story from the Mithermage universe. Still a little weird, but less weird than the rest of the series.

[Lucía · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very very short but also very good and entertaining

[Suki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook. Enjoyable. Would read more.

[Erin Dwyer Sears · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather enjoyable as a quick audio book with the eldest as we went to/from therapy from therapy for a few weeks

[Eddie D. Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another awesome story! If you haven't listened to this yet or read it, all I can tell you is enjoy.

[Mollie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Orson, how I lovest thou...

What an exceptionally great short story. It left me salivating for more of the Mither Mages. And lo, the book I picked up from the library today is the first full length in the series!

A rich wonderful fantasy, fresh, compelling, with-true to Orson-fabulous characters and dialogue. Unique abilities and gifts for these people-ah, just loved it!

Clean.

[Ryan Martinsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and fun.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stonefather is a prequel/novella to the Mithermages trilogy. I didn’t realize until I read the preface that the trilogy wasn’t called the Gatefather trilogy. I have previously read the other Mithermages books, but not Stonefather which was published first. I really liked the concept of the mithermages where people have affinities for certain things; a low level affinity is a friend, a mid level affinity is a brother, and the ultimate affinity is a father (i.e. cobblefriend, rockbrother, stonefather). I was excited to read the inspiration behind the Mithermages trilogy and was happy to find this story in a copy of Wizards: Magical Tales from Masters of Modern Fantasy.

This novella features Runnel, a loner innocent farmboy, and his journey into the ‘big city’. He is the ninth son and his picked on by his siblings and his father. He also is really good at climbing rocks and prefers that to hanging out with other kids his age. Eventually he finds his way to the top of the mountain and travels to Mitherhome, home of the watermages. He’s naive in the ways of big cities; not knowing what money is and not understanding the every man for themselves attitude. A big deal is made about his stoic face as he doesn’t show any emotion… some would say he was stone faced…

He ends up meeting a girl that helps him find employment with the local stonemage. Only one stonemage is allowed near/in the city due to the watermages’ ban. Legend has it that the stone and water mages once worked together to defend Mitherhome, but the watermages grew wary of the stonemages power to potentially divert the river and their source of power. So they trapped the stonemages at their temple, set it on fire, then flooded it with water. After that the watermages only allowed one stonemage near the city and that was only to maintain the walls and buildings.

Runnel can climb stone, he can sleep on stone, he can listen through stone. But no one picks up on the fact that he may be a stonemage until the local stonemage himself catches Runnel sleeping in the cellar. Runnel had turned the stones of the house into living rock and had accidentally fused them to the rockbed below (which is illegal under watermage rule). The local stonemage is taken into custody for breaking Mitherhome laws. Runnel tries to help him and makes contact with the dead stonemages in the river. They have been holding down the ‘flowing stone’ from destroying the city. Runnel makes a clant and tries to help the stonemage. By doing so he alerts everyone in the area there is a stonefather in town. To free the local stonemage, Runnel uses the porous stones to absorb the river water. He unintentionally helps the trapped stonemages cool the ‘flowing stone’ and turn the riverbed into granite, suppressing the eruption. The watermages were afraid Runnel wouldn’t put the water back and agreed to live together as equals with the stonemages.

Granite is formed by cooling molten rock. Which I guess is what happened when the riverbed rocks absorbed the water. The water could have cooled any molten rock below the riverbed. A pretty vague explanation was given to Runnel by the stonemages, but he accepted it and moved on instead of questioning it further. Was there a lava flow below Mitherhome? Is there a volcano nearby? How long did this postpone the impending destruction? It seems like the stonemages knew a lot more about geology then Runnel. Which to be fair, Runnel didn’t seem to know a lot about anything. He lucked himself through 80% of this story.

All in all, this novella teases enough about mitermages (birdfriend, metalmage, lightmage are also name dropped) to make me want to reread the Mithermage trilogy.

3 out of 5 worldbuilding stone clants

[Bill Purkayastha · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a village bumpkin from the mountains runs away from his abusive father and on an impulse comes to the city, he finds himself in the middle of an ancient and barely quiescent feud. On the one hand are the watermages, who control the city and the lakes and rivers sacred to the water god Yeggut. On the other are the stonemages, who had built the city in the first place and then helped the watermages save it from an invasion, only to be cruelly betrayed. Now only one stonemage of the lowest grade remains, employed by the watermages to do essential stone repairs, but forbidden from either learning any more of his magic trade or associating with any other stonemage at any level whatever.

Runnel, the yokel from the mountains, finds employment as a servant in the stonemage's house. But then strange things begin happening. Is Lord Brickel, the stonemage, much, much more powerful than his status as a mere "cobblefriend" would make him appear? Why is it that these strange things happen only around Runnel?

Runnel only wanted food, shelter, and some of this "money" thing when he came to work for Brickel. Suddenly, it becomes obvious that he is far more than he seems to be, far more than he *wants* to be, and he and Lord Brickel are in deadly danger.

The writing is good, the ending is satisfying, and the only quibble I have is that the female characters, including love interest Lark, are one dimensional cutouts with no depth to them at all. They might as well not have been in the story for all they influenced anything in it.

4 stars.

[CR · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never read an Orson Scott Card book before but I was surprised by how repetitive it felt. Especially with how short the book is.

Something I had a hard time getting over was the weird descriptions and world placing of women? For example, this is in the beginning of the book (meant to be a description of the MC but turns into a story of his mom) "The 9th son and 15th child of a farm wife who had the gift of conceiving children readily and bearing them as if her loins were a stream bed and each baby a spring flood. Mother had the wide and heavy hips of a woman whose body had reconciled itself to perpetual pregnancy. Yet her cheery smile and patient temper drew men to her more than her husband wished." The main characters dad beats him regularly, but to my memory he gets no such long and unkind physical description aside from the MC "not looking like him". I can only imagine a similar description of his father being absolutely wild to read but this one we're supposed to gloss over' --- "Father had the wide and heavy OOOO of a man whose body had reconciled itself to perpetual OOOO." Has my point been made? This character has extremely little relevance (at least in this book), doesn't have any interactions with the main character, and as far as I remember isn't seen again.

I'm just curious enough about the world to think about reading the next one.

[Gytha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cette nouvelle, issue de l’univers des Mages de Westil, tient avant tout du conte : le style d’écriture m’a énormément rappelé tous ces recueils de contes bretons que j’aime lire, au ton à la fois très oral et plutôt grandiloquent. Le récit est empreint de merveilleux, avance vite quand il n’y a rien à dire, et parcourt en quelques mots des lieues ou des années pour raconter le destin incroyable d’un jeune garçon…

Ce garçon, justement, m’a énormément plu. On retrouve le stéréotype du héros ignorant qui va se découvrir des pouvoirs gigantesques, mais allez savoir pourquoi (le format conte peut-être ?), ça a parfaitement fonctionné avec moi. Ruisselet est un type de personnage pour lequel j’ai beaucoup d’affection : naïf, malhabile, un peu bêta, mais foncièrement bon. J’ai aimé le suivre dans sa fugue, rencontrer des gens, découvrir le monde…

Quant à l’univers, il m’a vraiment donné envie d’en connaître davantage. J’ai adoré le système de magie, intimement liée aux éléments et à la nature. Les mages sont unis à leur élément jusqu’à dans leur nom, dans leur nature profonde que la magie altère petit à petit. On aperçoit des tensions particulières entre les différents « ordres » que je suis curieuse d’observer dans les autres romans de cet univers.

[Alyssa (HeartwyldsLibrary) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook for this today, a quick 3 hour audiobook, so I knew right away this wasn’t going to be a long fully stuffed tale.

I do however think for the short length it is, it had just enough world building to be intriguing. I was pulled in and listened for the 3 hours uninterrupted.

I instantly gravitated to Runnel, he is the 9th son in a long line of kids, and was ostracized by his own family. I felt for the boy, and when he decided to just climb some rocks one day and keep going and never look back, I couldn’t blame the kid. If I read that while I was 12 I would have looked up to that.

I thought the storytelling between the water mages and stone mages was fascinating, was it super filled out, no, but I felt just enough was given to make it interesting (and yes I realize this is part of a much bigger world).

I will say that climax of the story towards the end did feel rushed but not enough to warrant any major dislike from me.

Overall I enjoyed it and I thought the last line between Runnel and Lark (I might have misspelled that, audiobook problems haha) was sweet and made me go “aww so cute”

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

it us undeniable that this story has weaknesses - such as the lack of character development, suddenly belief-defying overpowered main character, and at times jolting pacing, I truly enjoyed every minute of this story. Some of its greatest weaknesses are (to some degree) more prominent because of the short story medium as opposed to a more threshed out, higher word nount novel, such as minimal character development (of only one character) and the odd pacing of the story itself. These things however never detracted from my enjoyment of the story, nor have they broken my immersion in the world created by Orson Scott Card. With one exception - during the final scenes of the story, Renell (our main character) experiences a sudden growth in power - or rather a re-conceptualization of power he had all along, and increased awareness of his magical abilities. Nigh instantly and without almost any assistance, his abilities - magical and cognitive - change radically and despite still knowing neither enough of the world or of stone and water, Renell achieves the - we have been told - impossible, with little to no effort.

This story also has strengths. *To be continued later

[Pajtim Ademi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stonefather is a novella that introduces Orson Scott Card's MITHER MAGES series, which is aimed at young adults. As I've come to expect from Card, this story is beautifully written and contains deep and likable characters, a well-developed world with interesting magic, and an intriguing setting. This is a simpler, lighter and more relaxed read, though, than Card's ENDER series, which was full of drama, tension and, best of all, lots of ideas. Stonefather doesn't reach that level -- it's mostly a pleasant coming-of-age story -- but it did occur to me that the mage war may be an allegory for the Christian and Muslim conflict in Jerusalem. I have no idea if this is Orson Scott Card's intention, though.

As far as YA fiction goes, this is a good choice for a reader looking for a lovely low-stress read. In many ways it's similar to the YA fantasy of Ursula K. Le Guin and Shannon Hale. I think Stonefather bodes well for the MITHER MAGES series and I will likely give the first novel, The Lost Gate, a try.

[Scycer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an awesome short read. It is no secret that I love coming of age stories and this one perfectly hit the bill. A very light and easy read, the story ran very smoothly from the beginning to finish.

I can easily visualize this as a movie at a quality level of any Marvel movie, good flow and story though focused on a singular character. Though I wish the author did not bring in the need for acceptance of romance into it. A little unnecessary masala as we Indian's say it. Please look for great level of depth and complex multi character relationships here.

But at the end of the day. I enjoyed the world created. I enjoyed the magic system. I enjoyed the thrashing a young hero can give adults. Never thought I would see stone in this way.

Do pick it up. Definitely a good read.