On My Way to Paradise

By David Farland

Winner of the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award

The powerful first novel by New York Times bestselling author David Farland, at once disturbing and compelling.

On My Way to Paradise is the chronicle of one man's odyssey of self-discovery within a world at war. In a world of ever-worsening crisis, Angelo Osic is an anomaly: a man who cares about others. One day he aids a stranger. . .and calls down disaster, for the woman called Tamara is also a woman on the run, the only human with the knowledge that will save Earth from the artificial intelligences plotting to overthrow it. Fleeing the assassins who seek him as well as Tamara, Angelo seizes the only escape route available: to sign on as a mercenary with the Japanese Motoki Corporation in its genocidal war against the barbarian Yabajin. Jacked into training machines that simulate warfare, Angelo "dies" a hundred times. . .and is resurrected to fight again. In a world of death, he dreams only of life--and the freedom to love once more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WordFire Press
• Release date: Jul 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781614751953

David Farland

David Farland (1957-2022) was the New York Times bestselling author of the Runelords fantasy series including Chaosbound, The Wyrmling Horde and Worldbinder. His other works include the Whitney Award-winning historical novel In the Company of Angels, and the young adult novel Nightingale, which won the International Book Award, the Grand Prize at the Hollywood Book Festival, and the Southern California Book Festival. Winning first place in the 1987 Writers of the Future contest for the novella On My Way to Paradise, Farland became one of the contest’s judges in 1991. He also co-edited volume eight of the contest’s annual anthology series, subsequently editing volumes nine through fourteen, and later volumes twenty-nine through thirty-seven. As Dave Wolverton, he wrote many science fiction novels including Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia, and was a finalist for the Nebula and Philip K. Dick awards. Farland was also an English professor of creative writing at Brigham Young University where he held writing workshops. His students included Brandon Sanderson, Eric Flint, and Stephenie Meyer.

Reviews for On My Way to Paradise

[tomwaitstables · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The greatest praise I can give any book: My best friend borrowed it and never returned it. That's how good it is.In all seriousness, I cannot praise or recommend this book enough. It's worth anyone's time, whether you're a SF fan or you look upon the genre with contempt.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ultimate sci-fi war book. Gritty. Very real. Atmospheric.

[miro_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"On My Way To Paradise" takes the line that technology may change but racial nationalist machismo stays the same - in this case generating a brutal war between Latino gangsters/mercenaries and fanatical Japanese nationalists. Wolverton doesn't pull any punches and the heavyness of the Latino starship revolt equals Tim Willock's (later) "Green River Rising" and his simulator training is the obvious inspiration for Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" but in a much harsher and better version. The most sympathetic character in the book is the "hero" Angelo Osic, a poor pharmacologist who only wants serve society but is himself manipulated genetically like the half human robotic Chimeras that bond to him. Artificial intelligences control the starship, city defenses, cybertanks etc. so a question could be why they can't help with the simple hovercraft warfare that's a big theme of the story. I suppose that Wolverton needed a lower technology space for the simulator training to make sense and an arena to show human relations stretched to the limit.

[bob355113 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best science fiction books ever written. Very satisfying on many levels. I agree with others that it is a shame that this book is out of print. And also regret that Wolverton has not written anything of this quality since this first book. Will he ever write anything like this? He mentions that the main character deserves his rest somewhere in the last pages of the book. But it's been a long rest. I am fortunate in that I can find copies of this book almost every time I visit a local used bookshop. Very puzzling why this so. But each time I buy the copy and give it away to someone.The really should re-print this book. And Wolverton would do well to write another book like this.

[haloedrain · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It started well, but the last 20 percent or so dragged with all the inner monologue and exposition. The ebook version is also badly edited and formatted.

[quondame · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This tale of violence and morality is too explicit on both counts and now reminds me of the movie [Total Recall], not in a good way and with completely different plot elements, equally outrageous. It is so heavily detailed that what is supposed to take place over two weeks could easily have been called 3 months, and yet wastes the detail by the skipping over 2 years. An interesting alien landscape is nonetheless completely forgettable - I read the book when it first came out and none of the culture or landscape of Baker stuck in my memory, though the internal world of the main character held on.