Speaker for the Dead (Ender, Book 2)

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It's a hit!

EXCELLENT!!! The original "Ender's Game" left us off with Ender and Valentine leaving Earth and fleeing through the stars. "Speaker for the Dead" ... (show more)

EXCELLENT!!! The original "Ender's Game" left us off with Ender and Valentine leaving Earth and fleeing through the stars. "Speaker for the Dead" picks up where the original left off. Valentine is married with children, and Ender is making a career for himself by continuing the religion he started, the religion calling for Speakers for the Dead. No one realizes he is the one who began this religion so many years ago, save for his student Plikt. I enjoy the intense plot of this book. In my mind, it surpasses even the original novel. Card did an excellent job in continuning the story of Ender. So often authors will return to the original and neglect the time that has elapsed; meaning, Ender would have returned to Earth. However, this is not the case. Card abandons the Battle School and so forth and starts with a fresh new canvas to continue Ender's life on, the planet Lusitania. I enjoy that he still lets the Battle school live on in Ender's mind as the character battles with the dark demons that have hunted his soul for the deeds he committed back in the Battle School. All in all, this is an excellent book. I enjoyed this story far more than the original. Excellent. Five stars. (show less)

 

 

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No, it's a flop!

Forced myself to read on after a recommendation for Ender's Game. Clever ideas, certainly an ability to write new concepts in sci-fi, no small acco... (show more)

Forced myself to read on after a recommendation for Ender's Game. Clever ideas, certainly an ability to write new concepts in sci-fi, no small accomplishment there, but the writing itself is simple and plain with no art. (show less)

 

 

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  Earlier this year I read Ender's Game. I loved it. I read it in one sitting (okay I was on 8hr watch but still). Enthralling action, character interactions and strategy made it a new favorite. I picked up Speaker For the Dead as reading for waiting for/riding the subway on my recent vacation to New York. How much did I love it? I'd stop random parks to sit and read a chapter. I'm on vacation in New York and I stop to put my nose in a book - like I was at home. A completely different tale t... (show more)

  Earlier this year I read Ender's Game. I loved it. I read it in one sitting (okay I was on 8hr watch but still). Enthralling action, character interactions and strategy made it a new favorite. I picked up Speaker For the Dead as reading for waiting for/riding the subway on my recent vacation to New York. How much did I love it? I'd stop random parks to sit and read a chapter. I'm on vacation in New York and I stop to put my nose in a book - like I was at home. A completely different tale than Ender's Game but just as fascinating. To talk plot would ruin it for all who have yet to read it, so I shall not go into that. In fact, I'll cut myself off with the following. I love the Ender character and I cannot wait to read Xenocide and Children of the Mind (along with the concurrent/prequel series/short stories, etc). And I also love how Card deals with space travel and time. So many options and possibilities with that. (show less)

   

   

  by Bob Foster on Oct 06, 2009 at 07:45AM

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  Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
  1987 Hugo Award Winner for Best Novel and 1986 Nebula Award Winner for Best Novel

  More than a year after finishing Orson Scott Card’s famous Ender’s Game, I finally got around to reading (well listening to) its award-winning sequel Speaker for the Dead. The later novel concerns the discovery by humans of a second intelligent alien race, called the Pequeninos on the recently settled planet Lusitania. The Brazilian Portuguese settlers of the planet a... (show more)

  Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
  1987 Hugo Award Winner for Best Novel and 1986 Nebula Award Winner for Best Novel

  More than a year after finishing Orson Scott Card’s famous Ender’s Game, I finally got around to reading (well listening to) its award-winning sequel Speaker for the Dead. The later novel concerns the discovery by humans of a second intelligent alien race, called the Pequeninos on the recently settled planet Lusitania. The Brazilian Portuguese settlers of the planet are thereafter confined to a single city and their growth permanently limited by congressional order. The Pequeninos are a small, technologically primitive species with pig like features (earning them their other nickname, Piggies). Congress decides that the best thing for the Pequeninos is that they get as little contamination from humans as possible, and the only people allowed contact with them are specially trained xenologers (anthropologists for aliens) who have to work their hardest to learn about the Pequeninos while not letting the Pequeninos learn anything about them. I can’t really say much more about the plot without spoiling some very important parts of the story.

  Speaker for the Dead is a fascinating book that explores important questions of personhood, religion and psychology. General consensus says that Ender’s Game is a far superior book to Speaker for the Dead, but I’ve heard at least two people disagree with this assessment. The first is my friend John Schiefer, and the second is Card himself, who thinks Speaker is the far more important book. In general, the former group are considered rather heretical by the science fiction community at large, but I’m afraid that I have to throw in with them. Not at all to diminish the quality of Ender’s Game, but I simply felt more invested in the world and characters of Speaker. Ultimately, the world felt more creative and the themes addressed are ones that seem more important to me.

  The book is not entirely without its flaws, however. I really only have one minor complaint. This is that Speaker is very clearly written to have sequels, which means that while it addresses the major question of the book, it also leaves some things open so you’ll read the sequel. While I know that this is one way to do things, I’ve never been a particular fan of it.

  Anyway, Speaker for the Dead is a great book and I highly recommend it. Of course, to read Speaker for the Dead, you first have to read Ender’s Game, so go pick up a copy and read it, and then treat yourself to Speaker (show less)

   

   

  by Kevin Greenlee on Aug 18, 2009 at 08:11PM

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