Speaker for the Dead (1986)

I don't think of myself as a science fiction fan and I never specifically LOOK for science fiction books, but I find that I frequently DO enjoy them (Ready Player One and The Eyre Affair jump to mind as recent SF faves). On a long road trip, Ry brought Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead to listen to while we drive. I enjoyed both. We did not finish Speaker on the drive and I was engrossed so I came home to pick up the book and finish. The transition from listening to reading this novel was a bit rough because the names were not spelled the way I had imagined and that slowed me down. Once I got adjusted, I couldn't put it down. I recommend that if you read this book, you do not read it without having read Ender's Game first. Ender's Game has a much simpler plot but includes some important background for understanding Speaker for the Dead. ( )

Phen-freaking-nomenal! This book is more theory, theology, and inter-personal relationships than Ender's Game. It makes you wonder what you would do in place of the characters, makes you face your humanity, and teaches you to think outside of what you thought you knew. It is a beautiful and sad, wonderful and terrifying, and will leave you wanting to read more.

I highly recommend it to anyone who loves following Ender. ( )

A book I loved when I read it, and really liked as an audiobook. One of the joys of audiobooks for me is that they force me to hear every word. I think that when I am reading a book and get totally absorbed, I'm likely to skim the parts that seem to be nonessential. The book makes me weep, and the audio version did not. I found that interesting. Card's an excellent writer, and this is one of his best. ( )

Speaker">http://bysinginglight.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/speaker-for-the-dead/

Speaker For the Dead
by Orson Scott Card

I read Ender's Game way back in August and somehow, in spite of being completely blown away by it, forgot to write it down in my book notebook and therefore forgot to review it here. But it was amazing in that way that only really, really good sci-fi can be. I will try to be as non-spoilery as possible here, but if you haven’t read Ender’s Game, you should probably do that before reading this review. Seriously, go read it.

After I read Ender’s Game I didn’t read any of the sequels because I didn’t want my perception of the first book to be ruined by potentially not-so-great books in the series. I’ve had this issue a few times which leads me to be wary of series in general, especially those I know weren’t originally intended to become series. But then I talked to two friends who told me that the whole series was good and possible even better than the first book and I should read it. So I ordered Speaker For the Dead and stayed up ridiculously late reading it one night. I think maybe the latest I have ever stayed up reading. But it was totally worth it. Because this book is even more incredible than the first, in my humble opinion, of course.

It picks up three-thousand years after the events of Ender’s Game. Ender Wiggin is now a name spoken with disgust since people now see him, not as humanity’s savior, but as a Xenocide, someone who wiped out an entire race of ramen, intelligent beings who share many characteristics with humans. What none of them know is that the Speaker for the Dead, Andrew Wiggin, who travels from world to world as an itinerant Speaker is Ender Wiggin, still young because of the effects of inter-planetary travel. No one except his sister Valentine knows his real identity or that he is the original Speaker who wrote The Hive Queen and The Hegemon. He is still tortured by the guilt of what he did, still trying to work out some kind of reparation for it by Speaking the truth.

When Ender receives a call to go to Lusitania, a colony of Brazilian immigrants which is fenced to protect the colonists from the piggies, the only known ramen, his life and the lives of those on Lusitania begin to unravel. As he questions their foundational beliefs, he exposes ugly truths. It is only then that they are able to reach some kind of healing, that they are able to go on.

I loved Ender in the first book. I think you have to, for the book to work. But in this book, I loved him even more. For some strange reason, I have a soft-spot for characters who break my heart and Ender did that several times.

I did have some quibbles with this book. Card’s Mormonism made a sudden appearance at one point, which meant that there was part of the book that I had some problems with. On a more minor level, I’m not sure how no one in three thousand years connected “Ender Wiggin” with “Andrew Wiggin.” However, I can see how if you are thinking of Andrew Wiggin, Speaker for the Dead, Ender Wiggin, Xenocide doesn’t really pop into your head. So I guess that one is just me, being bothersome.

“How do you know there wasn’t something that he touched kindly? Someone who loved him, who was blessed by his love? Destroyed everything he touched—that’s a lie that can’t truthfully be said of any human being who ever lived.”


I can't wait for the next book. ( )

Thoroughly bizarre book with no real relation to the original in the series. Some interesting bits, including speculative xenobiology, but disappointing. ( )