The third book in the Ender Wiggin saga was not originally intended to involve Ender at all, and it kind of shows. Most of the story revolves around a couple "god-spoken" denizens of the Chinese-ish world of Path, who believe the gods tell them what to do in between demands for absurd and humiliating purification rituals. The characters are generally either uninteresting or unlikeable, but Card's writing is good enough that it isn't too tiresome. However, the metaphysical, philosophical, and religious discussions get old, and too often Card falls into the trap that ensnares so many male SF/F writers: making women self-righteous harpies in lieu of actually giving them personalities. Ella alone escapes this fate, though that may be due to her lack of romantic interests. While I enjoyed the more in-depth discussion of the descolada virus and Jane's origins, I could have done without Ender's unrealistic marital problems and the deus ex machina of "outside." (Those who have read the book will know what I mean.) I sincerely hope the next (and once last) book in the series, Children of the Mind, will bring some closure to the ridiculously tangled story going on here. Otherwise I'll probably wish I'd stopped after Speaker for the Dead. ( )

The amazing follow on to Ender's War and Speaker for the Dead. Ender is now far from Earth, being forced to flee before becoming a pawn for this brother and the other governments of Earth. He is still trying to atone for the Bugger War, and raise a family on a far off planet, while staying out of what are now multi-system politics. Those who still remember him are trying to smear his reputation by calling him 'Ender the Xenocide' more and more.
If you liked the first 2 books in this series, you won't be disappointed by this one. ( )

Nowhere near as good as it should have been. The Ender series begins its decent with this book, a decent that will continue through the next book unfortunately. I came away from the other books in this series, and the subsequent shadow series, desperate to learn what happens next. This book didn’t leave me with any such feeling. Card has had an excellent grasp on science and humanity in his other books, but Xenocide seems to have ignored all of that. The story is only redeemed by the fact that it is part of the Ender series, save for that I would have put this book away and tried to forget what just happened. ( )

I find myself both loving and hating this book. Orson Scott Card manages to keep me interested and makes me want to find out what is going to happen, but in my opinion, he goes a bit too far on the philosphy and the physics. Much of the book is composed of long sections of philosphical talk regarding the nature of 'other' and of 'self.' There is also some weird half-pseudo-pop physics that it seems like he really believes. But for some reason, I still like the plot and cared about the characters. I'm not sure I'll read another one in the series though. ( )

A bit slow getting started, and little too much talk in the talk/action ratio, but still a brilliant addition to the series. ( )