Children of the Mind (1996)

The general consensus seems to be that the Ender quartet takes a dip in quality beginning with Xenocide, but I think that Children of the Mind quickly rebounds and delivers a much more compelling story. While Xenocide got stuck in place with its endless, boring scientific analysis of the descolada virus and philoctic twining, CotM focuses mostly on relationships between characters - especially Young Val/Miro and Peter/Wang Mu.

The quartet comes around full circle very nicely, and Peter even appropriates Ender's classic phrase when the going gets tough.

My only complaint, which leaks back to Xenocide as well, is that Plikt is such a useless, wasted character. She could have been completely removed without altering the story at all, and her absense would not have been felt. I kept expecting her to suddenly matter, and she never did. ( )

This was much better than Xenocide, but it still had a slowness and flatness to the storyline that I'm not altogether satisfied. I suppose I get irritable with thoughts that seem to go on forever. I would like to see more of the things he wants to expressed shown in dialogue and the like, but that's probably just a preference.

I still haven't been able to identify why I think it's rather flat and the characters aren't very well rounded, but nonetheless that's how it comes across.

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Children of the Mind, The end of Ender Wiggin…

Card does a fantastic job of ending the Ender Wiggin legacy with lots of twists and turns in every chapter. This book, much like the others, has a deep meaning that goes far beyond just the story line of Ender’s life. Card draws the reader into the story line before you get hit with the first turn of events, during the middle of the book nothing makes any sense really, then finally at the end everything makes perfect sense.

There were parts of this book that I just had to skim over because it seemed to drone on and on about nothing. It wasn’t quite like Ender’s Game that hooks you with every word; this one had more politics and diplomacy. Card has a way of teaching you more about the Human Race, Religion, Relationships, and yourself. More than you ever knew or thought you knew before.

Honestly, I didn’t want this book to end. I was so engrossed into the story at the end that I was quite disappointed when it was over. The way that card transitions from Ender’s life into Val and Peter’s lives is amazing. In the end I didn’t really even miss Ender; I was more concerned with Peter and Val.

I just wish that Card would have continued the story after this. I would love to see more of Peter and Val and how their lives turn out. Also, what ended up happening with Congress and the transmission that the fleet was supposed to send to them? I really didn’t want this book to end the way it did… sort of “Poof” and it was over… quite literally. ( )

Review by: Sara

In this fourth, and final, book in Ender's Saga, everyone's story comes to a stunning close, and there's a surprise twist at the end. A remarkable book (as are all the others) and it's become one of my favorite of all time. READ IT OR PERISH!! ( )

Final book of a series, made me think a lot about its theme. ( )