Xenocide

The first two-thirds of the Xenocide consider the ethics of exterminating an intelligent species that poses an existential threat. Are the Ender’s Buggers, the loveable piggies and their trees, clever but dangerous Jane the AI, and the deadly but intelligent Descolada virus equally worthy of our care? Toward the end, the focus shifts less successfully to more purely religious questions—the existence and nature of God and the soul.

It's heavy stuff for a science fiction novel. Ender is often shoved into the background, and talk can bury the plot. However, the nuanced discussion of ethics makes it all worthwhile. I will never think about Star Trek’s Prime Directive in quite the same way.

This is one of the most profoundly philosophical science fiction books ever written.

Humans have colonized the planet they call Lusitania, home to the "piggies," intelligent mammal-like animals with no technology. Then Ender Wiggin arrives, with the Hive Queen, the last remaining member of her high-tech species. Now three intelligent species must cohabit one world -- for if they leave it, they will take with them the ultimate biological weapon, the descolada virus.

Human contact with not one but two intelligent alien species sets the scene for a thorough and balanced discussion of some of the most important questions about being human:
What does it mean to be intelligent?
What does it mean to be alive?
Does free will exist?
Where did show more the universe come from?
How can we pursue our own interests while remaining respectful of others'?

My only reservation about this book is that it really only makes sense having read the other two first, Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. I tried reading it immediately after Ender's Game, and put it down in frustration after a few pages.

But if you have time to read a great sci-fi trilogy, with interesting characters, a suspenseful plot, and some surprisingly unique ideas, you will be richly rewarded.

Addendum: In light of Card's homophobic statements, I feel obligated to add a few words. It is incredibly disappointing to me that such an imaginative, creative writer as Card sees homosexuality as wrong. He is able to imagine species that reproduce in incredibly innovative and foreign ways, yet is not able to tolerate something as banal as one human loving another human who happens to be of the same sex. I admire Card's creativity, but I am saddened by his narrow-mindedness regarding his own species. show less

Speaker for the Dead spun its wheels and was (according to Card) mainly about the idea of "speaking for the dead" which takes a complete backseat in the story. In this afterword he reveals this story started out having nothing to do with Ender, which is really noticeable; if Speaker spun, Xenocide is drifting out of control. Instead of concluding the puzzle, Card starts adding pieces, because it's really about this new great idea called the philotic web, and the whole reintroduction of the buggers you can mostly forget. The ungluing virus is at least related to the fate of the piggies, and at its best the novel becomes one of those TNG episodes where the crew gathers around to discuss some ethical problem and possible solutions (or as show more Card calls it: "talky"). I don't really mind that. I do mind that he makes it clear he thought he was done with the story in Speaker (how?), and Xenocide is really a book split in two, so if you read this you better read Children of the Mind because it wraps up nothing and ends on a cliffhanger.

Ender's Game being an unintentional success seems to be a major problem for Card since his ideas for books really have nothing to do with Ender as a character, and all to do with marketing, which makes him an afterthought and the least interesting participant in the books ostensibly about him. Reintroducing a couple of dead characters just shrinks the universe and is a terrible comic book crutch ("somehow Palpatine returned"). But hey just hang on for another book or two or three and I'm sure it'll pay off. Right? show less

As Orson Scott Card moves away from the childlike narrative of Ender's Game the series becomes more deeply philosophical. In each subsequent Ender novel, Card questions the argument surrounding free will. Xenocide expands on these ideas as it examines cultural differences, religious ideology and the ethics of destroying a race because of its potential danger. Card takes his readers to the planet Lusitania where humans (including Andrew Wiggin and his family), the Pequeninos (Piggies), and the Hive Queen are all under threat by the Starways Congress. The Congress is hellbent on blowing up the planet because they fear the Descolada virus which is essential to the Pequeninos but deadly to humans. Card keeps Ender and his family mostly in show more the background as he explores these heavier concepts. I found it to be heavy mucking. show less

Ender Wiggen and his family are trapped on Lusitania with an incurable virus that is methodically killing every non-native living thing. The situation is only made worse by the fact that the Congress is sending a fleet to destroy the planet for its recent rebellion. Valentine has agreed to embark on a decades long trip to rejoin her brother and hopefully stop the fleet through political propaganda.

Although the scientists on Lusitania have the ability to destroy the virus, if they do, it will also destroy the local peoples whose entire life cycle is bound up with the virus. Meanwhile, the Hive Queen has started building her civilization on Lusitania as well. She is building ships for her many children to set out for distant planets. She show more will not consent to be slain, and is also building ships for the Lusitania natives. By these means both races might escape extinction, but if they spread the virus to other worlds it could possible destroy all other life in the universe. Ender will need to muster all the great minds at his disposal if he can hope to save these two races from xenocide, not to mention his own family. They cannot be allowed to leave Lusitania either unless the virus is cured.

Meanwhile, on a Chinese colonized world named Path a young woman is learning to serve her society and the gods. On this planet certain special people are singled out by the gods to receive messages. These messages consist almost entirely of commands to purify themselves. These "god-spoken" people are extremely mentally gifted, but also hobbled by the intense protocols required by the gods. The young woman, "Gloriously Bright" has been given a special assignment from her father. She must discover what has become of the Lusitania fleet which was sent to destroy the rebellious planet. It has mysteriously vanished without apparent cause. It will be the determined mind of this gifted child that will eventually reveal to Congress the existence of Jane - a sentient being living in the computer connections of a thousand worlds. Gloriously Bright will bring about Jane's destruction if Ender cannot come up with a way to save her as well.

This book is odd in its format. The greatest part of it consists of extremely detailed moral and philosophical discussions between a cast of essentially interchangeable characters. Many times I would come back to my place in the book and find myself in the midst of a prolonged discussion that might not even have clearly named speakers. Despite this, I found myself entertained - even on the edge of my seat in places. This is a complex story of interplanetary politics, genetic engineering, theoretical physics, and diverse alien groups working together. I liked it, almost against my better judgement. show less

Xenocide is the third book in the story of Ender Wiggin and for me in some ways the weakest so far. Ender is still on Lusitania, the world of the pequeninos. All species on that world are now threatened by a fleet sent to destroy it - the two alien species that live there are threatened with xenocide as they exist nowhere else. A virus, deadly to all worlds exposed to it that cannot adapt or protect themselves is present on Lusitania and it is this that is used for the justification of the destruction of the world. This is the backdrop to a book which deals with questions of religion, of how we characterise sentient life, of where the line should be drawn in cases of self-protection. Still the broken family of Speaker for the Dead show more follow their path to salvation and still Ender continues to age.

My main problem with this book was that it didn't 'live' for me the way Speaker for the Dead did. Card still crafts a good story but the jarring introduction of the world of Path to offer a counterpoint to the religious arguments and a resolution of some of the problems in the book didn't quite sit right for me. Nonetheless, I still whipped through this book and was engaged throughout with the characters and tale. show less

This is a fairly heavy book; certainly entertaining and quite interesting, but Card addresses some rather major topics. There's a lot of philosophy involved, particularly around how the fictional characters perceive alien species - but everything is obviously applicable to the human race internally as well.

The physics of instantaneous travel, the pre-existence of all intelligence, and the origins of the universe are all also covered, though not nearly to the extent to which philosophy is discussed (and because philosophy is so wide reaching, these other topics are intertwined - sometimes deeply, other times superficially - with the overall philosophical arc of the book).

The plot itself surrounds two planets - one on which humans exist show more (to some extent unknowingly) with three non-human, sentient species - and possibly a fourth pseudo-sentient virus; and one world on which super-intelligent humans believe they commune with the gods. It seems that this book was the ultimate in existential crises, as many characters repeatedly try to figure out who they are, where they came from, and for one of the species whether their intelligence is their own intelligence at all.

Cogito Ergo Sum indeed.

Fans of the Ender Series should enjoy Ender's further adventures here, though it bares hardly any resemblance to Ender's Game itself. Really, Xenocide takes some of the heavier concepts of Speaker of the Dead and expounds on them. If you're looking for some stimulating concepts to wrack your brain over - all wrapped in quite an interesting plot line - this should do the trick. show less