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bperl's review against another edition
4.0
Well. Ender’s Game this certainly isn’t, but the book serves quite well as a companion novel in its exploration of Ender’s search for absolution in the wake of his xenocide.
Recommended, but be aware: Speaker for the Dead is VERY strange, and sometimes incomprehensible in that strangeness.
Recommended, but be aware: Speaker for the Dead is VERY strange, and sometimes incomprehensible in that strangeness.
_amy_leigh_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.25
Second book. Ended meets his wife and finds a place for the hive queen. Kinda sad but good.
rweller's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
In equal parts heartbreaking and uplifting. Steeped in religious themes, and brimming with a thoughtful exploration of humanity, tribalism, love, loss, empathy, and the pursuit and meaning of truth, this is far more than a science fiction adventure to worlds unknown.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Xenophobia, and Torture
autogeek's review against another edition
4.0
According to the introduction in this book, this was the book that Card originally intended to write. Ender's game was intended to be a prequel to this book which got out of hand and eventually became a novel in its own right.
The events in this book take place 3000 odd years after the events in Ender's game. Since those days, humanity has spread across galaxies and claimed a hundred odd planets. Ender has been traveling ever since the events in Ender's game looking for a place to set down the Hive queen and let the buggers grow once again. No one now knows who Ender really is and nor do they know about the hive queen yet.
After traveling for so long, Ender finally comes across a human-occupied planet with yet another sentient and intelligent species of alien life called the piggies. Humanity, due to guilt from the bugger xenocide, goes to extreme lengths to ensure that the piggies' culture is not influenced by humans. As a result of the extreme restrictions placed on the xenologists, humans don't really understand the piggies on any level, neither their culture, their language nor even their biology.
Ender, traveling as a "speaker for the dead" - a sort of religious priest who speaks the complete truth about a person after their death - is called for such a speaking for a man who has been murdered by the piggies. No one understands why they did this, but no one dares ask the piggies lest that somehow affect their culture. Once Ender gets there however, he digs through the man's private and professional life causing a lot of anguish for the family members. He also figures out why the piggies do what they do and what makes them tick. In the process he also finds out that everyone and everything on the planet carry the seeds of destruction that could destroy all life on all other planets if they were to be exposed to it.
A new AI character called Jane is introduced is this book who is born out of the immense network of computers across the hundred worlds. She is a friend of Ender's. For some reason that is not explained, she decides to tattle on the xenologers who have been violating the rules regarding human contact with the piggies. This results in the Starways Congress (the main governing body for all the worlds) learning of the destructive capability of the biology on the planet. As a result, they cut off the planet and send a starship to destroy the planet and everything on it.
The book then ends with Ender finding a place and setting down the Hive queen who wakes up from her hibernation and catches her first rays of the sun.
Despite this book being intended as the "main one" of the series, it feels much more like a prequel than Ender's game ever did. As I said, the book ends with everyone preparing for war and the hive queen just being born; this is hardly an ending but rather the beginning. That said though, the writing style in this book is far more "grown-up" rather than the very "young-adult" feel (which is not bad in itself, just that I prefer the former style) of Ender's game. All the characters are a lot more mature and better built up. The plot is also quite interesting even though the ending suggests the best part is yet to come.
Overall, I like this book a lot, much better than Ender's game and am looking forward to reading the following books in the series.
The events in this book take place 3000 odd years after the events in Ender's game. Since those days, humanity has spread across galaxies and claimed a hundred odd planets. Ender has been traveling ever since the events in Ender's game looking for a place to set down the Hive queen and let the buggers grow once again. No one now knows who Ender really is and nor do they know about the hive queen yet.
After traveling for so long, Ender finally comes across a human-occupied planet with yet another sentient and intelligent species of alien life called the piggies. Humanity, due to guilt from the bugger xenocide, goes to extreme lengths to ensure that the piggies' culture is not influenced by humans. As a result of the extreme restrictions placed on the xenologists, humans don't really understand the piggies on any level, neither their culture, their language nor even their biology.
Ender, traveling as a "speaker for the dead" - a sort of religious priest who speaks the complete truth about a person after their death - is called for such a speaking for a man who has been murdered by the piggies. No one understands why they did this, but no one dares ask the piggies lest that somehow affect their culture. Once Ender gets there however, he digs through the man's private and professional life causing a lot of anguish for the family members. He also figures out why the piggies do what they do and what makes them tick. In the process he also finds out that everyone and everything on the planet carry the seeds of destruction that could destroy all life on all other planets if they were to be exposed to it.
A new AI character called Jane is introduced is this book who is born out of the immense network of computers across the hundred worlds. She is a friend of Ender's. For some reason that is not explained, she decides to tattle on the xenologers who have been violating the rules regarding human contact with the piggies. This results in the Starways Congress (the main governing body for all the worlds) learning of the destructive capability of the biology on the planet. As a result, they cut off the planet and send a starship to destroy the planet and everything on it.
The book then ends with Ender finding a place and setting down the Hive queen who wakes up from her hibernation and catches her first rays of the sun.
Despite this book being intended as the "main one" of the series, it feels much more like a prequel than Ender's game ever did. As I said, the book ends with everyone preparing for war and the hive queen just being born; this is hardly an ending but rather the beginning. That said though, the writing style in this book is far more "grown-up" rather than the very "young-adult" feel (which is not bad in itself, just that I prefer the former style) of Ender's game. All the characters are a lot more mature and better built up. The plot is also quite interesting even though the ending suggests the best part is yet to come.
Overall, I like this book a lot, much better than Ender's game and am looking forward to reading the following books in the series.
katfrenn_reads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Speaker for the dead is a fascinating and wonderful book. One of my all time favorite books. So many mysteries, human and alien. Perfect pacing. Interesting and unique characters. The joy of scientific inquiry. Highly recommend this book, works as a standalone or can be read after Enders Game.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Death
Moderate: Physical abuse, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic
wojevan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5
sammilynnebob's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ehsan1358's review against another edition
1.0
I wish I had never read this book, or somehow undo it, forget it all. So trash, stupid, naïve, indigestible, and rubbish.
I don't know what is wrong with American [writers], they seem always obsessed with making babies, churches, god, and all those nonsense. Can't they write about anything else?
I usually don't write about books I dislike, I simply ignore them. This one however was beyond my tolerance level and I have to say some words about it.
An intelligent life planet is found on a planet many light-years away from the Earth. And guess what, its atmosphere is earth-like, its gravity is earth-like, its climate is earth-like, and if that is not enough the life found on this alien planet is carbon-based just like the Earth. If that is not enough, all forms of life found on the planet are just like their counterparts on the Earth only less abundant: fish in the waters, trees in the bush, and a primitive named "piggy" who no surprisingly talks and dances and worships gods and lives in tribes and fights other tribes just like humans, only a bit shorter.
My question is that why on earth does this stupid story takes place on another planet rather than somewhere on the Earth?
Isn't it enough, this story happens in the future, precisely 3000 years from our time and not only human religions have survived, despite all their embedded nuisance and stupidity of their followers, the most ridiculous one, Christianity, has evolved such to coexist with evolution, and in contrast to its pillars that fall apart as soon as human leaves the Earth, it has come to a point to pioneer studying of the aforementioned intelligent alien life. How absurd could it be that a religion which cannot make its way to the end of the century continues to several millennia?
And the story itself, isn't it but marrying to mate to produce offspring, etc., etc.? Is that all or did I miss something? Isn't it because the writer is another [obsessed with legal ways of making love] American who is happened to serve as a missionary in Brazil before his writing?
The whole story smells as rotten as colonial missionaries who infested the less developed worlds and looked at the aboriginals from the top, considering them as "piggies" (i.e. guinea pigs?!). If you think I am wrong, just read the pseudo treaty chapter toward the end of the book again, doesn't it look like Westerners' negotiations with American Indians in the early days of their invasion?
Not even the slightest shade of science I found in this book either: 3000 years from now the human is so stupid that to study another species has no other way but to leave next to them and separate his colony from them by a fence. Even these days we study the Earth with more subtle devices rather than direct interference.
The whole book is a simple story for simple white Christian naïve Americans: story of Jesus and conquest of new lands, the rest is just laws of God especially "making love" under the permission of church which is probably the most profound subject of almost all American writers.
I cannot hide my disgust for this book so much as hate the church and its lords and the stupidity of this book and the time I wasted on this.
All I can say is that this is not sci-fi, whatever it is. If want to know what sci-fi looks like, read C Clarke's works, or Asimov's works, or at least "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The only bright thing about reading this book is that now I know the Hugo award and Nebula award are just like many other American awards, are cheap and worthless to weigh books with.
I don't know what is wrong with American [writers], they seem always obsessed with making babies, churches, god, and all those nonsense. Can't they write about anything else?
I usually don't write about books I dislike, I simply ignore them. This one however was beyond my tolerance level and I have to say some words about it.
An intelligent life planet is found on a planet many light-years away from the Earth. And guess what, its atmosphere is earth-like, its gravity is earth-like, its climate is earth-like, and if that is not enough the life found on this alien planet is carbon-based just like the Earth. If that is not enough, all forms of life found on the planet are just like their counterparts on the Earth only less abundant: fish in the waters, trees in the bush, and a primitive named "piggy" who no surprisingly talks and dances and worships gods and lives in tribes and fights other tribes just like humans, only a bit shorter.
My question is that why on earth does this stupid story takes place on another planet rather than somewhere on the Earth?
Isn't it enough, this story happens in the future, precisely 3000 years from our time and not only human religions have survived, despite all their embedded nuisance and stupidity of their followers, the most ridiculous one, Christianity, has evolved such to coexist with evolution, and in contrast to its pillars that fall apart as soon as human leaves the Earth, it has come to a point to pioneer studying of the aforementioned intelligent alien life. How absurd could it be that a religion which cannot make its way to the end of the century continues to several millennia?
And the story itself, isn't it but marrying to mate to produce offspring, etc., etc.? Is that all or did I miss something? Isn't it because the writer is another [obsessed with legal ways of making love] American who is happened to serve as a missionary in Brazil before his writing?
The whole story smells as rotten as colonial missionaries who infested the less developed worlds and looked at the aboriginals from the top, considering them as "piggies" (i.e. guinea pigs?!). If you think I am wrong, just read the pseudo treaty chapter toward the end of the book again, doesn't it look like Westerners' negotiations with American Indians in the early days of their invasion?
Not even the slightest shade of science I found in this book either: 3000 years from now the human is so stupid that to study another species has no other way but to leave next to them and separate his colony from them by a fence. Even these days we study the Earth with more subtle devices rather than direct interference.
The whole book is a simple story for simple white Christian naïve Americans: story of Jesus and conquest of new lands, the rest is just laws of God especially "making love" under the permission of church which is probably the most profound subject of almost all American writers.
I cannot hide my disgust for this book so much as hate the church and its lords and the stupidity of this book and the time I wasted on this.
All I can say is that this is not sci-fi, whatever it is. If want to know what sci-fi looks like, read C Clarke's works, or Asimov's works, or at least "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The only bright thing about reading this book is that now I know the Hugo award and Nebula award are just like many other American awards, are cheap and worthless to weigh books with.
kcoyne73's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0