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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
After enjoying the first installment, I thought I'd give the second book a try. This one turned out to be sexist and xenophobic. I understand xenophobia is an issue throughout the book that Ender is trying to encourage others to overcome. I feel that he was unsuccessful in his efforts which further supports other's belief, fictional and otherwise, of stereotypes commonly associated with foreigners. It was disappointing.
There are plenty of other synopses available for this book, so I'll just emphasize that it is NOT generally akin in style or theme to Ender's Game. If you liked EG for the battle sequences, child psychology, and loss of innocence tale, you might not enjoy Speaker. If, however, the story of Ender as a piece of the larger saga of humanity's struggle/failings/redemption struck a chord with you, then you might find Speaker as gripping and thought-provoking as I did.
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
While a completely different story from Ender's Game, the main themes (and the main character, crazy enough) are identical. The theme here is understanding. One of the central questions that Ender/the SOTD tries to answer is if the aliens they found are "ramen" -- alien, but can be recognized as "human" enough that killing them is wrong -- or "varelse" -- completely foreign, incomprehensible, and thus an enemy.
The large (and hard to track due to their Brazilian names) cast of characters set out to try to understand these new aliens. The story that results is an anthropological (more accurately, "xenological") mystery where bits and pieces of the alien society become understood while the whole remains varelse, especially after the aliens murder two of the xenologers.
This story is far less linear and more complex than the surface story of Ender's Game; there are multiple generations of dozens of characters living in the same village, feeling a bit like One Hundred Years of Solitude. Still, what Card is trying to get at didn't change. Themes of cross-cultural understanding are kinda grand coming from a raging homopho--- NOPE not thinking about that.
This book is awesome. Sci-fi for the linguistics/anthropology nerd similar to Story of Your Life, but good for completely different reasons.
The large (and hard to track due to their Brazilian names) cast of characters set out to try to understand these new aliens. The story that results is an anthropological (more accurately, "xenological") mystery where bits and pieces of the alien society become understood while the whole remains varelse, especially after the aliens murder two of the xenologers.
This story is far less linear and more complex than the surface story of Ender's Game; there are multiple generations of dozens of characters living in the same village, feeling a bit like One Hundred Years of Solitude. Still, what Card is trying to get at didn't change. Themes of cross-cultural understanding are kinda grand coming from a raging homopho--- NOPE not thinking about that.
This book is awesome. Sci-fi for the linguistics/anthropology nerd similar to Story of Your Life, but good for completely different reasons.
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes