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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
The audiobook felt a little schizophrenic. There were a number of different narrators tuning in to contribute in ways that felt disjointed for reasons I could never fully understand. I think it was due to the way different chapters were told from different points of view but without tagging hinting at the charact at a given point. Added to that, there were excerpts from legal and public records that, while interesting and insightful, were not tagged in a way that made them instantly understandable when something unusual was happening from a storytelling perspective.
That aside, this was a very different experience when compared to Ender's Game. The interview at the end of the book explains this. The author originally had this book in mind when he created the series. Ender's Game was the story that had to be told before this book could be written. Interesting that Ender's Game ended up being the smash hit of the series.
This book is well worth the read. Just don't go into expecting Ender's Game Part II.
That aside, this was a very different experience when compared to Ender's Game. The interview at the end of the book explains this. The author originally had this book in mind when he created the series. Ender's Game was the story that had to be told before this book could be written. Interesting that Ender's Game ended up being the smash hit of the series.
This book is well worth the read. Just don't go into expecting Ender's Game Part II.
CHOOSE ANOTHER TROPE FFS. I'm sick of the white savior savant man saves the colonies of brown people/aliens. Maybe this trope wasn't so tired when the book was written but I still hate it. Ender just shows up and knows everything and read everyone and in 4 days goes from a complete stranger to saving the planet and the Hive Queen. Come on let's be serious.
Also Jane? Such a forced character. She's a sentient computer program that falls in love with Ender. She had a chapter to herself that just felt so wrong and dumb. Talk about a midly beautiful subservient woman with no ambition than to serve Ender. Ew!! Vomit.
Also there was so much potential with Novinha. Super smart orphan biologist who gains a father figure and falls in love. So much potential and such a temperamental letdown. She went nowhere and became nothing other than to get her dirty laundry aired to the whole city. At least react. Get angry! Ugh another unrealistic female.
THEN if that wasn't bad enough the end gets so preachy. The Catholic humans of the colony want to try to convert the aliens?? Missionaries HELLO. And Ender supports this tf?? So much talk about God and unecessary religious undertones. I know Orson is Mormon but come on. I dont remember Enders Game being so preachy gross.
This books redeeming quality is that some characters are good. The biology/ecosystem implications and sci-fi was interesting. The world building was fun. I wanted more from this book but it was decidedly worse than Enders Game.
Also Jane? Such a forced character. She's a sentient computer program that falls in love with Ender. She had a chapter to herself that just felt so wrong and dumb. Talk about a midly beautiful subservient woman with no ambition than to serve Ender. Ew!! Vomit.
Also there was so much potential with Novinha. Super smart orphan biologist who gains a father figure and falls in love. So much potential and such a temperamental letdown. She went nowhere and became nothing other than to get her dirty laundry aired to the whole city. At least react. Get angry! Ugh another unrealistic female.
THEN if that wasn't bad enough the end gets so preachy. The Catholic humans of the colony want to try to convert the aliens?? Missionaries HELLO. And Ender supports this tf?? So much talk about God and unecessary religious undertones. I know Orson is Mormon but come on. I dont remember Enders Game being so preachy gross.
This books redeeming quality is that some characters are good. The biology/ecosystem implications and sci-fi was interesting. The world building was fun. I wanted more from this book but it was decidedly worse than Enders Game.
Just wow! Whilst I like Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead is a whole different ball game. The level of imagination and the themes it wrrestles with are just... almost undescribable. I know that Speaker for the Dead is widely considered to be a fantastic sequel but it easily lives up to the hype.
It's central mystery is so engaging and, thankfully its resolution is strong so it doesn't suffer from Lost syndrome of giving an unsatisfying answer to an interesting mystery.
It's almost hard to believe that the same author wrote both Ender's Game and Speakwr for the Dead; they're so stylistically different. One of the most unique and thought-provoking sci-fi books I've read in recent times.
Just an absolute gem and a book I would happily recommend to any reader. The only thing I'm sad is that I wish a speaker for the dead was a real concept rather than just fictional. It's ideas will guaranteed linger on my mind.
It's central mystery is so engaging and, thankfully its resolution is strong so it doesn't suffer from Lost syndrome of giving an unsatisfying answer to an interesting mystery.
It's almost hard to believe that the same author wrote both Ender's Game and Speakwr for the Dead; they're so stylistically different. One of the most unique and thought-provoking sci-fi books I've read in recent times.
Just an absolute gem and a book I would happily recommend to any reader. The only thing I'm sad is that I wish a speaker for the dead was a real concept rather than just fictional. It's ideas will guaranteed linger on my mind.
just incredible. hardly the militaristic story of the past. far more philosophical and deals with ender’s guilt of having taken part in the genocide of the buggers. just so good. i love books.
This is a fantastic book and really is the epitome of what I think a “science fiction” book should be. We take the fantastic to imagine new worlds but learn about our own as we journey there. Card not only blends science through this story but strong elements of faith, forgiveness, and existential purposes of humanity. Well done!
I inhaled this book. I couldn’t stop thinking about Ender’s Game and had to go and buy this book because I needed to know what happens. I read this one within a day.
This book was very different than the first in both theme and setting. It felt like Speaker was more geared toward adults. The themes were heavy and the characters suffered greatly and constantly. Ethics, morals, and general social concepts were all challenged throughout the book. Part of the reason I am enjoying this series so much is all of the moral and ethical dilemmas attached to the decisions made by the characters and human race as a whole.
The pain I felt for Ender at the end of the first book was only increased in this one. Ender continues to be a severely broken and tragic character. His guilt still drives him to make amends for the actions he was unknowingly forced to do and his name has been smeared to hell by the time the events of Speaker take place. I am constantly thinking about the events of Ender’s Game and how Ender is viewed by everyone else.
One thing I loved about this book was the third alien species we get to see. I was extremely interested in learning about their customs and why they do the things they do. They were a fascinating part of the story. I really was hoping for more about the buggers, but it seems like that will be in the next book.
I haven’t been this engrossed with a fictional world in a while.
This book was very different than the first in both theme and setting. It felt like Speaker was more geared toward adults. The themes were heavy and the characters suffered greatly and constantly. Ethics, morals, and general social concepts were all challenged throughout the book. Part of the reason I am enjoying this series so much is all of the moral and ethical dilemmas attached to the decisions made by the characters and human race as a whole.
The pain I felt for Ender at the end of the first book was only increased in this one. Ender continues to be a severely broken and tragic character. His guilt still drives him to make amends for the actions he was unknowingly forced to do and his name has been smeared to hell by the time the events of Speaker take place. I am constantly thinking about the events of Ender’s Game and how Ender is viewed by everyone else.
One thing I loved about this book was the third alien species we get to see. I was extremely interested in learning about their customs and why they do the things they do. They were a fascinating part of the story. I really was hoping for more about the buggers, but it seems like that will be in the next book.
I haven’t been this engrossed with a fictional world in a while.
I've decided to reread the entire series. It wasnt my decision, these books just keep forcing me to read them for hours on end. As the author says in his forward this sequel is a bit more philosophical and preachy sounding, but those were the parts I loved in the first book. along with the characters, and Speaker for the Dead has no shortage of interesting characters. Overall I recommend this book to everyone ever
This imaginative novel explores the Hierarchy of Foreignness which includes Utlanning, Framling, Raman. Varelse and Djur which is an outgrowth of the supposed Xenocide for the beings of the raman Hive Queen. The incredible life cycles of the raman pequeninos is detailed and the disastrous implications for the human colony involved are explained and explored.
3.5 stars.
The post-story notes by author point out that Ender's Game was supposed to be a prequel or shorter intro to the story Card originally intended to write, which was Speaker for the Dead. Having read Ender, I was interested to see where the story was going.
Without giving anything away, this second book does not have the grand revelations, vast passage of time, and interstellar warfare of the first one. This is much less and adventure book (not really one at all), and more of a political/social story, of two peoples meeting for the first time. There are some interesting sci-fi elements in there, and some great fantastical ideas from Card, but this could be applied to, say, the Spanish people coming to the Americas, and what happened after. Card actually got part of the idea for the story while working on a mission trip in Brazil, and it shows.
This book is very well-written, the characters very well-developed, and the story arc long but still taut. For someone looking for the galactic battles and HEAVY sci-fi of the first book, go elsewhere. If you intend to read the series (and I imagine that many who get to the second book do), then read away and enjoy.
Like the first novel, this also does well as a YA novel.
The audiobook version I listened to was well-done, save for the female speaker who voiced one of the female leads for the last 2/3rds of the book (the Brazilian local mother). I am not sure what the actor was attempting, but each sentence started and ended with the same tone, inflection, and even pitch. I think it was an attempt at sensuality, but it came across as a really stoned computer trying to cold-read a rather complicated play. Pretty bad, actually.
The post-story notes by author point out that Ender's Game was supposed to be a prequel or shorter intro to the story Card originally intended to write, which was Speaker for the Dead. Having read Ender, I was interested to see where the story was going.
Without giving anything away, this second book does not have the grand revelations, vast passage of time, and interstellar warfare of the first one. This is much less and adventure book (not really one at all), and more of a political/social story, of two peoples meeting for the first time. There are some interesting sci-fi elements in there, and some great fantastical ideas from Card, but this could be applied to, say, the Spanish people coming to the Americas, and what happened after. Card actually got part of the idea for the story while working on a mission trip in Brazil, and it shows.
This book is very well-written, the characters very well-developed, and the story arc long but still taut. For someone looking for the galactic battles and HEAVY sci-fi of the first book, go elsewhere. If you intend to read the series (and I imagine that many who get to the second book do), then read away and enjoy.
Like the first novel, this also does well as a YA novel.
The audiobook version I listened to was well-done, save for the female speaker who voiced one of the female leads for the last 2/3rds of the book (the Brazilian local mother). I am not sure what the actor was attempting, but each sentence started and ended with the same tone, inflection, and even pitch. I think it was an attempt at sensuality, but it came across as a really stoned computer trying to cold-read a rather complicated play. Pretty bad, actually.