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A review by autogeek
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
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.