Speaker For The Dead: Book 2 in the Ender Saga (The Ender Quartet series)

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It was SO far out there, completely boring, and just too nuts that during the most intense part of the book, I found myself reading it as "and blah blah blah, and then blah blah blah If you are looking for another story that brings back the excitement and intrigue of battle school, look elsewhere. Ender's future is bleak View all 9 comments.

Jan 01, Wes Morgan rated it it was amazing. This book was a very pleasant surprise. Absolutely one of the finest works of fiction I've ever read. It's unfortunate that it's technically science fiction because that stigma will cause many to dismiss it out of hand. That would be a big mistake, as this is a great novel regardless of genre. Speaker for the Dead is a sequel to Card's best-known work, Ender's Game.

It helps you understand the characters a Wow. It helps you understand the characters and names of things and places better, but reading it first is not essential to appreciating the story in Speaker. Although, if you enjoy Speaker half as much as I did, you'll want to re- read Ender's Game next anyway just to get more background on Ender himself and the events of his childhood. So you may as well start there. Speaker for the Dead reminds me of other epic, character relationship-focused novels such as One Hundred Years of Solitude or Midnight's Children. Here the advanced future technology stands in for the magical realism of those works.

Unlike much science fiction, the characters are very well realized and developed, as are their relationships with each other. Card's background is in psychology, not technology, which makes the book much more accessible to those who aren't big sci-fi geeks and, I would argue, a more interesting story over all. As an example of this, the book focuses on the painful effects space travel has on human relationships because of the time dilation effects of relativity, a voyage of a few weeks for those on the ship lasts several decades for those they leave behind rather than how the propulsion technology works.

The story revolves around a small colony of Brazilian Catholics on a planet they've named Lusitania. They discover another intelligent species on this planet, the second humanity has ever run into. We wiped out the first such species in an act of self-defense, but we have since come to regret this action after realizing it was based on mutual misunderstanding. So humanity is determined not to let the same thing happen here. This story of epic scope is told from the perspective of the family who is charged with studying this species on Lusitania and the small community of the colony in which they live.

We see 3 generations of this family over the course of the book, but most of the novel focuses on Novinha pronounced no-VEEN-yah and her 6 children. The family's broken home and lives of quiet desperation are interrupted only by death, on several occasions and twice at the hands of the alien species.

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These deaths deflate humanity's hope of peaceful coexistence with the aliens. Into this mix comes Ender, who has a very unique connection to the first alien species we wiped out I won't say anymore about that because it's a spoiler for Ender's Game. He is now a Speaker for the Dead, which is a sort of humanist priesthood of people who learn about those who have died and speak the truth of their lives, their hopes, fears, intentions, virtues, and vices.

He is called by several members of the family to speak the deaths they have experienced in an act of defiance of the Catholic hierarchy that essentially runs the colony. As I've implied, the characters are what make this book great, and that applies to all of them, human or otherwise. The alien species on Lusitania are called "piggies" because they resemble pigs who walk upright and speak.

Speaker for the Dead

They are a fascinating creation of Card's imagination and you grow to care very much about them and a few individuals in particular as you read the book, as does Ender in the story. The humans' attempts to understand their culture and help them to understand ours are a central component of the book and cast many things we take for granted in a fascinating light. This book is a wonderful story of redemption; of old misunderstandings and pain turning into mutual respect and love via decades of blood, sweat, and tears; of humans and non-humans learning and growing and being better than our worst demons; and of loss and suffering planting the seeds of new loves and lives.

It's a story spanning thousands of years and a hundred worlds, but told in the most intimate of settings, a single extended family. It shows humans at their best and their worst, and makes you care a great deal about the individual characters all the while. I can't recommend this novel highly enough.

Sep 05, Kerry rated it it was ok Shelves: After Ender's Game , I was all excited to read this one, and it. The only really interesting things about it were a biological concepts that are totally different from what we have here on earth, which, after watching a lot of "forehead aliens" on Star Trek is a nice change, and b the impact of the whole you-don't-age-when-you're-travelling-close-to-the-speed-of-light thing i.

Jane could have been interesting, but she wasn't. And I missed Valentine. And the stupid Portuguese names were too similar and therefore confusing.

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May 23, Spider the Doof Warrior rated it did not like it Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I've read this book several times since I first read Ender's Game back in The problem with this book is everything could have been solved by simply asking the aliens how they reproduce from the start instead of assuming they reproduce like humans do. That kind of story almost always annoys the beejeesus out of me. It drives me nuts. Maybe I should read this again, but I don't want to. I just seems li I've read this book several times since I first read Ender's Game back in I just seems like this one simple little thing would have changed everything.

Like Novinha can't marry the man she wants to marry because he'll learn everything because she will be one person with him. So, if you have some secret account, your husband gets to share it suddenly? This makes no sense. There's no real reason for it. I have got to get these OSC books out of my house.

Edit-I am sorry, but no real actual scientist would ever, ever encounter aliens and assume they reproduced the same way humans do! This is just so deeply dippy. Couldn't Libo or that other fellow simply have said, we can't turn into trees, don't cut us? And you get 2 people in which this happens to.

How are we supposed to believe that two people could not have said, don't do this, our bodies don't work like that. I'm sorry, OSC is overrated! High school when I read Seventh Son for the first time. But he's been driving me crazy. I'm skimming through this book and I still can't believe that characters would actually be this stupid in the sense of letting themselves be killed by the piggies when they didn't have to be.

This doesn't make them look noble or self sacrificing but really, really dumb and lacking in respect for another being's culture and way of life. Also, the romance between Ender and Novinhua is not believable.

Perhaps from Ender's side, but not from her. I do find her whole part very satisfying and I hate when Ender turns her off and she becomes lost. OSC just isn't a good writer. It seems like he is but he isn't. He nags and lectures. He tells when he should show you. He has no subtlety. His bad guys are too evil and his good guys are too good.

He's terrible at character development. You're better off reading Wraethlu or something like that. Especially if you are keen on gay rights. That serious has fantastic character development, interesting beings going from being human to something else dealing with that. It's also very gay friendly too, unlike OSC who will never be gay friendly and will always think homosexuality will destroy society if you just allow people to openly be themselves. View all 26 comments. Aug 29, Apatt rated it it was amazing Shelves: Ender's Game is one of those rare sf classics that are placed in the top 5 of most "All-time best sf books", I have seen it occupy the pole position in a few such lists.

Such accolade is not undeserved as Ender's Game is a great book, and one of the best military sf novels ever published, alas military sf has never been my favorite sf sub genre so Speaker for the Dead is much more to my taste. What makes this book very special are the existential and philosophical issues raised by this book. I a Ender's Game is one of those rare sf classics that are placed in the top 5 of most "All-time best sf books", I have seen it occupy the pole position in a few such lists. I also love the Pequeninos piggies alien species and their highly unusual stages of growth.

Their culture is very alien and this leads to a terrible misunderstanding and a couple of tragic human deaths, that said, there are some recognizable human characteristic in their behavior. Characterization has always been a particular strength of Orson Scott Card and this is very much a character-centric book, though the sf element, the sense of wonder and immersion is very strong. The character of Andrew Wiggin Ender is very different from the previous novel he has grown up, grown old and attained a lot of wisdom.

Some of the alien piggies characters such as Rooter and Human are as vivid as the human ones. For me this book has a lot more emotional resonance than its predecessor as I can identify with some of the problems the characters go through. This book epitomizes all that I look for in a perfect sf novel. View all 5 comments. Apr 29, Davie rated it it was ok Shelves: Made me question what I thought I liked about Ender's Game. Like a Dan Brown book, it manipulates you into reading onwards in order to find out what the hell was going on in the first chapters -- even as you suspect more and more strongly that it's not going to be worth it in the end.

Hokey space soap opera. Apr 02, Stuart rated it liked it Shelves: Speaker for the Dead: Synop Speaker for the Dead: Synopsis Speaker for the Dead revolves around a dysfunctional family of xenobiologists and xenologers, and features an adult Ender Wiggin now know as Andrew Wiggin, Speaker for the Dead who is only in his mids thanks to the time relativity effects of interstellar flight. On Lusitania, a new alien species has been discovered, the pequeninos or piggies, as they are commonly known , the only other alien race to be encountered since the buggers were exterminated by Ender Wiggin, the Xenocide.

So now the Hundred Worlds and Starways Congress are much more cautious about alien contact, and restrict all contact with the piggies to just the handful of xenobiologists and xenologers. The story involves the emotional trials of the Ribeira family, which has been struck with a series of tragedies tied to interactions with the piggies, as well as contact with a deadly plague called the Descolada which scrambles DNA in unexpected and fatal ways.

Despite her parents finding a way to prevent the Descolada from harming humans, the main character Novinha loses her parents to the plague. Novinha, who considers Pipo a father figure and Libo as her lover, is emotionally devastated and retreats further from the community of Lusitania. It is the death of Marcao, along with the earlier deaths of Pipo and Libo, that triggers the main events of the story.

Andrew Wiggin answers a call for a Speaker for the Dead sent initially by Novinha to speak the death of Pipo , but later requests are also made by her eldest son Miro to speak the death of Libo and her eldest daughter Ela to speak the death of Marcao after Andrew has already begun his journey. When he arrives, it becomes clear that Novinha regrets her request which cannot be cancelled , and that the family is in disarray due to the abuse of Novinha by her husband Ribeiro, and her refusal to reveal what information about the Descolada lead to the deaths of Pipo and Libo.

It takes only a week of sleuthing and infiltration of the family by the incredibly perceptive Speaker for the Dead to unearth layer after layer of secrets and emotional pain buried in the Ribeiro family, and despite the resistance of various family members, he finally undertakes to reveal the true story behind Pipo, Libo, Novinha, and Marcao, and this cathartic Speaking before the Lusitania community provides one of the key moments of the book. There is also a subplot about Starways Congress finding out about illegal contact with the piggies and attempting to shut down the colony which it views as being in rebellion and its ansible communications network, along with an artificial intelligence named Jane that has formed a connection with Ender Wiggin over the 3, years since the genocide.

However, I found this subplot quite underdeveloped and not really critical to the plot. Most likely it was added to lay the groundwork for the following two sequels, Xenocide and Children of the Mind, which are widely regarded as inferior to the first two books. Finally, the Hive Queen also features as part of the redemption of Andrew Wiggin, as he seeks to find a new home for her race to atone for his unwitting act of Xenocide 3, years earlier. Unfortunately, it is very clear that the book is mainly an opportunity for him to espouse his various views about morality, guilt, lies, and redemption via revealing of the truth, no matter how painful.

I think if OSC had simply allowed the story to speak for itself, he wouldn't have to spell out exactly how emotional and cathartic the Speaking was. I also didn't like the fact that the Speaker seemed so all-knowing and infallible for much of the book. It would be a much better book. Jan 24, Pavle rated it it was amazing Shelves: Ovde nema a od akcije, ali ima a od antropologije tojest ksenologije , i a, i n, i t Aug 14, aPriL does feral sometimes rated it really liked it Shelves: Perhaps this novel, book two in the Ender series, may not satisfy those who want a comic book hero.

Ender is the kind of hero that has more living man as part of his character than a storybook person. He wants to be a husband, father, and someone who is building a home, not a military genius, not an adventurer 'Speaker for the Dead' is a grown ups' book, a literary science fiction that has a lot of Big Questions, and by the end Ender answers the best he can by his understanding of what's needed.

He wants to be a husband, father, and someone who is building a home, not a military genius, not an adventurer, explorer or even a businessman. The title and job he takes on, Speaker for the Dead, is a penance for his perceived sin of genocide Ender's Game which almost crushes his ability to survive. Being Speaker for the Dead is how he maintains self-respect, and at the same time, he hopes to evolve the human intellect past its instinct to murder the different.

He preaches walking in the Other's shoes as the way to understand, but in a holistic way of seeing. If aliens have sentience, then they can maybe see how the Other may have the same aspirations all living intelligences must have. The Buggers an alien race discovered in space , by this definition, were not only ahead of humans scientifically but also morally view spoiler [, but Ender destroyed them in the previous book before understanding could be shared between races. She is a powerful metaphor for what is possible and a god icon at the same time.

Lack of flesh leads her initially to being heartless, as all superior gods are view spoiler [, however Jane' mature evolution begins when she falls in love with a man. Maybe Ender is Jesus, and maybe his brother Peter and sister Valentine could be representing Guessing is part of the joy of reading. Some of my musings: The Piggies a new, recently discovered, alien race are a symbol for who we humans are today, and they have a literal Tree of Life? Or not - you decide People have been arguing for decades about what is Literature and what is simple entertainment.

I think Literature has become too solipsistic and it needs to admit new genres like Speakers of the Dead. This is a beautiful read. Aug 18, W. Card is wrong when he tells his readers that Speaker is a better book than Ender's Game. He says young readers don't like it as well because it doesn't feature kids.

I don't like it as well as Ender's game because while Ender's game is a psychological epic, with all the heartfelt intensity of a writer's first real story, Speaker reads to me like just another science fiction novel. Some aliens, a superintelligent virus; snooooozer. Well depicted snoozer, but still. Ender spends his whole life in Card is wrong when he tells his readers that Speaker is a better book than Ender's Game. Ender spends his whole life in isolation, and comes out of it a wimp, not a hero. Makes me wish Mazer Rackham had kicked his ass a little harder in the first book.

View all 3 comments. Jul 05, Leighton rated it it was ok. What's a hero to do once he's accomplished his heroic deed? Ender doesn't quite know--and unfortunately, Card doesn't quite seem to know either. Ender decays into something of a pathetic and self-pitying figure who wanders about uttering platitudes and aphorisms. And the three more after that.

There's another trilogy coming. The Second Formic War" Tweet. Retrieved November 4, — via Twitter. The second trilogy is happening. Manuscript for book one is due in " Tweet. Retrieved April 21, — via Twitter. The next trilogy will continue Vico's story, as well as the others. Book one is written. Art by the incredible John Harris ift. Book five in the Ender's Game prequel series: I'm excited to share with everyone. June 11, from torbooks , a division of MacmillanUSA. What's the 'preferred' order of reading the Ender series? Retrieved 28 November An Ender Story Book Details".

Retrieved 8 March The Author Hour radio show. Shadows in Flight The Shadow Retrieved March 31, Archived from the original on June 3, Retrieved March 31, — via YouTube. The Authorized Ender Companion. Myers Archived May 12, , at the Wayback Machine.

Schmitt Archived May 12, , at the Wayback Machine. Works by Orson Scott Card. First Meetings A War of Gifts: An Ender Story Children of the Fleet Ender Wiggin Formics Jane.

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The Tales of Alvin Maker. The Tales of Alvin Maker comic book, Lovelock Rasputin TBA. Empire Hidden Empire Pathfinder Ruins Visitors Retrieved from " https: Card is superb at rendering character although Ender still eludes me , with considerable psychological insight. His writing is lucid and has the patina of believability, even when he discusses deep issues in genetics, ecology, physics and philosophy. I did find the denouement a bit contrived the deus ex machina of instantaneous travel via something called "Outer" space, a transcendent dimension.

Xenocide is book three in the Ender's Game quintet. Ender is in his sixties now, has a family and is a respected member of the community. He is still on the planet Lusitania and the perils that the Lusitanians were facing in book 2 Speaker for the Dead or SftD for short have intensified in Xenocide. Xenocide gave us some things that SftD didn't that made it better and a few things that made it worse.

Xenocide had more science fiction, more dire circumstances and less of Ender's infallibility. I did not like SftD and the way Xenocide started it seemed that I would equally dislike it. By the end of Xenocide I marginally appreciated it more than SftD. Xenocide has more science fiction than SftD, which is good Orson went too deep with the science fiction.

He started dabbling into concepts so far out there and so esoteric that it became cumbersome to read. Orson introduced us to the ansible instantaneous communications and relativistic speed traveling near light speed in Ender's Game. Both ideas were science fiction, but both concepts he sufficed with stating that not many knew how it worked, they just knew it worked. It was a perfectly acceptable explanation. Most of us don't know how our T. Well, in Xenocide he attempts to explain many science fiction theories and occurrences, some within the realm of possibility and some not so much so.

It was some of those scientific and philosophical conversations that lost me. Maybe that's an indication of my own weak intellect, but I prefer to think not. I toiled to keep up with talk of philotes, philotic connections, InSpace, OutSpace, and other concepts. All of the scientific talk was centered around rescuing Lusitania from it's dire situation. There was more drama and more conflict in Xenocide than there was in SftD which was a plus. But, again, there was too much. Ender and the Lusitanians were in an impossible situation.

Ender Series:

The Starways Fleet was coming with the M. Device which meant certain annihilation once it arrived. The Piggies wanted to leave the planet with the Descolada virus within them which meant certain annihilation for mankind. The scientists on Lusitania wanted to transform or kill the Descolada virus which would mean certain annihilation for the Piggies. Jane, the omnipresent computer program, was facing being discovered which meant certain annihilation for her.

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