Ender Wiggin, the young military genius, discovers that a second alien war is inevitable and that he must dismiss his fears to make peace with humanity's strange new brothers.
Got me through a few days of monotony at Olduvai Gorge as the Tanzanian Government was trying to pull a fast one on us by halting excavation until our antiquities permits came through (they already had, months ago; it was just some fake drama drummed up by the Leakeys). Regardless, I remember being entertained.
Review of 'Speaker for the Dead (Ender, Book 2)' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I've got to be honest: I wasn't expecting much from this book. I'd read the first book and enjoyed it, but you expect a book about a kid fighting off aliens to have a sequel with the same type of idea. Wow, was I wrong. This turned out to be what my have been my favorite "second book in a series" ever. Speaker for the Dead brings huge new themes and topics into play; linguistics, biology, religion, and even the value of truth. It changes focus so drastically that I would almost describe it as switching genre. Speaker for the Dead isn't a story about fighting off aliens, it's a story about people and their motivations, why they went to kill the aliens and why they'd do it again, and the journey to accepting them as rational beings. I was so surprised and pleased by this that I was planning …
I've got to be honest: I wasn't expecting much from this book. I'd read the first book and enjoyed it, but you expect a book about a kid fighting off aliens to have a sequel with the same type of idea. Wow, was I wrong. This turned out to be what my have been my favorite "second book in a series" ever. Speaker for the Dead brings huge new themes and topics into play; linguistics, biology, religion, and even the value of truth. It changes focus so drastically that I would almost describe it as switching genre. Speaker for the Dead isn't a story about fighting off aliens, it's a story about people and their motivations, why they went to kill the aliens and why they'd do it again, and the journey to accepting them as rational beings. I was so surprised and pleased by this that I was planning to rate it four stars, the same as I had rated the first book, when I stumbled across a little snippet. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from some imaginary publication. Most were political commentaries, scientific reports, transcripts of conversations, or other such pieces relevant to the plot, and I enjoyed that. At a crucial point in the novel, though, it yielded a remarkable 400-word snippet from the imaginary "Letters to an Incipient Heretic." I won't spoil it for you, but those 400 words earned this book its fifth star. It was thought-provoking and put a well-known story under a different light I hadn't seen before.
To summarize, if you're looking for a book with battles against aliens like the first, this isn't it (although there seem to be signs that they might occur in later books). If you want a welcome break from all the expectations you have of sequels and to have a chance to look at everything from an entirely new perspective, this is the book for you.
Le cycle d’Ender est une saga que j’envisageais de lire depuis des années, avant même que la série soit achevée ! Voilà qui est chose quasi faite. La stratégie d’Ender, écrite en 1977 sous forme de nouvelle, développée en roman en 1985, marque le début d’une saga terminée, a priori, en 2010. [Vous pouvez lire la suite sur mon blog, merci :)]
A worthy continuation of Ender's journey. In a way it actually makes Ender's Game better in that it creates proper reason for him to continue living. A powerful thought to speak the lives of the dead, as they lived them. The books keeps you guessing in some ways and in others it is crystal clear and the characters in the book are the only ones guessing. I also loved the Portuguese bits here and there.
So who would I recommend this to? People who liked Ender's Game obviously (even though this book is dealing with completely different scenarios), people who like behavioural research and anthropology. People who like to ponder why we do things the way we do and what evolutionary needs made us the way we are,
Review of 'Speaker for the Dead (Ender, Book 2)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
"Speaker for the Dead" is about dealing with human emotions and impulses - hate, love, forgiveness, understanding - cleverly disguised as science fiction.
When I first read it, I was let down by the fact that it was not Ender's Game. There is none of the action, cunning, or "heroics" (for lack of a better word) that make Ender's Game such a fun read. However, I've found that I enjoyed it much more on this second re-reading. It might not be action packed, but I appreciate the "human" undertones of it.
This wasn't a story of Launchy's or dealing with destroying the Buggers, it had a very different approach while still being science fiction. It dealt with inner turmoil, focusing on love and guilt instead of squad formations learned in Battle School. What the story lacked in action and battles it made up for in describing an interesting world after the original Xenocide and the unique tension between the humans and residents on Lusitania.
Truthfully I am having a hard time reviewing this book. I enjoyed the book and didn't find things that put me off. I liked the story and the continuation of the Andrew Wiggin character, but I don't think it could compare to "Ender's Game" or "Ender's Shadow" in my opinion. This book is definitely a solid three stars, and would be worth reading after "Ender's Game".
TL;DR Good setting, good plot opportunities, most of which are kind of ruined by Ender being a superhero.
Read this a few years after reading Enders Game, because people telling me I really needed to read it. It was okay, but it falls into the trap that always seems to happen after a writer creates a Hero that has succeeded over their first big adversity. We always get this superman character that can do no wrong - in this case Ender.
It had some interesting problems, like the fractured family Ender comes to speak for, but this isn't really explored as they that all instantly love him, rather him having to work for it. He leaves his sister at the beginning then at the end she just calls him up as if he hasn't been away for half her life. Even the alien little ones, rather than having Ender struggle …
TL;DR Good setting, good plot opportunities, most of which are kind of ruined by Ender being a superhero.
Read this a few years after reading Enders Game, because people telling me I really needed to read it. It was okay, but it falls into the trap that always seems to happen after a writer creates a Hero that has succeeded over their first big adversity. We always get this superman character that can do no wrong - in this case Ender.
It had some interesting problems, like the fractured family Ender comes to speak for, but this isn't really explored as they that all instantly love him, rather him having to work for it. He leaves his sister at the beginning then at the end she just calls him up as if he hasn't been away for half her life. Even the alien little ones, rather than having Ender struggle to understand them, he instantly integrates into their society. Even have the possible exploration of the problems of love between an AI and Humans, with Ender and Jenny, reduces Jenny to a Deus Ex Machina.
On the other hand, the alien life cycles are quite interesting, the over-arching politics between the colony and the rest of the human populous are quite fun to see develop.