This book is in all ways, barring one, superior.

This book reminds me of Ursula LeGuin at her best, and I do not invoke her name lightly. She is one of the few sci-fi authors who understands something of anthropology and, more importantly, the human condition. Card in this one books has levelled with her.

Ender is a far richer and deeper character in this book than he was in Ender's Game. Here he is having to live with his own guilt and the positive and negative aspects of his own legend. He has inspired a cult of sorts, the Speakers of the Dead, people who speak not well of the dead, but realistically. How does one live with such a legacy?

The Piggies are intrinsicly fascinating. They are not small humans. They are not just randomly acting individuals. They act in a consistent, rational manner -- once you know all the peices of the puzzle. Most of these peices are not revealed except with time. Jane is also fascinating. "She" acts in a logical manner as well, but again it is not a HUMAN manner. The Hive Queen is very real and, again, not human. There is a delicate balance inherent in this book.

This book is far superior to Ender's Game, a book which is one of those rare sci-fi novels that I have read twice. It speaks to the core of humanity within us all, it speaks to our fears, our dreams, our hatreds, our prejudices, our nobility, our failings, and our longings. It is not a shoot-em-up. This book is literature, not science fiction. It may be read again with profit. It is not a book about plot and action (thank all the powers!). It is a book about being humnan.

I put a reservation in here, one way in which the book does NOT match Ender's Game. The ending of this book is abrupt and calls out for a sequel. This is quite sad. Ender's Game stands on its own; Speaker for the Dead calls out for a conclusion. Aside from that, this is a superlative book. No, not for everyone; name me a book that is for everyone. But in the end, an intelligent reader will gain much from reading Speaker for the Dead.


A landmark of sci-fi and humanism   July 1, 2000
 52 out of 57 found this review helpful

As he tells us in the introduction (which is, by the way, the best introduction I've ever read), this is the book Card intended to write when he began the ever-popular Ender series. Ender's Game was simply a prologue -- originally a short story.

There are so many good things about this book. Card has a talent for writing deep, real characters that I've never seen in sci-fi and seldom in any modern literature. He is a master storyteller, and this book is wonderfully paced -- you will continually be twisting your brain trying to uncover what is up with the pequeninos before the scientists do.

But most of all, this book is a eloquent manifesto of humanism. As Speaker for the Dead, it is our hero Ender's lifelong task to understand people and tell the truth about them -- a truth that will reveal their good, bad, and ugly, but most importantly, their inherent worth and um, goodness. This truth-seeking carries from the individual to the entire races, as Card (and Ender) examine how we relate to those we don't understand, even those we can't understand.

So what is it? It's a page-turner, crazy idea-filled(as all sci-fi should be) thrilling, thoughtful, powerful, funny, poignant novel. It is an excellent piece of writing that I would love to see taught in high school classrooms.

My only problems with it are that terrible cover(who designed these covers? They have nothing to do with the story -- not even the tone of the story) and the sometimes indecipherable use of portuguese. But those are both minor.

An excerpt:

"We know you now. That makes all the difference, doesn't it? Even Quim doesn't hate you now. When you really know somebody, you can't hate them." "Or maybe it's just that you can't really know them until you stop hating them." "Is that a circular paradox? Dom Cristao says that most truth can be only expressed in circular paradoxes." "I don't think it has anything to do with truth, Olhado. It's just cause and effect. We can never sort them out. Science refuses to admit any cause except first cause-- knock down one domino, the one next to it also falls. But when it comes to human beings, the only type of cause that matters is final cause, the purpose. What a person had in mind. Once you understand what people really want, you can't hate them anymore. You can fear them, but you can't hate them, because you can always find the same desires in your own heart."

If you'd like to discuss this novel, e-mail me at krischwe@whitman.edu


Different than Ender's Game, but better   January 26, 1999
 31 out of 36 found this review helpful

Speaker for the Dead is not meant for hard core sci-fi readers. They might find it boring, as I did when I first tried reading it as a 12 year old who only wanted to read something like Star Wars.

As I got older, though and I began understanding exactly what Speaker for the Dead was about, it quickly became one of my favorite novels, and now I have to say only Les Miserables beats it on my all-time great novels list.

The novel deals with complex issues such as racism, discrimination, guilt, redemption, compassion, understanding, and the power of truth. Thankfully the book doesn't preach, but it simply show what happens in a clear and straight foreward way, and then it allows the reader to make his or her own conclusions.

Card allows us to understand the conflicting emotions and desires of the characters extremely well, which helps the reader gain interest in the plot and the lives of the characters. I was impressed with how Card was able to develop so many characters so well and deeply, that they felt more like people than characters in a novel. I felt like I understood Ender, Valentine, Ela, Miro, and Novinha. I was also impressed with how much I felt I understood Pipo, Libo, and Marcao, who appear in the book either very shortly or not at all.

The novel forced me to deeply think about my own attitudes about the various themes in the story very closely, and it even inspired me to change the way I thought about many issues the book presents. The alien pequeninos were masterfully devleloped as both an alien race, but also a race that is remarkably human.

The symbolism was obvious, which is how I feel symbolism should be. I don't like playing the deep overdisection of a novel game so many of my former English teachers felt were necessary. Speaker doesn't demand nor inspire that. It simply tells the story in a clear manner, and lets the reader understand what is going on beneath the black and white.

If you like fast paced shoot em up sci-fi space operas, I would not recommend Speaker to you. But if you like a well thought out, well developed novel with rich characterization and a thought provoking story, Speaker for the Dead is a great novel to read. If you don't like sci-fi because the characters are often too flat, and the plot line excessively fast paced, without inspiring any thought on the reader's part, Speaker for the Dead is also highly recommended to you. I have always felt it had much more in common with Les Miz, Great Expectations, Scarlet Letter, and Shakespeare, than traditional science fiction.

But make sure you read Ender's Game first (also a fantastic novel that is more traditional sci-fi, but still very enjoyable to those who don't).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED--but only if thinking too much doesn't give you a headache.


Ender's Game? No. Impressive? Definitely.   April 25, 2000
 30 out of 30 found this review helpful

I went through various stages of opinion while reading this book... First was, "Hey- why is this nothing like Ender's Game? Drats!" Then, "What is with all this Portuguese stuff, and religious garbage?" and "Why is Ender some kind of space-detective?" And so I began trudging through this book with a lack of enthusiasm. Then slowly but steadily, this story pulls you in. You don't mind the lack of Game's glorious action. This is a very mature piece.

I doubt that anyone will be able to read Ender's Game and stop there. You want more. Speaker for the Dead is where you have to go. I find it extremely hard to consider this a sequel, because never have I seen an author switch his style this drastically within one series. Card forces you to accept all of his changes, but those who adapt to this book are highly rewarded! I found myself involved with Card's characters quite alarmingly, and touched by his themes on so many levels.

One thing that really impressed me- Card takes our first intelligent contact with aliens and compares it with 16th century European explorers encountering the natives of South America. It shows the barriers of language, technology, religion, and misunderstandings -as well as mankind's need to control or dominate any new race it meets. This book is like a history lesson that teaches us not to make the same mistakes when we reach this point of our future. Very interesting.

There is no doubt I will be continuing this series.


Body Organs On The Ground   March 18, 2000
 24 out of 33 found this review helpful

"Relentlessly, Jane showed the opening of the chest cavity, the ritual removal and placement of body organs on the ground. Ender forced himself to watch, trying to understand what meaning this could possibly have to the pequeninos."--Page 58, Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card.

I hate sci-fi books. They have always bored me. Then I read Ender's Game and loved it. I couldn't put it down. The beginning of the story with a happy group of scientists studying a new race called pequeninos. Then one is killed by the pequeninos.

Ender came to the colony of this event and discovers why this happened. He discovered everything- the secrets of the pequeninos and their intentions, the truth behind the seemingly happy people of the colony. He also revealed to the pequeninos and the people about himself.

It may sound like one of those typical 1)Problem 2)Hero 3)Problem Solved books, but it's more than that. You feel the understanding and pain of Ender, and the pain and hardships of the secrets that are kept for decades.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It would help to read Ender's Game first, which is even better. Both books are a link into the human mind. In short, READ IT!