Speaker For The Dead

“Even the most evil of men and women, if you understand their hearts, had some generous act that redeems them, at least a little, from their sins.”.”

Overview

“Speaker For The Dead” is a sequel to “Ender’s Game” that follows Ender 3000 years in the future. “Ender Wiggin the Xenocide” and “Speaker for the Dead” are his two titles. One is known for the Xenocide of the buggers and the other is know for pointing out the tragedy of the buggers as they actually meant us no harm. People do not realize that they are the same people and most believe both long dead. A new species is now discovered and Ender must travel to their world to discover why they have killed a human and do his best to prevent another Xenocide.

Pros

Refrences “Ender’s Game” and it evokes nostalgia and gives more gravity to the story as a whole. It’s interesting seeing a “Hero” now being remembered as one of the most evil people in history. Makes you want to root for Ender. Hello Thereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Fun Sci-fi novel that brings in an alien species with a different way of living. You learn about an alien species that is really alien in all things. Miscommunication between the humans and the new species is interesting to see and often entertaining. Helo There

Covers topics on who deserves redemption and if there is redeeming qualities in evil men. How should you treat others if they are a different “species” and what compromises should you make.

Cons

Ender is a Mary Sue. He comes in and people swoon over him and wins them over within a few pages or so. All of his choices seem to remedy the situation at hand. It felt like you should be reading about how Ender learned from the mistake regarding the buggers but it reads like he has already learned all the mistakes.

Things are told rather than shown. A lot of internal monologue that explains the characters feelings and their reasoning. The author is not subtle on his views and the characters feel like a mouth piece for his views rather than actual characters.

Ending felt anti climatic. There is never a real antagonist so things wrap up rather smoothly if not a bit dully. It does not motivate you to read the next book even though it sets itself up for one.

Should You Read It?

This is the book Orson Scott Card wanted to write and considers it better than “Ender’s Game” The books are far different from each other but this might actually be a disappointment after reading the first book in the series. It felt that way to me. It has an interesting premis and covers some cool thermes but overall it’s just alright.