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If like me you really enjoyed Ender's game beware: this book is quite different. I did not enjoy reading it, the attitude of the characters is infuriating and the author makes it seems as if the whole human race is made of idiots, except of course for Ender. A couple of intriguing concepts are introduced, but overall I was very disappointed.
The sequel to Ender's Game certainly doesn't disappoint. - I'll discard them. The answer to the mystery at the heart of the tale was telegraphed too early - - but perhaps this was necessary because it was a fairly complex bit of alien circumstance (for the time the book was written).As for the weird vibe - the author is a controversial figure.[.].There is a theory that Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are allegory for the life of Adolf Hitler that include 'tells' from that historical figure's biography - even into the speculative legends of his having survived to live on in Brazil and continue a legacy that his followers find compelling and honorable.
The author writes that he intended for the book to work on its own (whether or not the reader had read EG), and I am pretty sure it fails on that count, because so much of the hero's history (and that of auxiliary characters) is required knowledge.The structure is a little disjointed, and feels like something is slightly off. A controversial whistle was blown following the publication of Speaker - and is said by some to account for the long hiatus between Speaker and Xenocide, a very peculiar circumstance considering the acclaim, attention and awards heaped upon EG and SftD.Regardless of whatever odd goings-on did or did not spawn these books - I enjoyed them. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoyed EG.
There is even a theory that Card didn't actually write the books. This is distracting - and I feel that development of some of the main points of interest are sacrificed to this odd background noise (the introduction, development, and relevance/importance of the character Jane, for instance). This is a point I'll return to momentarily - - in the meantime, I'm rating it a 3 because I did like the book overall - and I was satisfied with the plot, pacing and resolution.
If, someday, it turns out that they were considered a surprise to spring on an accepting audience (ha ha - I made you like Hitler), or something darker (ripening a broad audience to be receptive to a neo-nazi renaissance). For now - I find the accusations more fascinating than compelling or dangerous, and can give a 3 star rating to the work itself without reservation.I also suggest that readers who enjoyed these check out the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.
I gave this book as a gift to someone. They were delighted and saif it was a great book.
With "Speaker for the Dead," I felt as if the main rule in storytelling had been broken, like Card was telling me and not showing me. Maybe that's why they prefer Speaker over Ender's Game. I mean, Ender's Game was action-packed, interesting, integrated with fascinating, forward-thinking technology, and driven by the motivation of complex characters. I'd heard from friends and strangers alike had that this sequel to "Ender's Game" was better than the original. Sorry to be a dissenter here, but the stakes have got to be higher, the enemy more menacing. They want sensitive, introspective characters who think and talk alot but accomplish very little.
In my opinion, there wasn't any excitement.I think a lot of readers must not want their heart rates to get too high; they want to be talked to for 382 pages.
He droned on and on and provided little action, little suspense.
Not some lame vision of a planet full of pacifistic pigs and humans warring with an enemy we never see, an enemy that never really puts any pressure on our protagonists.
I'd like to know what they based this evaluation on.
For me, I want action, conflict, action, death, danger, destruction, cool technology, and action again, with a sprinkling of real human emotion.
I'm surprised I even finished the book.
The only reason I did finish was I waiting to find out what all the excitement was about.
And the author's foreword and the pronunciation key shows that both Card and fans of the book take this snoozer of a story way too seriously.
or else I might as well turn to literature or romance, two genres from which the Hugo and Nebula Award judges must have been appointed.
There's Quim, who is devoted to the colony's rules and religion until his world is torn apart. Humans have expanded throughout a hundred worlds, founding colonies, like Lusitania, where much of this novel takes place, a world based in Catholicism. It's set many years in the future, thousands of years, in fact, after "Ender's Game," already a futuristic tale. One minor complaint might be that there's too many characters, yet it doesn't prevent attachments from being formed. It makes a lot of sense for a boy who grew up way too quickly in the first novel. And many more.
She's distant, even to her children, somewhat afraid to open her heart again. Also in need of personal redemption is Novinha, a new, rich character who keeps secrets from everybody surrounding the death of someone close to her.Card brings much depth to Novinha. She's stubborn, but she also has a great heart that makes her a little vulnerable.As Lustiana shares its planet with an alien race known as the pequeninos, Card also explores a culture clash theme. While on the surface it's about humans' contact with aliens, it could also be about any two cultures coming together and the misunderstandings that often surface. "Speaker for the Dead" -- the sequel to Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game," a science fiction novel about children being prepared for a great war with an alien race -- is the better of the two, perhaps because it is less of a children's story and appeals more to adults with deeper themes and characters who are more easily identified with.Card creates an imaginative universe in this series. Despite much depth, "Speaker for the Dead" winds up being a quick read.Much of what makes the book entertaining is its wonderful cast of characters. Ender's more mature, more layered here; he has an amazing ability to read and understand people even when relatively few words (or none at all) are spoken.
There's also Jane, an AI who has instant access to limitless knowledge, but who also develops a personality that she becomes one of the most human characters; she gets jealous and offended. There's Human, a pequenino whose name becomes fitting as he becomes more human than pequenino. Yet Card also addresses the question of: Can an advanced culture hurt a primitive one by introducing certain ideas and technology to them.And, while the novel covers such heavy academic ideas, readers don't have to be schooled in such topics to get enjoyment out of it. Each world has a government, but they're also governed as a whole, with strict rules, especially regarding potential alien species, based mainly on the elimination of the Buggers in the first book.There's themes of atonement, as Ender seeks redemption for being pivotal in bringing an end to the Buggers. Ela, who resents the fact that her mother doesn't see her talent, something she got from her mom.
Some xenophobia creeps in, as fear of the pequeninos develop from circumstances that take place, circumstances that may be beyond the understanding of human nature.But, deeper than that, runs the idea of hegemony, an elite culture ensuring its place at the top by limiting knowledge to those it deems inferior. There's still an engaging story here, of which not much will be said so as not to spoil it for anyone. There's Olhado, who doesn't have eyes but sees more than anyone with the most vivid memories. "Speaker for the Dead" is "Ender's Game" for adults, with a richer, more complex story; it's sci-fi with a heart and soul, and an exciting story to boot.
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