Xenocide

Rating:
Summary: the more "deep" book in the series
Review: The major complaint with this book is the long diatribes on ethics, politics, religion, and philosophy. If you get this book looking for the action and adventure of Ender's Game, you will need to read some other book.

I look at this book as a needed step in the series but not the best work overall.

Rating:
Summary: Only half the fun of it...
Review: This third Novel in the Enders Saga was perhaps the most long winded Philisophical Sci-fi I ave ever read. Don't get me wrong, it was a wonderful story, but it was also only obvious that Xenocide and Children of The Mind should have been one book. Yes, It would have been long, but The end of Xenocide left you with a sense of wanting so much! A worthwhile read, just don't read one without the other.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe one of the worst books I've ever read...
Review: ...and I say "maybe" because I asume that I'm jugding the book not on his own merits but comparing it with the other titles of Ender's series...

ENDER'S GAME was an amazing discovery first time I read it, and SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD made what I thought was impossible: surpass it. For me, it's no doubt the best book of the saga and one of the best books I've ever read, so I took his following, XENOCIDE, with plenty of excitement... and the deception was equally amazing. It's sooooo boring it took me about _two months_ to finish it... I think that should give you an idea.

Next book, CHILDREN OF THE MIND, is notably better (it took me "only" two weeks to read it!) but it's still too far from the two first titles.

Rating:
Summary: this is junky sci-fi
Review: I was looking for something for a very long plane flight that was light and fun, requiring no thought. This was perfect for that and I can scarcely remember what I read once I had finished it. It moved along, got complicated, then resolved.

It puzzles me why this is seen as classic sci-fi. In my opinion, it doesn't even come close, and underneath there are stereotypes, such as that Chinese are the smartest race, etc.

...

Rating:
Summary: Ender's story isn't over yet...
Review: Well, the author did warn us in the preface of Speaker for the Dead that Xenocide was going to be more philosophical and slow than his first two books of the Ender series. (Perhaps that's why this book didn't win the Hugo award that year.) The book's ending is set up for the fourth and last book in the series - The Children of the Mind. (The reviews I've read on it are less than positive.) This book deals with a wide range of issues such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, faster-than-light travel, interspecies tolerance, martyrdom, separation, etc. It's no wonder this book seemed long preachy.

Here's what I really think about this book. I hated the ending. It's a ... ploy for the reader to buy the fourth book. The rest of the book was so-so, a LOT of dialogue and positing. And since all of the technology presented in this book is fiction, it's highly incredulous.

Plotwise, nothing really exciting happens in this book. It picks off from where Speaker for the Dead left off. (It's like that movie Contact with Jodie Foster. Did she really travel to space or was she just [imagining it]?) The sources of conflict in this book are the same: the descolada, Lusitania fleet, Novinha's family, Valentine. I'll keep you posted on the last book. But I'm not getting my hopes up.

LEAP rating (each out of 5):
============================
L (Language) - 3 (blah blah blah)
E (Erotica) - 0 (n/a - sigh)
A (Action) - 0 (n/a - can you believe this?)
P (Plot) - 2 ("we need to figure out what to do with the descolada" <- pretty much sums up the story)

Rating:
Summary: Problems on Problems, Good 'till the very end.
Review: Orsin Scott Card has a way of zooming in on all the details at once, making everything crystal clear, while still holding the element of surprise.

There are twists and turns throughout the entire book, it feels that the answer is in the back of your head, and yet the conclusion is spectacualr, making you say, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Qing-Jao is a brillant mind, and although she has the ability to come up with intelligent conclusions, she has a tendancy to use the gods to explain the things that she doesn't understand, and again to make the things that others disagreed on sway in their favor. it is up to Jane, the self aware computer to show her the light. Leave it to Orsin to weave a web of confusion and ethical problems.

Great book, the best one yet!

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat disappointing
Review: The resolution of the problems in the book are only slightly more satisfying than "then he woke up and found it was all a dream!" While it did offer interesting philosophical views and detailed characters, it felt like Card switched gears and decided on new plot directions arbitrarily (particularly in the Qing-jao/Wang-mu plotline). The final solution that Grego and Olhando devise is a real groaner.

I liked Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, but now I'm not sure if I want to keep going through the rest of the Ender books.

Rating:
Summary: Understanding the Other, philosophy; typical Card
Review: The major theme of this novel, as well as Card's previous work is concerned with understanding the Other (i.e. in this case, different alien races). The characters struggle mightily with the fact that there are several alien races that may be capable of destroying mankind. The idea that makes Card's works different is that individual people, not even Government, decide if the other species should be destroyed. There is strife; not all of the people agree on what action should be taken.

My problem with the novel is that there are two streams of narrative that do not fit together until about midway through the novel. One of the streams of narrative involves the characters from "Speaker for the Dead," while the other involves the Chinese on a planet called the Path. The Path has a strange religious tradition that fuses different Chinese religions (e.g. Taoism, folk religion etc...) with a caste system. The caste system consists of the god-spoken (those who hear/feel the voice of the Gods) and the vast majority of the population who do not. The explanation of this was quite inventive, but I don't want to give away all the details.

There is also a strange current of philosophy combined with highly speculative philosophy. I am inclined to view any such combination with skepticism, yet Card's presentation of it was decent. The discussion of free will was somewhat frustrating, but I suppose one must be grateful that these sorts of topics are present. Too much science fiction has no intellectual content; merely action and flashy aliens.

Also, Card does a very good job at avoiding a trap that plagues the science fiction genre, namely characterization. Building on what he wrote in "Speaker for the Dead," Card paints an portrait of a family that it is deeply divided and, ripped by rivalries. Card's characterization of one family made "Speaker of the Dead" stand out. As Card himself said in his introduction to "Speaker for the Dead," the idea of a family is rarely portrayed in science fiction; it is all to often a lone adventurer, cut off from all family connections. This fact makes Card's work all the more plausible. Simply having plausible science (his writing is somewhat lacking in that respect) alone is not enough to make a story believable and enjoyable; the reader has to be able to care about and, to some extent, get involved with the different characters.

Comparing this novel to the previous ones, (I have reviewed both, "Ender's Game," and, "Speaker for the Dead"), I think that "Speaker for the Dead," is the best novel in the series. Granted, I have yet to read, "Children of the Mind," which concludes the original Ender Saga. I have also not read the two novels that take place in the same time period as "Ender's Game," namely, "Ender's Shadow" and "Shadow of the Hegemon."

Rating:
Summary: The power of myth
Review: First off, "Xenocide" is many things besides a character study on the power of myth. It is a worthy contribution to the "Ender's Game" series, an insightful analysis of inter-personal relationships, a study in ultimate values, a discussion of free will on a number of levels (e.g., Ela's decision to alter the descolada, Grego's mathematical analysis of matter, energy and substance, Jane's decision to risk her life for humane values, Quim's decision to preach the gospel in a perilous place, Planter's decision to sacrifice his physical life for his mental freedom and for his brothers) and most importantly, a really enjoyable read. It's my favorite book by Card. But at this particular stage in history, I am most interested in the book for its study of the power of myth, and to a lesser extent, the power of ritual.

In "Speaker For the Dead" Andrew says at one point: "We question everything except for that which we truly believe." In "Xenocide," Card takes that concept and runs with it to the finish line. Qing-jao, the teenage genius on the planet Path, has been bombarded with duty and talk of the Gods ever since her birth. When offered the choice of a posteriori knowledge of corruption of her masters and inherent goodness of her supposed enemies on the one hand, and her a priori knowledge of the Gods and the ancestors on the other, she makes the decision for her Gods, false though they are.

Reinforcing Qing-jao's belief are her OCD rituals of woodgrain tracing and hand washing. Unquestioned in her mind through most of the book is the causal link between the Gods and the obsessive-compulsive disorder. Yet even when the causality is exposed as a human, and not divine, device, she chooses the false path.

What caused Qing-jao to turn her back on reason, on her father, on common sense and her own humanity? Card posits that it is a constant cultural bombardment, a specific intellectual arrogance and the general arrogance of youth, with her OCD rituals functioning as a reinforcing mechanism. I think he's right....

Rating:
Summary: Xenocide, or why we do what we do
Review: I'm not really sure why Card called this book Xenocide. It sounds like the worst-of-the-worst Sci-Fi trash books. What this novel does, I feel, is take the themes alluded to in Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead and absolutely elevates them to a high philosophical debate.

Card, more than aptly, discusses: Sentient life, the human soul, genetic makeup vs. destiny, martyrdom, catholicism, and finally, and most poignantly, personal dichotomy. Ender, unlike his angelic sibling Valentine and his satanic brother Peter, is made up of a dual nature - like anyone. Card's none-too-subtle journey to the heart of this issue makes an utterly fascinating and insightful read.