Rating: 
Summary: The Religion of Pain
Review: When you have been betrayed by humanity as a precocious child, as Ender was in the first book of this series, Ender's Game, what do you do?As an adult, you discover and/or invent a religion that will elevate humanity above itself. In this case, through the medium of pain. Whether you are a religious person or not [I happen not to be, but that doesn't mean I don't see religion's power and value], you cannot help but be moved by Ender's dilemma in Speaker for the Dead. Just as the Navajo have no word in their language for 'religion,' because what we think of as their religion is simply an integral and irremovable part of their whole culture, so the Pequeninos on Ender's new planet have a cultural tradition which is 'merely' an intergral part of their whole life cycle. To humans, it seems barbaric in its pain and in its focus on death, but to them it is the sole way to metamorph into the next natural and inevitable stage of their existence. As a supposedly objective human observer, what should Ender do? You may well ask. The moment when Ender discovers the true nature of the Pequeninos' metamorphosis is the most [literally] gutwrenching moment I have ever experienced as a reader. For Card, himself a member of a religious denomination that seems sometimes barbaric to outsiders [LDS], the dilemma provides the perfect metaphor for humanity's relationship to its chosen beliefs. This is of course the raw wound at the heart of all of Card's fiction-- it only seemed to disappear for a moment in Ender's Game, until we could look back at it from here-- and as always the author makes a very convincing argument that religion, particularly his, is vital to humanity's survival. Whether you buy the argument or not, it is impossible not to be moved by the dilemma. Awards are funny things. How many times has the Best Motion Picture 'Oscar' gone to the actual best picture?!? Five or six times ever, maybe? But here's a case where the awards called it right. 'Ender's Game' and 'Speaker for the Dead' are the ONLY two science fiction novels to win both the Hugo and the Nebula awards for the same author in two back-to-back years. Ever. When you read them, you'll know why.
Rating:
Summary: Do you destroy yourself or the person you love?
Review:
This is the book where Orson Scott Card's talents really shine through. No one does emotional/ethical dilemmas like Card.
The storyline: Ender Wiggin has become publicly known as The Speaker for the Dead - a new identity he created, after he is viewed as committing genocide against an entire alien race, after the end of the Bugger wars. Even though he saved the entire human race from certain destruction, the revisionist history makers have turned public opinion against him. The Speaker for the Dead offers his services on the interstellar communication network. Ender travels from planet to planet using lightspeed travel, which keeps him physically young but a tremendous amount of time occurs on earth, so most people assume Ender Wiggin is dead by now.
The story takes place on the planet Lusitania, where a alien race called the pequeninos is being studied. When one of the scientists studing this alien race has been killed in a ritual ceremony, the widow requests the services of The Speaker for the Dead. The idea is that a Speaker for the Dead comes and lives with the family of the deceased for about a year and goes to work were the person worked. The Speaker interviews all the co-workers, friends, teachers, and relatives of the deceased - anyone that knew the person. After about a year or a year and a half, a second funeral is held. All the community gathers together to hear the Speaker tell of the persons deepest hopes, fears,and aspirations. The Speaker tries to explain what drove the person to do what they did, with complete candor and total honesty. All the persons secrets are laid bare before everyone. The core idea is that we are a different person around different people. You talk and act very differently around your grandmother than a person does with their beer drinking buddies. You act different around your lover than you do around your friends. In essence, we have so many facets to who we are that no one person ever sees them all and truely knows who we are.
What make this book a facinating read is this: there is a small community of only around 150 humans studying this alien race. The entire planet is under quarantine. There is a degenerative virus that is highly contagious - a vacine has been created that slows the progress of the disease down to a crawl - it will take 10 years to kill you instead of a few weeks - but there still is no cure. So once you go down you don't come back -a blockade of battleships ensures this. The humans are confined to a fenced off area of about 2 square miles - this is all the area the humans have been given so that contact with the pequeninos is extremely limited - so their culture is not contaminated by the human presence. Only a small handful of scientists are allowed to make direct contact and study the pequeninos.
Ender falls in love with the widow of the man he has came to be Speaker of the Dead for. Ender discovers a terrible secret that will destroy the woman he loves and deeply hurt her children. So the dilemma that Ender has is this: Do you destroy yourself or the person you love? Ender is such a person of incredible integrity that he values the truth above all else. If he reveals the dark secret he has discovered it will severely damage the two two main groups of scientists working on the project - including the woman and her children who he has grown to deeply love. But if Ender didn't reveal the secret would betray his most deeply held values. It would be denying how he has defined his very core being from the beginning - he would have to throw out the essence of himself - because he could not live with the inner conflict.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: It's upsetting to see people disappointed with this book because it doesn't compare to Ender's Game. That's true, but Ender's Game is in a league of its own, easily my favorite book of all time. This book was also fantastic for different reasons. This and subsequent sequels focus on an adult Ender who is no longer young and vulnerable, but now matured and wise. They set forth some intriguing scientific ideas that make readers think. No, there isn't a cute lovable boy to save the world, but there's a brilliant grown man, a captivating community, and an interesting future universe. If you are expecting Ender's Game, then you are setting yourself up for disappointment. But without using Ender's Game as the standard, this book is a wonderful introduction to the world three thousand years in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Another creative masterpiece by Orson Scott Card
Review: Dustin from G.A. December 11, 2000 Brookwood School The Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card was a must read. The Book was a nonstop thriller. The Story was Complex and not only told of the present but the remnants of Ender's Game. It has been three thousand years since the events of the first game. Ender, who is about twenty-six, has been traveling from planet to planet using light speed travel. Valentine, having not aged, she has tagged along as well. Having received a call for a speaker for the dead, Andrew Wiggin takes the call. He buys a ship and speeds off at the planet, which will take twenty years to get to or like seven days with light speed travel. Upon arriving the speaker for the dead is not welcomed at all, and most of the citizens of the planet reject his presence. Two Scientists have died studying the new species; Andrew is here to speak those deaths. Not wanting to say too much, I leave you with this. Andrew has returned as Ender the Xenocide and The Original Speaker for the Dead. Turning Ender upside down and sideways, this is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: A Surprising "Sequel" to Ender's Game
Review: I read Ender's Game about 3 years ago and thought it was a good read, but not remarkable. I am a science fiction fan, but alas, I find that I read sci-fi because, given the quality of a lot of the books out there, it is often an exercise in "escapism" from reading more "serious" books. I regret to say that Ender's Game was not quite so bad as that, yet not a book that challenged me to think very hard. Not so for Speaker of the Dead. Card uses Ender's Game as a backdrop to a captivating novel that explores issues of guilt, love, relationships, and suggests possible modes of interaction between humans and a theoretical alien species. In writing a "futurist" book, Card ingeniously touches on colonialism, religious power and cultural, if not physical, genocide - themes that are historic in the human story. This creative novel turns Ender's Game upside down and surprisingly makes Ender the cultural bad guy after his heroic victory at the end of Ender's Game. Yet it is entirely believable that Ender would be viewed as a monster rather than a hero, once given sufficient time for people to think about it and look at it from a different perspective. And Ender Wiggins must endure hatred as he attempts to redeem himself through the enigmatic piggies. Amidst this complex plot, Card is also able to weave a mystery surrounding the piggies that makes the reader want to read right to the very end. And so, this is where science fiction should be. It is science fiction at its best and so rare in this genre. I like it when I need to use my brain and I resolve to read more of Card's novels. Read and Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Better than "Ender's Game," but also different
Review: After reading "Ender's Game" in one afternoon, I fell in love with OSC, and quickly began reading "Speaker for the Dead." I admit the first few chapters let me down a bit. I had lived as Ender and Valentine and I expected them to quickly appear; this was a sequel, wasn't it? Unfamiliar characters such as Pipo, Libo, and Novinha bored and confused me. I skimmed until I found Ender on Trondheim, still haunted by his childhood. From then on, I was hooked, and when Ender reached Lusitania, I discovered the people weren't boring at all; they became real. The plot of "Speaker" is fairly simple. The native pequininos on Lusitania are the only sentient species found in the thousands of years since "Ender's Game." For no apparent reason, they kill two human scientists, eerily echoing humanity's violent first contact with the Buggers. Ender arrives on Lusitania, where, with the help of Jane (a sentient computer program) he tries to understand the pequininos, Novinha's family, and the community of Milagre. "Ender's Game" was an adventure story about a brilliant child, made sympathetic by his isolation and empathy. "Speaker" is a much more complex novel, which deals with family, community, religion, truth, and the nature of humanity; its characters and ideas are as important as the plot, if not more so. Those who loved "Ender's Game" for its action and boy-against-the-world theme may not like "Speaker." However, those who loved "Ender's Game" as much for its characters and ideas as its plot will find "Speaker" incredibly rewarding. The first time I read "Speaker," I was thirteen. While I liked the book, I missed the faster pace of "Ender's Game." However, over the years, I have come to love "Speaker," opening chapters and all, more than the other books in this series. My one quibble is the conclusion; though tonally perfect, it leaves enough loose ends to fill....two more books! "Speaker" belongs to the special group of books, science fiction and otherwise, that treat religious and ethical issues seriously. Whether or not you agree with OSC's conclusions (or completely believe Ender's Speaking for Marcos could occur in our universe) the book raises important questions within a moving story about characters with real problems. It also recognizes that people have families, cultures, and other community ties. To summarize, "Speaker for the Dead" is a wonderful novel that uses believable characters to raise questions about human existence. Like "Ender's Game," it explores alienation and misunderstanding, but it is a richer and slower book, and in my opinion, better. (If you like "Speaker," I highly recommend OSC's "Hart's Hope," a fantasy with similar themes. I also recommend anything by Ursula K. Le Guin.)
Rating:
Summary: Like Fruit in Your Cereal
Review: Speaker for the Dead (the first sequel to Ender's Game) rolls up the entire plot of the first novel and tosses it in the trashcan. Ender's game was based on descriptive, fast-paced action. It was a good novel and had a fine plot, but like most sequels to action films, the same thing wasn't likely to work again. To the shock of all, our main-man Ender retires from his career in the military and takes up religion. He becomes a Speaker for the Dead. He goes to funerals and basically gives a biography (to be interpreted by those who attend) for the person who has died. Ender is requested to speak the death of a man on the planet Lusitania, the only other planet known that contains a second intelligent species- the Pequeninos, and with them, a virus deadly to humans, but as essential as air to the Pequeninos. Ender meets the Ribiera family, the family that called for him. He goes about his business, finding facts needed for him to speak the death. But the town is keeping things from him. Using his cool temper, placid tone of voice, and kind personality, he breaks the secrets held by the Ribieras and tries to bring the family back together after decades of hatred while gathering information for the speaking. On top of this, the pequeninos (also called "piggies") have been killing the scientists observing them. The piggies are still in their caveman days of evolution and want all the technological advances humans have. But government ruling won't permit this, stating that the piggies need to evolve on their own. While some scientists are trying to find the reasons for the killings, others are unsure as to whether they should help the piggies or follow the government's ruling. Both Ender and the situation with the pequeninos contribute fairly to the plot with neither overpowering the other. This book provides a new angle to the man once though of as only a military celebrity and adds different elements for the continued success of the stories. It is an excellent continuation of the Ender series, giving the reader a new, refreshing, but different taste.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational
Review: People who read these books don't just like them, they love them. Andrew Wiggen has rapidly become one of the best-beloved characters in the history of science fiction. Card (the author) is indeed gifted among writers.
Rating: 
Summary: The best of the bunch...
Review: Orson Scott Card is both a religious and philosophical man, and he is definitely not afraid to help himself to those areas when writing his novels. This "sequel" to Ender's Game is arguably the best book in the series, incorporating more advanced elements of drama and tragedy than in Ender's Game. It also comes with a healthy dose of religious and philosophical debate, or as some would put it, debacle. I am strongly atheist yet I did not find his usage of religion at all distasteful. He approaches the subject intelligently, objectively, and passionately. And the sometimes meaningless philosophy dialogues only add to the special tangy flavor that is Orson Scott Card. If you read it to enjoy it, you'll love it. Read it to finish it and you'll like it. Read it to find fault with it, and you'll of course end up hating the thing.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: My review of this book is probably influenced by the fact that Orson Scott Card is my favorite writer, and I like anything that he writes. However, 'Speaker for the Dead' is truly a worthy succesor to 'Ender's Game'. If you liked 'Ender's Game', you'll almost certainly like 'Speaker for the Dead'. 'Speaker for the Dead' lacks the emotional connection that one has when reading 'Ender's Game'. But the words on the pages are well written and the story is very interesting. Card is truly a master of science-fiction, and the 'Ender's Game' saga is undoubtebly one of the best series' ever written, and rivals such great works as 'Dune'. If you like science-fiction, read 'Ender's Game' and then read 'Speaker for the Dead'. You won't be disappointed.
| 
