Rating: 
Summary: Amazing
Review: This is as far as I have gotten in the series and by the end of this book I was stunned! Orson Scott Card is a brilliant writer! I just can't wait to read the next book!
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, but this doesn't even come close to Ender's Game...
Review: Let me start off by saying I LOVED 'Ender's Game'...with that said, I just did NOT like 'Speaker For The Dead'. It had a place here and there that had me interested in the story and all...but this story is SO DIFFERENT from 'Ender' that it almost seemed like it was written by someone else. I liked the Orson Card I read in 'Ender' but if his writing style is more like what I read in 'Speaker' I'll just stay away from the rest of his books. I hoped against hope that 'Xenocide' would redeemwhat I felt, but sorry to say, it didn't. Now IF you like these books, I am truly happy for you, however they just didn't do it for me (I don't know why, but I was just bored with them). I have high hopes for 'Ender's Shadow' but after 'Speaker' & 'Xenocide' I'll await for the paperback before I buy it. Again my apologies to fans of these books. I'm not a bad guy, I just didn't enjoy the books.
Rating:
Summary: Not Like "Ender's Game"
Review: I bought this book because I enjoyed "Ender's Game". Card actually said that he really wanted to write this book, "Speaker for the Dead", and only wrote "Ender's Game" to set up this story. Since I liked "Ender's Game" so much I thought this must be even better since the author liked this story so much more. The odd thing is I didn't like this book at all. I gave it two stars because I think that is fair, even though I personally didn't like most of the book. The story concentrates on a family living on a colony world where the inhabitants are Catholic and Portuguese. I was raised Catholic, but I am not particularly interested in Catholocism in my liturature. And as far as languages go, I'm more interested in German, Russian, or Japanese than Portugese or Spanish. Also on this world are a race of pig like intelligent aliens, whom I found to be a less than inspired creation. The idea of "speaking for the dead", that is telling the true life of someone who died, is interesting but not interesting enough to build a novel around. More like short story material, I'd say. I guess I just found everything in this book to be kind of dull. The story, the characters, the aliens, the 'desculada'. And most of the details, (catholic hierarchy, portuguese, disfunctinal families, etc.) happened to be things that I personally was not interested in. I will say that the writing is good, and easy to read. But there isn't really anything particularly great about this book, either as fiction or science fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Ender's Game? Possible...
Review: Reading a book like this one is like taking a shower after backpacking for an entire week. It just fits into the jigsaw puzzle of the mind making it intirely understandable and acknowledgeable, yet pushing you further into your thoughts than you'd have gotten on your own. Orson Scott Card has a philosophical mind that translates itself onto paper like second nature and Speaker for the Dead is a prime example of his talents. Once more Ender is challenged, but this time around he is old and wisened (though still young, but ignoring that...) and facing something completely different from his experience in Ender's Game. But wait, is it so very different as all that? Oddly enough, Ender finds himself again in the midst of a "new" species and soon must decide to either make the same mistake twice or come crashing down on a family's haphazardly repaired life. What is he to do? Though we may wonder with Ender's sister Valentine if Ender is getting in too deep, once more Ender seems the invicible figure that Ender's Game portrayed him as. This is my one complaint with the book. Card has made Ender into a god (hey, and he's practically immortal!). He is ultimately faultless and so beyond the words intelligience and wisdom that they would cower before his greatness. One might wonder if he himself is the fifth species to be discovered... Other than this, I find Speaker for the Dead to be a wonderfully penned, thought-provoking book with insights rarely paralleled in science fiction literature. In addition, the intrigue will hold you to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible Sequel to a Great Story
Review: I loved Ender's Game, I hated this book. It was long, drawn out and predictable. It lacks the humor found in parts of Ender's Game and the tension. The only common element is Ender, who seems to have grown older, more serious, and more depressed. I actually went back and re-read Ender's Game. Could this be the same author? Unfortunately yes. The style is so similiar it has to be written by the same person. But, when Mr. Card wrote this one, he seems to have forgetten the human element, the compasion, the soul, of the first book. I finished Speaker of the Dead constantly hopefully for something, somewhere in this book to justify the read. I never found it. I hope his other series is good. I am going to go to that next, instead of finishing this series.
Rating:
Summary: Week sequal to "Ender's Game"
Review: Card states in the introductions to the recent editions of both "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead" that Speaker was not originally meant to be a sequal and that he only rewrote his short story "Ender's Game" as a novel to set up the events of "Speaker." This was very encouraging because the biggest problem with sequels is that they are often forced: Writer's often produce pointless follow ups to cash in on a books success. Ironically, in spite of the fact that the idea of "Speaker" came independently of "Ender's," this book reads like a poor attempt cash in on the success of "Ender's Game" and set up the story in "Xenocide", while offering very little the the reader itself. To be fair, Card is a very good writer and his talent shows through often enough in individual scenes. But the story as a whole and many of the parts are unsatisfying. The two biggest flaws are Cards dependence upon the irrational actions of one of the books main characters, Novinha, to set the story in motion and keep it heading in the right direction, and the fact that much of the story centers around an unfolding mystery that alert readers should have solved by the end of chapter two. The answer to the mystery is locked away in a file by Novinha because she believes that this knowledge will lead to the deaths of whoever knows it. She even refuses to marry the man that she truly loves because as her husband he would have access to files that she had sealed. The book offers no rational explination as to why Novinha feals the way she does, and though she is a somewhat troubled character, their is no other indication in the book that she is completely irrational or insane. Making her decision to seal these files inconsistant with her character. But the reader won't have to wait until the end when the files are opened to figure out the incredible mystery that lies within is because the mystery isn't so hard to see and even if you can't figure it out immidiately (but you probable will) Card drops loads of hints along the way--however their is a small but interesting twist which isn't nearly as obvious as the bigger mystery. So people felt that Ender's Game had the same problem and that the surprise at the end was no surprise. I disagree, but I feel that if you figured out the twist in "Ender's" in advance it stil wouldn't ruin the story. But "Speaker" depends to much on the unfolding mystery aspect of the story and at times reads like an Agatha Christie novel. Which would be a good thing if Card hadn't spilled to beans so early. As it is this makes for a dull read. However as usual, Card's style is easy to read yet effective. If you loved Ender's game and want to read the sequel my advice is go ahead; it won't take very long and their are some nice touches. Aside from Novinha the character's are real and easy to connect to. I did not find the book to be either preachy or full of moralizing as some have complained. The book isn't a complete wasn't of time for fans of the first book, but don't expect it to be in anyway equal. And if you've weren't blown away by "Ender's Game" or have never read it then don't bother to read this one.
Rating:
Summary: Intelluctual, but just as good as the original.
Review: This book really makes me want Card to write The Hive Queen, The Life of Human, and The Hegemon. It would make the book much better, even though it already is an amazing book. That's the only bad part about it. It's not long enough. If it was 10,000 pages it would be to short. You never want this book to end. The story is just much too good. It provides a wonderful perspective on life. It's truly amazing.
Rating: 
Summary: Nowhere near as fast paced as the first.
Review: Once again, I would not put this novel in the sci-fi genre. It's an interesting study in human behavior intermixed with religious beliefs. The sci-fi aspect seems almost like an afterthought. I found this second one much too slow, with too much religion embedded into the story in fact. But my interest is still piqued enough to read the remainder of the series.
Rating:
Summary: Not an adventure story, but a story of humanity
Review: Unlike Enders War or Enders Shadow, this is not a combat adventure; it is about remorse and redemption. It is about respect for differences so different that you find them abhorent. It is about accepting things as they are and trying to make them better rather than giving up or feeling sorry for yourself. While the "Enders" books are ripe for teens, this book is for adults in that it is more thoughtful and more about preventing wrongful action as opposed to taking aggressive action.
Rating:
Summary: A correction to the Editorial Review
Review: The general contents of this book have been thoroughly commented upon by all other reviewers, and I agree with most of them on the virtues of Orson Scott Card's work. However, the Editorial Review incorrectly asserts that Lusitania is inhabited by Portuguese instead of Brazilian colonists; the very name "Lusitania" suggests this, so it's not the reviewer's fault. It's like calling the planet, say, "Britannia", which surprisingly is colonized by Americans, and read in the review that the colonists are British. Nothing to worry about too much, but it's annoying anyway. This and a few other discrepancies prevent me from rating the book 5 stars; in all other aspects it's quite entertaining.
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