Rating: 
Summary: Ender's saga comes full circle marvelously in "COTM"
Review: The people I know who've read the book seem rather split; some felt it was rushed or contrived, while others felt it was a spectacular payoff with many welcome, unexpected twists. Count me part of the latter group.
CHILDREN OF THE MIND successfully marries the breakneck pace of the original Ender novel with the slower, more developed storytelling of SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD and XENOCIDE. I felt Card rather ingeniously connected many (if not all) of the loose threads in ways not only unexpected but clever (and I surmise he'd had the threads sorted out all along). All characters achieved satisfying closure, and it featured some of the more inventive action sequences I'd read in some time. Ignore the naysayers and dive in. A fine read.
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Summary: Xenocide's Afterbirth
Review: Having deeply enjoyed the Ender series, I approached this book with interest, especially given the cliffhanger ending of Xenocide.What a disappointment. This book should have been compressed with Xenocide into a single volume. The effort to stretch 100 pages of narrative to 350 pages of novel drains the spirit. It it frequenty talky, preachy and repititive and not in a good way. There are frequent conversations between characters that are almost jarring. I find myself asking, "Does anyone talk like that? Do people sit around and psychoanalyze each other?"
There's also the problem where the fascination with eastern cultures that appeared in Xenocide (and was good in it) goes to an annoying extreme, with pretentious ruminations on Japanese and Samoan culture. The book isn't terrible. It has some good parts. There ARE some fascinating ideas, even if they are plowed over too often. The resolution of the various plot threads is enjoyable. And you should read it if you've gotten this far. But a huge amount of fat could have been trimmed away. Prepare to spend quite a while reading this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Card went too far
Review: Orson Scott Card went too far with this one. I felt he was pulling at strings to tie all of his books and the universe together in a cohesive work. He spun a web and got caught in it. Ok, no more metaphors. This book is the conclusion of Ender Wiggin, with his final acts and battles. This book gathers many of the characters from his previous books, and attempts to solve all of the universes problems through the acts of a few incredibly bright, isolated, tortured, souls. With a convenient, all knowing, almost all powerful being to help out, it's no surprise that our protagonists succeed in their tasks. It's a must read if you're a fan of Card, but far below the quality of the previous books in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Children of the mind is the best book ever
Review: Children of the mind is the fourth of a fantastic series called the Ender series. This series is also paralleled by another fantastic series both written by Orson Scott Card. Children of the mind is placed in the future where there are starships that can almost paralell the speed of light. This book is great because it shows us what dangers could come if we learn how to explore space and find another sentinent species. It shows us how mean the human race can be when the alien species reflects thier behavior back at them. Children of the mind a very good book to end the ender series.
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Summary: Enrapturing
Review: Many argue that the Ender/Shadow series are not to be considered "hard" science-- and that may be true, but I think that these "soft" sciences are certainly worth reading. For people who aren't much for science fiction novels, the Ender series is definitely worth a read. Children of the Mind deals with the speed of light, while not going overboard with boring details (sorry for the people who apparently DON'T think it's boring ^_^;;), and he kept us reading with the romances of Peter and Wang-mu (my favorite ^_^) and Miro and Val/Jane (i was extremely ANGRY when Jane overpowered Val-- I prefer Val over Jane and was disappointed that Mr Card thought different). Anywayz, the story is fun and should be read by fans. ^_^
Rating:
Summary: Almost as Good
Review: Ender's Game will forever be the king of this series, the best there is to offer. Nevertheless, this book holds its own against the heavyweight competiton.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Aftet the first three books in the Ender series, this book was simply a disappointment. It does not come close to living up to the standard set by those three books. I wish the series had ended with Xenocide, as this book is not worthy of the series, and Xenocide did not really leave more than one point that really needed to be resolved. That should have been done in the Xenocide, and we would not have had to suffer through this book. The manner in which the author brings back Peter and Valentine in this book, as well as the explanation of instantaneous travel through the stars just make the whole thing ridiculous. I gave this three stars only because of the characters involved and the story begun in better books. If you've read the other books in the series, you'll probably want to read this for closure, but prepare to be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfactory, if disappointing, conclusion
Review: It would be fair to say that this review of "Children of the Mind" encompasses the final portion of its predecessor, "Xenocide", as well. "Children of the Mind" is the final episode in the 4-book Ender's 'Quartet' that began with "Ender's Game" (though, it's not he final book in the Ender's series. There a additional books to tell more about this universe from alternate points of view). For the most part this four part 'magnum opus' by author Orson Scott Card is a fabulous science-fiction/personal drama saga. The legendary book "Ender's Game" more than lived up to the hype and was a winner of the two most prestigious science-fiction writing awards: Hugo and Nebula Awards. It's sequel, "Speaker for the Dead", was a dramatically different, but equally affecting continuation of the story of Ender Wiggin. It, too, won the Hugo and Nebula Awards. The third story in this cycle, "Xenocide", was closer in tone to "Speaker..." and dealt the consequences of the actions taken in "Speaker...". For most of the book "Xenocide" was as compelling as "Speaker..." and seemed to be driving towards an exhilarating conclusion. Unfortunately, Card took a dramatically unexpected turn in attempting to resolve the issues. On the very surface, it seemed like a fascinating premise. But, as Card delved more deeply into the explanations of this solution, the concept got murkier and more convoluted. The concept of going 'out' of the physical universe and being 'pulled back in' at any location with no time loss seemed to be metaphysical and existential in its fleshed-out form.
This problem plagues "Children of the Mind" because its whole story is based upon the concluding events in "Xenocide". Card's attempt find some deep and great meaning to everything sacrifices the very elements that made "Ender's Game", "Speaker for the Dead", and most of "Xenocide" such fine literature: it does deal with the depth of the characterization that powered the other stories. So expertly crafted in the earlier novels, the characters in "Children of the Mind" seem nothing more than two-dimensional caricatures of their earlier renderings.
That being said, the reason "Children of the Mind" still merits a positive review is because it does wrap up the 'Ender's Quartet' in a satisfying manner and doesn't resort to any cheap gimmicks to bring about the resolutions. It's an above average novel that just seems very disappointing when compared to its predecessors.
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Summary: CotM in light of post 9-11
Review: I reviewed this book back in 1997, and a lot has happened since then, I think you'll agree. I've enjoyed re-reading and reviewing Card's books through the prism of 9-11, since it provides an interesting perspective. I like Card for his generally positive view of humanity, but 9-11 forced me to reconsider whether he was being positive or Pollyannish. Let's take a fresh look at CotM in that spirit. One of the interesting features of CotM is the exploration of the philosophy of "Necessarianism," a belief structure positing that one should resist attacking an enemy up to a certain point, then make a devestating response. Interesting parallels to today, as the U.S. ramps up to blow Saddam to smithereens. But note that the Necessarians were *wrong* in CotM. They were willing to commit xenocide (twice or three times over) without allowing full contemplation of the alternatives. By extension, Card may argue that the U.S. is wrong today. I've also criticized Card for turning cultures into cartoons, and pointed out in another review that his "Somoa" in this book is particularly stereotyped and egregious. Does he do this for convenience? Lack of research? Or to not write a 1000-page book? Probably this last one. I trust Card to do right by the subjects he writes about. But it's annoying nontheless. Are we turning cultures into cartoons post 9-11? Maybe. Notice the dialecticalism (I assume that's a word) throughout the book? It contrasts to post 9-11 American attitudes, exemplified by Bush, that are what the French would call "Manichean." Manicheanism (again, is that a word?) is incompatible with a dialectic form of argument, since the latter necessarily includes a synthesis. In CotM, the characters use dialectic argument to work their way through tough moral issues; could Bush be missing something by thinking in strictly black-and-white, good-vs-evil terms? Finally, I noted in my earlier review that Card's review of literature in his postscript was extremely interesting and informative. Card essentially argues that if a culture is self-referential, it has an established level of maturity and purpose. Using this standard in a broader context, post 9-11 I have witnessed a maturation of American culture unlike anything I would have imagined. The fact that other countries' peoples or elites think poorly of our "war on terror" is considered inconsequential to just about everyone except the New York Times editorial board -- and even they are coming around. I wonder how Card would write his postrscript now? Maybe we'll find out in a later book. One other thing. I can sympathize with the people who felt that Card went off the reservation with this book. Its tone, if not its structure, is very different even from "Xenocide." I personally don't like Card's tendency to turn people into supemen in order to resolve plot conflicts. But the book is highly entertaining, logically consistent and thought-provoking. Very much worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievably bad end to a great series
Review: It's probably pointless to try and convince someone not to read this book, as anyone completing the first three in the series would almost certainly want to read the next chapter. However, know that Children of the Mind feels like it was cranked out in a weekend, and besides being weakly written, it's outrageously boring and far-fetched. Any "reality" (a relative term to science fiction) which grounded the first three books is gone here. Ender's Game is great, Speaker for the Dead is different but every bit as good, and Xenocide begins the slide in the series, as Card loses steam and begins losing his grip on his own creation. Finally, Children of the Mind was a chore to read. I eventually skipped most of the last third and went to the end. It was so bad, in fact, that it ended my interest in reading Orson Scott Card, at least for the time being. In the end, Children of the Mind is about as essential to the Ender saga as the new Star Wars movies are to the original trilogy (basically an hack-job of a follow-up). Avoid.
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