Rating: 
Summary: wood grains
Review: My main comment is, if you want to be reading about tracing wood grains, you'll enjoy this book. You actually go through the pain of this tedious job. I really got the point at the first wood grain tracing session, but then there was another... and another...That's pretty much all I can remember about the story, seeing as I read it as a child. If you want to finish the series, as I always do no matter what, then you are in for some pain. Hey, if you finish it, you'll have the satisfaction of reading ALL the Ender books! Otherwise, forget it and read "Ender's Shadow", that's a masterpiece right there!
Rating: 
Summary: A little too clean....
Review: OSC wraps up the ending to this epic a little too neatly. Not to give anything away, but it was almost a Hollywood ending. I was hoping for something a little more realistic. ....of course, that's about as realistic as talking trees and giant ants. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Craig's review
Review: Children of the Mind was different in a way from the first three books. Ender has not played a big role in the book compared to the other books. You could say he has not played a big role because in the begining of the book he joined his wife in the Filhos. But in a way he is playing the biggest role. You could say he is playing a big role, because of Peter and Val. Peter and Val are a piece of Ender if they want to be or not. You could say he is living through them without even doing anything. Peter and Val came about when Ender, Miro, and Ela traveled to outside space. When they were in outside space Ender must have had his perception of Peter and Val in his supconcious and they were created some how through him. Now Peter and Wang-Mu are on a mission to find the person that would have the power to persuade Starways Congress to stop the Lusitania Fleet from destroying Lusitania. Now Miro and Val are searching out new worlds for the Piggies and the Buggers to colonize, at least that is what the two of them think they are doing.
Rating:
Summary: Going downhill
Review: Strictly speaking, this book is really Xenocide, Part II. Xenocide ended fairly arbitrarily, and this book begins where Xenocide takes off. Having said that, this book slipped terribly in storyline, and I had a difficult time staying interested. It continues the themes of finding the origins of the descolada virus and if it's possible to communicate with it, saving Jane's life, and intercepting the fleet. Ender is barely a character in this story, and without trying to give too much away, he is more or less dispensed of halfway through the book. Again, credibility is stretched to the max as Peter and a young Valentine Wiggin are essentially reincarnated out of Ender's memories, and they are large players in this story. You also have ugly characters spending all their time yelling at each other (exemplified by Quara and Miro, as well as the others in that dysfunctional family). I do not mind that this story is not action based; Speaker for the Dead is very philosophical, and is a strong story. Additionally, I read lots of other philosophical works. What I object to is the outright preaching, and a story that is so bizarre it doesn't even make an attempt to be realistic, rather it's a tool for OSC to subject us to his various beliefs. Ender's Game and SFTD are both amazing books. However, the series goes down hill from there. I would recommend stopping at that point; buy Xenocide and Children only if you can find them used or at a library. There's too many other good books out there to read to waste your time on this diatribe.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful to know that Ender will always live on!
Review: There wasn't much that was new in this story, but to know how things evolve and move on--thus the way of Card. Children was as interesting as the rest of the Quartet, and I was pleased to know what happens to the characters, and it's great to know that Ender will live on--through a life that he created. Cycles, cycles, cycles.
Rating:
Summary: One of my all-time favorite books!
Review: This book is nothing like the rest of the entire series. It's more phenomenal. :) This is one book many people say they don't like, but frankly, it's one of my favorite. I read a LOT of books - all sorts of books, but I make time to read this one at least 2ce a year. Yep - it's that good.
Rating:
Summary: Even Fantasy must have limits.
Review: I have read all four books of the Ender series in rapid-fire succession. Let me qualify that -- I have completed the first three books in the series and I am almost finished with "Children of the Mind". But because life is short and I have other things to read, I am not going to finish it. In "Children of the Mind", Card loses control of his subject matter. There are too many subplots, too many weird happenings, and too little restraint in Card's imagination for the story to be either coherent or reasonable. Even Fantasy writing must adhere to the disciplines of the craft. "Ender's Game" was a disciplined effort marked by a lean prose style. "Speaker for the Dead" became denser in its presentation, but Card displayed generosity of spirit and compassion for wounded individuals and families. He touches upon some sensitive subjects (adultery, alcoholism, spousal abuse, and deception) that scar real families in real life. His treatment of religion is balanced and interesting and he resists the knee-jerk reaction of many contemporary writers to bash the Catholic Church. "Speaker for the Dead" is the high-point in the series. Things start to unravel a bit in "Xenocide" as Card attempts to weave multiple subplots (the 'piggies', the deadly descolada virus, the 'buggers', "Jane", and the 'Godspoken' of the planet Path}. Still, there are some real insights into the human heart here that are compelling and Card's compassion for individuals is still central to the book. In "Children of the Mind" things get chaotic and, ultimately, very, very boring. Ender literally 'births' children of the mind who are his real bother and sister as they were in their youth. He does this while traveling in the 'Outside'. But are they really his brother and sister or are they really him? Meanwhile 'Jane' the sentient, omniscient being is really Ender too -- sort of. And the fate of piggies, the buggers, the descolada virus, the Planet Luistania, indeed the entire universe is in the balance. But we have a Polynesian holy man, a Chinese philosopher, and thinking trees who used to animals all working on the problem. Card has a real challenge to tie this all together. I appreciate his compassion, but he just went one book too far.
Rating:
Summary: As bad as Xenocide
Review: I loved Game, Shadow & Speaker. However, I will never understand what people see in Xenocide or this book. The dialog, plot & characters became more & more ridiculous throughout each of these two novels. By the end, I really didn't even care what happened to the characters I had grown to like in previous books. My advice is to avoid Xenocide and Children like Descolada ! And if you don't get that reference, just avoid them because you will be more lost than human in a Bugger cavern ...
Rating: 
Summary: Matches those that come before it, not Enders Game
Review: If we were looking for a trip back to brilliance by Orson Scott Card when we picked up this last book, we were sorely dissappointed. Enders Game is truly the only excellent piece of literature to come out of this series. Card seemed to be struggling for a plot. His examination of Japanese culture and of obsessive compulsive disorder is interesting, but he seems unable to really tie it in with the rest of the book and to me it seems like a gimic. I however have read everything that Card has written and might be a harsher critic of his writings than those who have just been reading his Ender series. It is certainly a fun and easy read, it just doesn't match up with Enders Game, Songmaster, or The Worthing Saga (my three favorite books by Card).
Rating:
Summary: pretty good end
Review: this book was good but i think it dragged just a liitle to much.however it is worty of being in the enders series.
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