111 Book Review: Speaker for the Dead
Speaker for the Dead
by Orson Scott Card
This one’s a top tenner (#4 in fact).
After introducing the Formic alien species (“buggers” if you’re cool) in Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card piles on a new alien species (the Pequeninos; “piggies” if you’re cool), a new artificial intelligence (Jane), and most unrealistic of all: a new Catholic monastic order (wait, is that unrealistic? I’m not Catholic).
Yet, Card grounds the story with vibrant, multi-layered humans: they’re racially, ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse. They’re parents, children, lovers, spouses, siblings, students, and leaders both civil and religious.
All this whirling complexity makes it feel not like an Ender’s Game sequel but a complete narrative phase shift — but it holds up. Really well.
TL;DR: Space Jesus of star wars school (along with Hal) seeks out new life and new civilizations, and now I’m crying in Portuguese.
My rating: 11 out of 11 Portuguese Terms You’ll Just Shrug At And Roll With
Get it here:
- IndieBound (print, U.S.)
- Better World Books (print, worldwide)
- Apple Books (electronic)
- Google Play Books (electronic)
- Scribd (audio)
Oh, you liked it? Well then, try: Ender’s Game (if you haven’t already), Anna Karenina (spoilers if I tell you why), Xenocide (the more heady sequel)
Part of the Ender Quartet: Ender’s Game | Speaker for the Dead | Xenocide | Children of the Mind
Part of the Enderverse (my suggested order): Ender’s Game | Speaker for the Dead | Xenocide | Children of the Mind | Ender’s Shadow | Shadow of the Hegemon | Shadow Puppets | Shadow of the Giant | First Meetings in the Enderverse | A War of Gifts | Ender in Exile | Shadows in Flight | Earth Unaware | Earth Afire | Earth Awakens | Children of the Fleet | The Swarm | The Hive | The Queens | The Last Shadow
