Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, Book 2)
by Orson Scott Card
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Read in January, 2000
recommends it for:
people who like things
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
Fans of Sci-Fi, anthropology, cross-cultural contact, and SETI
I need to reread this, and then move on to the sequel. Extremely different than Ender's Game-- in fact, I was tempted to give it less stars. I really like the premise and the ideas in this novel, but it lacks a bit of the well-woven simplicity of Ender's Game-- though that is not to say that this isn't well woven. I think I would call this "anthropological fantasy", though perhaps "anthropology" isn't the right term, as it is more about the clash between human and alien cu...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
sociology / anthropology types
Orson Scott Card has said that Speaker for the Dead is the book he always "meant to write" and that the only reason he wrote Ender's Game was as a "prequel," so he felt a little baffled when Ender's Game ended up becoming his most famous and most read work. After reading Speaker for the Dead, I understand where he's coming from. The complexity of issues tackled in Speaker for the Dead are much deeper than those in Ender; likewise, the cultures and worlds explored through Spea...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
Ender's Game fans
Better than Ender's Game.
There, I said it. I know Ender's Game is the much lauded book of this series and it deserves a lot of praise, but when I got halfway through Speaker for the Dead I knew I was enjoying it more. Don't get me wrong, I still love Ender's Game. If anything, this is an affirmation that this series doesn't suffer sophomore jitters.
This book has an interesting mixture of themes and genres that blend together for a truly unique novel and fantastic sequel. Hard science, f...more
There, I said it. I know Ender's Game is the much lauded book of this series and it deserves a lot of praise, but when I got halfway through Speaker for the Dead I knew I was enjoying it more. Don't get me wrong, I still love Ender's Game. If anything, this is an affirmation that this series doesn't suffer sophomore jitters.
This book has an interesting mixture of themes and genres that blend together for a truly unique novel and fantastic sequel. Hard science, f...more
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Read in January, 1988
recommends it for:
anyone who enjoyed Ender's Game
This is the sequel to Ender's Game, but it is a very different sort of story. Where Ender's Game focused primarily on Ender himself and the conflict and characters that were essentially forced into his live, Speaker is about his growth into adulthood and his move out into a larger world dominated by conscious choice. The basic plot could be described as anthropological fiction, as it deals with the first alien race that humans have come into contact with since the war with the formics.
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Read in May, 2008
Speaker for the Dead continue's Ender's saga 3000 years after the events of Ender's Game. Ender's mission as Speaker have lead him to much interstellar travel, meaning that while he's only aged about 25 years the rest of civilization has aged 3000. Over that time, humanity has spread out to colonize many different planets- one of which being the home of the only intelligent life seen since the buggers. Ender is called to this planet as a Speaker for the death of one of their scientists who st...more
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While the first book in the series is certainly one of the best modern Sci Fi books, the second falls all too short. Perhaps between their writing, Card altered his personal philosophies, or perhaps the success of the first book emboldened him to change the form of the second. 'Speaker' is didactic and allegorical, and the characters often devolve into simple mouthpieces for the author's opinions.
While I do respect that every author has his own point of view, and that one should be able to ...more
While I do respect that every author has his own point of view, and that one should be able to ...more
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Ender's Game is a classic sci-fi book to which this is a disappointing sequel.
Card's gift as an author is in his storytelling and his bend for the magical/fantastic. In Ender's Game, Enchantment and a few of his other works, we are drawn into a different universe and captured by the drama that unfolds around us. However, Card uses Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and the Homecoming series as a soap box for his moral values. While there are certainly worse role models out there (and there ...more
Card's gift as an author is in his storytelling and his bend for the magical/fantastic. In Ender's Game, Enchantment and a few of his other works, we are drawn into a different universe and captured by the drama that unfolds around us. However, Card uses Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and the Homecoming series as a soap box for his moral values. While there are certainly worse role models out there (and there ...more
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I mean, its interesting how he sets up his plots with time : Characters use light speed to bump around, and while for people on planets time ages 50 years, the people on the ship don't age more then a couple of days. THIS I like.
But I'm sick of his subtle racism; I'm a bit sick of how Card pretends to be able to view people like an open book - his characters can PREDICT exactly how other characters will act, due to their personality type etc.
And we'll see if the plot has a pay-off, Its j...more
But I'm sick of his subtle racism; I'm a bit sick of how Card pretends to be able to view people like an open book - his characters can PREDICT exactly how other characters will act, due to their personality type etc.
And we'll see if the plot has a pay-off, Its j...more
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Read in March, 2006
recommends it for:
sci-fi fans
It was nice to see Ender all grown-up and dealing with a universe he helped to create and his status in it.
Hundreds of years have passed since Ender defeated the Buggers and destroyed their homeworld. Where once he was regarded as humanity's saviour, now he is seen as history's greatest monster. Killing the Buggers is now referred to as the Xenocide.
Thankfully for Ender, most people assume he died off long ago, and aren't aware he has lived for centuries because of the relativistic effe...more
Hundreds of years have passed since Ender defeated the Buggers and destroyed their homeworld. Where once he was regarded as humanity's saviour, now he is seen as history's greatest monster. Killing the Buggers is now referred to as the Xenocide.
Thankfully for Ender, most people assume he died off long ago, and aren't aware he has lived for centuries because of the relativistic effe...more
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Speaker for the Dead is a very different book than Ender's Game, and I believe it is even better. It continues the story, albeit 3,000 years later, of one of the great all-time literary characters, Ender Wiggin. He is now a Speaker for the Dead, a position that entails learning about the life of the dead person he has been called to speak for, and revealing their life to others as truthfully as if they could see the persons thoughts. The speaking, akin to a funeral oration, doesn't only focus on...more
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Read in October, 2007
Sequel to Ender's Game & the very engaging style of Card continues in full force. I was again absorbed into the characters & their motivations. Ender as a man was much more relevant to my own idealisms & the characater definitely delivered in that department. The story introduced a much more philosophical standpoint than action & plot as in the first novel. However, it was very well done & I greatly enjoyed the philosophy. Any time, I have to remind myself that issues &am...more
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Read in February, 2003
Downloaded from Audible.com
Narrator: David Birney, Stefan Rudnicki, and more
Publisher: Macmillan Audio, 2002
Length: 14 hours and 9 min.
Hugo Award Winner, Best Novel, 1987
Nebula Award Winner, Best Novel, 1986
Publisher's Summary
In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: the Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War. Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered by Portuguese colonists on the planet Lu...more
Narrator: David Birney, Stefan Rudnicki, and more
Publisher: Macmillan Audio, 2002
Length: 14 hours and 9 min.
Hugo Award Winner, Best Novel, 1987
Nebula Award Winner, Best Novel, 1986
Publisher's Summary
In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: the Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War. Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered by Portuguese colonists on the planet Lu...more
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Read in January, 2008
I'm re-reading this for the first time in more than ten years. I had forgotten how much I loved it!
Speaker for the Dead picks up some three thousand years after Ender's Game. Ender himself is still alive, thanks to a peripatetic lifestyle that swallowed decades and even centuries of objective time in interstellar travel at relativistic speeds. A new intelligent species has been discovered, with customs and technology so wildly different from our own that the seeming irrationali...more
Speaker for the Dead picks up some three thousand years after Ender's Game. Ender himself is still alive, thanks to a peripatetic lifestyle that swallowed decades and even centuries of objective time in interstellar travel at relativistic speeds. A new intelligent species has been discovered, with customs and technology so wildly different from our own that the seeming irrationali...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone who's ever looked for redemption
In the foreword to both this and Ender's Game, (author's definitive edition) Orson Scott Card states that this is the real Ender story he wanted to tell, Ender's Game just sets the stage. When I read Ender's Game while growing up, I would have disagreed strongly. Without the battle room, there was no story, in my opinion. I still like the battle room, (what repository of testosterone wouldn't?) but now I see Card's point. Ender as a young military genius is a great story. Ender as th...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Ender fans, sci-fi fans, folks who are young at heart and open to bizarre ideas
I read "Ender's Game" on suggestion from Coral. This one was my idea -- I liked the first book so surprisingly much that I wanted to give Part Two a shot, as well. Boy, was I (pleasantly) surprised. Ender 2 is far more fascinating, thought-provoking, and creative than its predecessor, but it keeps the same balance among fun youthful heroes/heroines, genuine/deep/believable characters, physical actions, and technological influences. Throw in a couple references to other sci-fi works...more
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Read in April, 2008
Another re-read but always a different perspective.
The book stands alone but I recommend starting with Ender's Game - and make sure its the real version not something abridged. This lays some valuable context - not essential, but I think it makes Speaker that much better.
A difficult plot to describe so I won't try. However, the idea of someone whose job it is to speak the life of someone who has died - not the life that happens because we can't speak ill of the dead, not a recitation of the ...more
The book stands alone but I recommend starting with Ender's Game - and make sure its the real version not something abridged. This lays some valuable context - not essential, but I think it makes Speaker that much better.
A difficult plot to describe so I won't try. However, the idea of someone whose job it is to speak the life of someone who has died - not the life that happens because we can't speak ill of the dead, not a recitation of the ...more
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
Anyone
I have my friend Linnea to thank for introducing me to my first piece of Science Fiction. And what an introduction! This one was tough to put down.
I liked the way the author jumped about the galaxy and the history of different Earth cultures populating its various planets. I especially enjoyed the concept of having a Speaker at a funeral in contrast to reading eulogies.
And finally, who wouldn't like reading about pig-people?!
Familiarity with the rest of the "Ender" seri...more
I liked the way the author jumped about the galaxy and the history of different Earth cultures populating its various planets. I especially enjoyed the concept of having a Speaker at a funeral in contrast to reading eulogies.
And finally, who wouldn't like reading about pig-people?!
Familiarity with the rest of the "Ender" seri...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
Ender fans; sci-fi fans; philosophical types
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
science fiction fans
Ender Wiggin has been traveling the universe for 3,000 years, looking for a planet where he can make a good home for the bugger queen he rescued at the end of the first book in this series (Ender's Game). Thanks to light-speed travel, he has barely aged while time passed normally for everyone else. On a planet called Lusitania, Ender finds another alien race that are just as misunderstood as the buggers had been 3,000 years before. Can Ender save the piggies and while also creating a safe hom...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.91 (8948 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.90 (8732 ratings) number of reviews: 435popular shelves
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