Xenocide (Ender's Saga, #3) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Oct 29, 2007 Mike rated it it was amazing

Shelves: scifi, xcharity-2012

Xenocide almost completes the Ender saga, and what a thoughtful and powerful book it is. 5 Stars. Card tackles some big themes and questions here. (This is not a standalone book, you have to read Speaker for the Dead to really understand this book.) Card does not do space battles in the book although a fleet has been sent from “The Hundred Worlds” to destroy Lusitania with the “Little Doctor” weapon first used in Ender's Game. Valentine, along with her family, is on her way to Lusitania to reuni Xenocide almost completes the Ender saga, and what a thoughtful and powerful book it is. 5 Stars. Card tackles some big themes and questions here. (This is not a standalone book, you have to read Speaker for the Dead to really understand this book.) Card does not do space battles in the book although a fleet has been sent from “The Hundred Worlds” to destroy Lusitania with the “Little Doctor” weapon first used in Ender's Game. Valentine, along with her family, is on her way to Lusitania to reunite with Ender. The Hive Queen has been set free on Lusitania and is building spaceships for her survival, as well as spaceships for the pequeninos so they may spread in space. Ender, the humans and the pequeninos are desperately trying to find a way to prevent the descolada virus from killing the humans. Ender’s adoptive family—he married Novinha—is key to the survival yet they are tearing each other and the world apart. We are introduced to a colony world where a superintelligent girl is enlisted to find out what happened to the mysteriously missing fleet. Three intelligent species, two of which are facing “Xenocide” if the fleet arrives and destroys the planet, set the stage for some really interesting ethical dilemmas.

Religion: the Lusitania colony is Catholic and has converted many of the pequeninos. What happens when the church’s doctrine is interpreted in favor of the pequeninos over the humans is fascinating. The potential of organized religion to do good or evil is dealt with masterfully in the book. A gut-wrenching series of events happen between the humans and the pequeninos.

The meaning of courage is a central organizing theme throughout the book. Many characters are faced with choices that reveal heroism among cultures, races, aliens and other populations.

What actions are allowable if you face extinction? What if your enemy is intelligent and, possibly, able to be persuaded to not destroy you? What if your enemy is merciless and implacable? How do you deal with a stranger?

What is free will? If we don’t have free will, how should we act? Where does intelligence or a “soul” come from? How do our genes drive our behavior? How does civilization temper our primordial impulses?
How do you handle good people who believe in and enable bad things to happen? What about bad people who do good things?

This book is so much more than just a SciFi tale. The characters are vivid and you will be drawn into their lives. At the end of the book, some characters appear that will take you by surprise and I will have to go on to Children of the Mind of to see what happens. ...more

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