Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga #2)
User reviews
The book Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card, is a gripping and intense story about understanding other life forms. Intelligent, friendly aliens are kept behind fences and denied any contact with humans except the minimal amount for them to be studied. When their knowledge about humans gets out of control and the aliens start learning more than they would know naturally, the planet and everyone on it is forced to rebel against the interplanetary regulations to keep all the inhabitants alive.
This book brings up the point that humans seem to think everything else exists only to be studied and learned about. The aliens aren't seen as aggressive or threatening to humans, but they are denied knowledge of anything that humans know about. Meanwhile, the humans learn interesting things about a new species and give nothing in return. Speaker shows how contempt for other intelligent creatures, human and alien, can blind people from the truth. The book also does a good job of showing how unreasonably selfish people can be at times.
I loved this book. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down until I finished. The plot is slow at first as the characters and setting are introduced, but picks up speed quickly enough that the book doesn't become tedious. The characters interact with each other and the plot realistically. I highly recommend this book, even for people who usually don't read science fiction books. It's easier to understand after reading Ender's Game, the first book in the series, but everything is explained well enough that Speaker can be read independently.
This is a really great book about the years after Ender is accused of xenocide and is no longer free to live on earth. Instead he roams the universe with his brilliant sister going wherever he is needed to speak at a funeral and leaving whenever someone gets suspicious of his past. He realizes that he cannot go on living like this and wants to make a difference, that's when he finds out that some people on Lusitania need his help and so do the pequinous. Ender wants to save the alien species to make up for the one that he destroyed-but they are not all destroyed and Lusitania is the perfect place to put the Hive Queen.
In this sequel to Ender's game, a new sentinent species is discovered, but this time protected by the Starways Council, forcing xenologers to guess entirely about how primitive they are. When Ender Wiggin arrives as a Speaker of the Dead onto the planet, he helps the "piggies" as they are known to form a treaty with the humans so that they will not be lost, like the buggers were, until now....
This is an excellent sequel to Ender's Game; I didn't even know they made one! Just as good as the origional!!!
Speaker for the Dead had a thousand twists and turns, but they all made sense! It is impossible not to like the book. It is really dense, though. Between the descolada, xenologers, pequeninos, and all of Novinha's family issues, it is a lot to juggle around. The story falls into place in a way you could understand it.
Ender of course was an amazing character. Even though he's older, its easier to indentifiy with him after reading his story in Ender's Game. When he exposed all of Novinha and Libo secrets as he spoke for Marcao's death, I was absolutely shocked at Quim's reaction.
Even though Portuguese is hard to read aloud the names and words are pretty cool.
Definitely a good read if you aprecciated the previous book by Card.
Much of this story takes place before Ender even arrives, which gives the reader a great chance to acclimate to the new surroundings. We are now on the planet Lusitania and we're even further in the future. There are so many new and wonderful human characters in this book and each has their own separate identity; I both loved and hated most of them. (I think I also picked up a bit of Portuguese from reading this book!)
The alien characters, aka the "Piggies" are extremely complex and mysterious while at the same time very lovable. Never could I have imagined reading a book in which I care so much about the aliens (maybe more than the people!). Perhaps the best thing about this book is that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't figure out the twist at the end so it was a real and unpredictable surprise ending which I love.
I really loved this book - it's one of those books you wish didn't have to end. If you've read Ender's Game and loved it, I think you''ll love this one, too.
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