Speaker for the Dead

by Orson Scott Card

Genres: Science Fiction

301 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2009

About the author

Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.

Reviews

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I literally could not put it down but this man is SO obsessed with making everyone in love with their sister so it can’t be a 5 star….

[alexis p · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book more than five stars. I understand it can be read as a stand-alone novel, but I highly recommend reading Ender’s Game beforehand. The Speaker for the Dead is highly entertaining, and it seems to me, it could teach everyone a lesson on humanity.

[Damon Meggyesy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than Enders Game fr fr.

[Stefany Newman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read the sequel of Ender's Game, especially since I enjoyed the first book. It started really promising, and then 1/3 in, it dissolved into a cheap soap opera.

The Novinha / Libo / Cao love triangle was ABSOLUTELY MEANINGLESS! It literally added nothing to the story. I was also pissed at Ender for kind of, sort of, excusing Cao's domestic violence, but that's another bucket of sewage.

And of course Novinha got all the criticism of her affair, even tho Libo as also being unfaithful to his wife.

And why did Novinha marry at all? If she had remained single, but had an affair with Libo, it would have been so much easier and fair. The author just added that layer for no reason. "But what about Miro's story?". She could have had him out of wedlock, easily. It's funny how in the beginning of the book she doesn't care about what other people think, but suddenly she does? And all her kids except Miro were annoying and ADDED NOTHING TO THE STORY!!

It's funny how Ender snitches on her affair in public, and then by the end of the book they get married, or rather, settle for each other. I think this is the most unromantic romance I have ever read.

The piggies were fascinating tho. I never expected them to turn out to be half sentient-living-moving-things and half trees. I also like how the author had all the different languages going on. He doesn't do of Star Trek's lazy writing of having a universal translator.
Ender resurrecting the buggers was height of stupidity, but his motives were well justified. At least that storyline made sense.

I freaking hated ChatGPT, I mean Jane. And she was Ender's girlfriend too? Well, come to think of it, if Ender had to choose between ChatGPT, I mean Jane, to be his girlfriend, and Novinha, a real woman, I suppose I'd pick the human too.

2/5, would not recommend.

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slower paced than Book One, but good at the end

This book was VERY different from book one. It's much more slowly paced, and the world building is revealed in bits as the characters figure them out. I didn't really start to enjoy it until the last few chapters.
I didn't expect to see the Catholic Church so many thousands of years in the future, and it was interesting to see how it had evolved, much as it has in the years since it's beginnings. Nothing was really said that I found blasphemous, so that was nice.
This book really explores themes of what it means to be "human" and how we find value in life that we can consider "human" even if it doesn't look or act like us, or if it has customs that seem alarming and wrong. It's about forgiveness and the freeing, healing power of truth. It's about a lot of things I never expected a sci-fi book to be about. It didn't hook me really until the last five chapters - but the chapters are long, so that's still quite a bit of the book - and when it did, I couldn't put it down.
I do NOT recommend this book if you're looking for action. If you like a slower character study, mixed with a bit of a mystery and lots of world building and topics and themes that feel deep and meaningful, this is your book.
I put it to you, reader: when do we count as human, with life with protecting? As Ender and the people of the Hundred World's have to grapple with the idea that sentient life worth protecting may not look or behave as humans do, it is also a topic pertinent to our world today. But, that's just where my mind went as I read. You may find other meaningful questions to ponder as you read. There are certainly plenty to think about in this book.

[Josue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this book without reading the first entry, Ender's Game, and was told this was meant to be the author's standalone novel.
A nice book overall.
I enjoyed seeing a character who was selfless and very empathetic.
It was very nice to read a Speaker for the dead give his speech, and it was very, very nice to see Ender stumble upon a broken family and inspire change with the Truth.
Ultimately, I would give this book 3-Stars, but I my perception towards Truth has been slightly augmented, and I now reconsider my decisions in telling the truth because of the problems that are caused in delaying or withholding; therefore, due to its impact, I barely give this a 4-star rating.

I'm not really a fan of the author's prose, but I endured.

Orson Scott Card had a lot of really fascinating ideas and I enjoyed learning about the conception of a character like Jane and learning about the pequeninos. I was a little frustrated over the plot and the faults in the Congress' view on relationships with the piggies, but that it in Ender's purpose to acknowledge the flaws in it and to correct it.

The ending wrapped up quite nicely, but I will not be reading the rest of the series.
It really did not interest me to continue reading the series.


Very interesting concepts:
- Use of Ursula K. Le Guin's Ansible technology
- Time dilation across lightyears (this was most impactful to me with Valentine and Ender)
- The mysticism and creativity behind the piggies
- Jane. My favorite character next to Ender.

Props to me because this is the fastest I've read a novel, and shoutout to my coworker at the time, Myriam P, for sharing this novel with me.

[simple_journey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This next installment in the Ender Saga helps round out Andrew Wiggin’s character. Humanity discovers a new species among the stars. In our effort to avoid destroying the first species discovered since the eradication of the Buggers, tragedy befalls the people of a small human colony. After the brutal death of the colony’s leading xenologer, a young woman finding her way Calls for a Speaker of the Dead, little does she expect the original Speaker, Ender Wiggin, is so near and will so quickly respond.

As Andrew uncovers hidden things about the people and aliens on this remote planet, the universe awakens to just how vast the difference is between “us” and “them.” Will the Speaker bring healing and restore lives? Will humanity embrace aliens as real people? Will the Hive Queen finally live again in a new home? Discover the answers as Orson Scott Card unfolds more of the life of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much more than a sci-fi story. An anthology of a life of growth and understanding.

This spoke to me for I am Ender. I am a person who has been tricked into playing humanity's game of power and control, only to discover a world of love and compassion leads to a much greater life. When we seek inclusion of anything that is different, seek understanding, not to control, but to grow and befriend, our lives are powerful and with more meaning because we are not alone in our struggle to understand the meaning of life.

[Jeff Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow start, but worth the wait

Really struggled with the first half of the book. Started much slower than I was used to from Enders Game, and I almost quit but I pushed through and I’m glad I did. The ending was excellently written and well worth the slog to get there. There’s a decent chunk of Portuguese in there and it doesn’t always have the translation, which would’ve been very off putting if I didn’t speak Spanish and could mostly figure it out. All in all it was definitely worth the read.

[Jason Logue · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s so much more than a sci-fi novel. This is a detective novel, an adventure and also a philosophical treatise in many ways. I love the way the book explores such human concepts through the relationships between species and also across time and how time and loss impact so much of our lives. In some ways this is more successful than Ender’s Game. This takes the momentum built in Ender’s Game and speeds it up and then also slows it down with the cadence of a good mystery novel.

[MaxB · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good sequel. Not better than Enders Game imo, but I especially like the mystery aspect and finding things out at the same time as Ender in this one. Again I feel like the build up to the end of the story was fantastic but the ending was not very satisfying. Still I was looking forward to reading it every day. I will probably read the third one. 4.7/5

[Vickie Woodard · Rating 5 out of 5]

NOT WHAT I EXPECTED

But I should've known better.
The author introduces a new species that doesn't quite get along with humans. There's a serious lack of understanding, a lack of trust, on both sides.
Sound familiar?
Only then does Ender make an appearance. He plays a vastly different role than he did in the first book.
And it's wonderful.
Highly recommended.

[Johnny Sumara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sophomore slump. What a boring story

If you liked Enders Game you will have this boring crap. Page after page literally nothing happens. Then the denouement comes in about 3 pages.
This book sucked

[Gabrielle Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect addition to Ender’s Game.

[Alina Rossi-Conaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book of all time I don’t even understand how a human being created this

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

read

Pretty good I don’t have time right now buyt will come back later to make a prepped sjeegebd to do

[Chris Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book - Ender is way more likable a protagonist as an adult. Great central mystery with a moving and satisfying conclusion.

[Hailey Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ender is a rizz god

[Michelle Arostegui · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've ever read! I loved the movie Ender's Game, but this took it next level. It's a story of the "piggies" a race that is on another planet, and the Speaker for the Dead is "Ender" who has been traveling through space and time, so he's still relatively young. He comes to speak the truth for the researcher who dies at the beginning of the book at the hands of the piggies. His coming coincides with the saving of the planet, and the birth/death of trees that have special souls of those that have died. I was a beautiful story, and it's going to be at the top of my list of my favorite books of all time.

[Ben Shepherd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid book, but I feel like this book didn't meet the expectations I had for it. It makes some strong philosophical points and has moments of heavy impact, but I felt like it struggles to convey what made Ender's game so special to me. One of the main points in the story is how Ender has hidden from public eye for 3000 years and has allowed his own shame(and the use of his own writings where he destroys his reputation) to make humanity resent him. His role as speaker for the dead really outlines his path to redemption by helping people to see the full picture of society and individuals lives.

I feel that this story struggles in its pacing primarily. A lot of dialogue and not a lot actually happens. The piggies storyline has interesting elements, but they seem like a sideshow that temporarily becomes the main show at points, but overall struggles to properly mesh with the main storyline despite them being the reason for Novinha requesting a Speaker.

Just feels overly slow at points. The background storyline is alright with some profound ideas sprinkled in, but not as consistent as I had expected.

[Peter Ressler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 4.8

[Natty B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series does a great job depicting what it’s like to empathize with those that are different from ourselves. Ender isn't a villain, but does that make him a hero? You decide. I feel like the series could end here, but I will continue on to book 3.