January 2025 BofM 1980-1999: "Speaker for the Dead" by Orson Scott Card > Likes and Comments

Now available in mass market, the revised, definitive edition of the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning classic. In this second book in the saga set 3,000 years after the terrible war, Ender Wiggin is reviled by history as the Xenocide--the destroyer of the alien Buggers. Now, Ender tells the true story of the war and seeks to stop history from repeating itself. ...

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, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth.

Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quintet, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Excellent! Excited to reread about the piggies.

I have probably written this before but the Ender sequels seem to divide people. There are those that love Enders Game and hate the fact that the following books aren’t that. Or there are fan boys/girls who love that the books evolved as they did. I am in the latter group. It seems silly to me, to expect sequels to a kids book, to be written in the same vein as that kids book, when the audience for that kids book has grown up and are no longer kids.

Personally, I like the sequels better. The shadow series, in particular, really shines. There is greater character depth. OSC really does human relationships well, which is part of what I liked about this. Card really made me care. For me, Ender‘s Game was more curiosity driven. I enjoyed it and wanted to know what happened next but it didn’t resonate emotionally (probably because I was an adult when I read it). This book had deeper themes and more ambitious ideas. It resonated more.

There are some parts that probably could have done with an edit but because I was emotionally invested I didn’t really care.

The book won both Hugo and Nebula awards so I guess I am not alone.

I'm at 1/3 now. Surprised that our friend is still there after 3000 years. I can't say a lot about the story yet, but it is very different from the first.

I'm not going to re-read this, but I thought it was a great book despite it not being in the same vein as Ender's Game.

For me this is a re-read and it is astounishing how much I forgot and how I see the novel in a different light now, after the author's positions on issues like homosexuality are known.

I clearly remember why the 'murders' happened and that Ender was there with his guilt, but I fully forgot Nova or that Ender has the Queen.

Also "traditional values" are more catching my eye like that a married couple cannot keep information access from each other to anything

I've finished it, a very good book. My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am about halfway through Speaker. I had forgotten how good a character Jane is. The book reminds me of James Blish‘s A Case of Conscience.

Thomas wrote: "I am about halfway through Speaker. I had forgotten how good a character Jane is. The book reminds me of James Blish‘s A Case of Conscience."

I haven't thought about Blish's novel, but yes, there are common vibes

Finished, I liked the book, but not as much as Ender's Game. It's a very different story, with a lot of interesting biological facts. Nice to see Ender again and surprised that the buggers are still here. I will read all the sequels, eventually.

Just finished. It certainly explores some complex themes: dysfunctional families, cultural differences, grief, fear of others. And Ender is very adept at getting people/aliens to open up and share so he can uncover miscommunication and misunderstanding. As others have noted, it does not continue Ender's Game, but rather heads in new directions.
I really enjoyed Jane, and felt there was far too little of her in the story.
Along with Blish, there were some elements of LeGuin in here too.

I really enjoyed this book and was not bothered a bit that it is not like the other book. I personally see it as a more grown up book and that makes perfect sense with what the character went through in the first book. While I understand this book seemingly divides fans and everyone has a right to their opinion, I am perplexed it gets as heated as it does.

Papaphilly wrote: "I really enjoyed this book and was not bothered a bit that it is not like the other book. I personally see it as a more grown up book and that makes perfect sense with what the character went throu..."

I agree. Moreover, my edition has Introduction by the author, which states:
Speaker for the Dead is a sequel, but it didn’t begin life that way—and you don’t have to read it that way, either. It was my intention all along for Speaker to be able to stand alone, for it to make sense whether you have read Ender’s Game or not. Indeed, in my mind this was the “real” book; if I hadn’t been trying to write Speaker for the Dead back in 1983, there would never have been a novel version of Ender’s Game at all.
...
What I discovered then—the spring of 1983—was that the book was unwritable. In order to make the Ender Wiggin of Speaker make any kind of sense, I had to have this really long, kind of boring opening chapter that brought him from the end of the Bugger War to the beginning of the story of Speaker some three thousand years later! It was outrageous. I couldn’t write it.

Ohh I remember reading it years ago!! I loved all of the Ender's Game series

This book recently surfaced in my physical to-read pile, and I'm now almost all the way through. It's been over a decade since I read Ender's Game but luckily most of the important stuff seems to have stuck in my brain.

I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I'm enjoying the book. To the point of finding myself reading it past midnight despite knowing that I'll be woken up by a yelling toddler at 6am. Andrew hit the nail on the head talking about relationships. I'd broaden it to saying that Card does the human condition well. He treats emotions as serious and complex, which is refreshing for sci fi.

The one minor niggle for me is that Ender just seems a bit *too* absurdly good at reading and charming people, whilst being extremely intelligent, self-aware, deeply ethical etc... . He's practically the perfect human, and his 3000 years of relativistic stretch has a sort of Messianic feel to it.

Didn't know about Card's homophobia, thanks for the trivia Oleksandr! Turns out he's also a lifelong Mormon and had some pretty racist-sounding views about Obama. Quite hard to square with the sensitivity and nuance explored in the book. Well, that's probably spoilt the last few pages for me haha.

BTW I don't think Mormons are insensitive in general! I just had a strong impression that this book had been written by an atheist with a human interest in and tolerance of religious belief.