Speaker for the Dead: Amazon.ca: Orson S Card: Books

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From Amazon.com

Ender Wiggin, the hero and scapegoat of mass alien destruction in Ender's Game, receives a chance at redemption in this novel. Ender, who proclaimed as a mistake his success in wiping out an alien race, wins the opportunity to cope better with a second race, discovered by Portuguese colonists on the planet Lusitania. Orson Scott Card infuses this long, ambitious tale with intellect by casting his characters in social, religious and cultural contexts. Like its predecessor, this book won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Card's novel Ender's Game introduced Ender Wiggin, a young genius who used his military prowess to all but exterminate the "buggers," the first alien race mankind had ever encountered. Wiggin then transformed himself into the "Speaker for the Dead," who claimed it had been a mistake to destroy the alien civilization. Many years later, when a new breed of intelligent life forms called the "piggies" is discovered, Wiggin takes the opportunity to atone for his earlier actions. This long, rich and ambitious novel views the interplay between the races from the differing perspectives of the colonists, ethnologists, biologists, clergy, politicians, a computer artificial intelligence, the lone surviving bugger and the piggies themselves. Card is very good at portraying his characters in these larger, social, religious and cultural contexts. It's unfortunate, then, that many of the book's mysteries and dilemmas seem created just to display Ender's supposedly godlike understanding. A fine, if overlong, novel nonetheless.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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4.4 out of 5 stars (300 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Humanity isn't judged by biology alone, Dec 31 2010

By

Ria Bridges (Saint John, New Brunswick Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Speaker for the Dead: Author's Definitive Edition (Mass Market Paperback)

Some argue that this book was superior in all ways to Ender's Game. I agree that the story was wonderful, detailed, mysterious, and well-researched, and overall I'd say it was a very powerful novel. Stylistically, this one's superior.

I still enjoyed reading Ender's Game more, though.

Don't get me wrong. Speaker for the Dead is a wonderful novel, and I'm glad to have read it. The book before it just appealed to my interests more. That being said, though, it's interesting to see just how Ender grew up, how he became a different person and yet still showed signs of the killer-child he used to be.

I'm still a sucker for cultural relativism, though, and this book had that in spades. What might be appalling to us is perfectly normal, even respected within other cultures, and learning to see past ourselves is very often the key to solving the mystery and understanding others. The way Card handled the killings of the humans by the piggies was wonderful to read, and trying to solve it kept me amused through the book. ("Is this why they did it? Or maybe because of this?")

I applaud the man for the research that he put into the writing of this novel, in linguistics and anthropology and biology. The little details made everything so believable, so realistic, that when his smooth writing style drew me in, I forgot everything around me.

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4.0 out of 5 stars `No human being, when you understand his desires, is worthless.', Nov 25 2010

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J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Speaker for the Dead: Author's Definitive Edition (Mass Market Paperback)

Three thousand years ago, Ender Wiggin completely destroyed the alien race known as the Buggers. Ender disappeared after and was reviled for this xenocide: the total destruction of the only other known race of sentient beings known in the galaxy. A powerful voice - the Speaker for the Dead - came to be heard: telling the true story of the Bugger War.

A new race of beings was discovered on the recently settled planet of Lusitania. This discovery, of a race the humans called the Pequininos, (also known as `the Piggies') was seen as an opportunity to atone for the destruction of the Buggers. And thus, to avoid any tragic misunderstandings that might lead to war, strict rules have been put in place to prevent the human colonists from influencing the evolution of the piggies. Only trained xenobiologists are permitted to interact with the Piggies, and contact is limited.

`The piggies were not to be disturbed.'

Over time, two xenobiolologists are killed by the Piggies in what appears to be a bizarre fashion. One consequence of each death is that a Speaker for the Dead is called for a different member of the colony. A Speaker is summoned, and travels to Lusitania. In order to speak for the dead, he also has to understand the living and this includes both the Piggies and the human colonists.

It happens that the Speaker who responds to the request is the original Speaker for the Dead, Ender Wiggin himself, and he has another mission as well.

`On his starship, Ender Wiggin had no notion of the freight of other people's dreams he carried with him.'

I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel to `Ender's Game', and am looking forward to reading the third novel in this series. This book could be read and enjoyed on its own, but I'd strongly recommend reading the series in order. Orson Scott Card has created a fierce, complex world occupied by beings with a mixture of historical, contemporary and likely future problems.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

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5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read, July 28 2009

By

Daiken - See all my reviews

This review is from: Speaker for the Dead: Author's Definitive Edition (Mass Market Paperback)

I read Ender's Game about 2 years before I picked up Speaker for the Dead. I did have to reread the last chapter of Ender's Game to refresh my mind about what had happened. The book picks up right after the events of the first book. The actual story seems to move slowly, but that's what kept forcing me to read the next chapter. The real secret about Card's books is the time he devotes to character development, and this book is no different. I highly recommend the book.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book but...
This was a good book and I really enjoyed it...when I finally got into it. It took me a LONG time to get interested in the book. Read more

Published on Jun 4 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Books Ever
SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD, along with ENDER'S GAME both rate as some of the best books ever written.

I remember when I discovered SPEAKER as a freshman in high school. Read more

Published on July 16 2004 by Shon Tamblyn

5.0 out of 5 stars A different kind of sequel that you will thoroughly enjoy.
Card does not go the traditional route with sequels to books as many authors have done in the past. Speaker For The Dead is meant to be a standalone book , which means you do not... Read more

Published on July 6 2004 by Travis Stein

5.0 out of 5 stars My all-time favorite book - full stop!
Seriously.

It does take some 'work' - the Portugese names are an enjoyable challenge to pronounce right - even in your head. The story is COMPLEX and brilliant. Read more

Published on Jun 16 2004 by thoughtstorms

5.0 out of 5 stars Speaker for the Dead
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card is a sequel to the book, Ender's Game. In Speaker for the Dead, a new alien race is discovered on a small colony on the planet Lusitania... Read more

Published on May 24 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpected treasure!
Somehow I missed Ender series and when I started to read it now, the first book, 'Ender's Game', didn't impress me so much (I am not saying it was a bad novel, it just wasn't up... Read more

Published on April 23 2004 by Vahania63

5.0 out of 5 stars Necessary Reading for Lovers of Sci Fi
Orson Scott Card is by far my favorite author of any kind of genre. I fell in love with his books when I was about eleven years old and read Ender's Game, the prequel to this... Read more

Published on April 12 2004 by whizkid2000

1.0 out of 5 stars Speaker for the Dumb
Where is the hero of the war against the buggers... why bouncing around the universe giving eulogies 3,000+ years later of course! Read more

Published on Mar 24 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars The average reader's review guide....report......thing
Ok I dont read a huge amount of books so for anyone that just casually reads like me then maybe my review will be more relevent to you. Read more

Published on Mar 8 2004 by J. R. Buck

3.0 out of 5 stars An amazing novel
Speaker for the Dead is the second book Ihave read by Orson Scott Card, and I have to say I don't care much for his style. Read more