Inspired by Ender's book, speakers are now everywhere amongst the worlds governed by the Starways Congress.Įnder is summoned to the colony world of Lusitania, whose population are exclusively Catholics of Portuguese descent. But no one whom Ender encounters now suspects he is the Ender of old. Indeed, after discovering the bugger cocoon, which he now carries with him everywhere, and authoring the Hive Queen and the Hegemon - the book in which he 'spoke' for the misunderstood buggers - the name of Ender, once praised as the savior of humanity, has gone down in history as the most evil of all people, the Xenocide who coldly wiped out an entire race. It's a task he set himself as penance for the destruction of the bugger species. Set over 3000 years after the events in Game, the story has Ender - only in his mid-30's due to the relativistic effects of a lifetime of interstellar travel - leading a nearly monastic life as a Speaker for the Dead, voyaging from colony to colony and performing a eulogistic ceremony in which he 'speaks the truth' about the lives of the recently deceased. Card's work is informed by a love for his fellow man, and it's all too evident in the pages of Speaker. Yet these are characters whose lives have been touched by grief, and patient readers will see through to the heart at the core of the tale. And though it's laudable that Card chose to fashion a sequel in such a way that it was anything but a rehash, many readers will probably be put off by its serious tone and its cast, nearly all of whom wallow in misery.

This is a deliberately difficult and challenging novel, with nary a hint of the first book's action.

A story of guilt, atonement and redemption, it is written with much care, intelligence and compassion, but also with a nearly biblical gravitas that blankets the proceedings. Speaker for the Dead is a much different novel than its predecessor, Ender's Game. Tweets by 2013 addendum/disclaimer: Please see my review of Ender's Game for an important message regarding controversy surrounding this author. Book cover artwork is copyrighted by its respective artist and/or publisher. All reviews and site design © by Thomas M.

Speaker of the dead ender's game