jeannamarie's review against another edition
2.0
The farther away the reader gets from Ender’s Game the more philosophical the story and the less grand Ender seems. I understand some 3000 years have passed, but the pacing and nuances that I really liked in Ender’s and even a bit in Speaker are gone in this book.
I had to drag myself through this story every day that I read the book. Debating if I want to keep going just to say I read the series or just stop here. This book did not make me even care about the characters and their outcomes anymore.
I had to drag myself through this story every day that I read the book. Debating if I want to keep going just to say I read the series or just stop here. This book did not make me even care about the characters and their outcomes anymore.
psydneigh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I felt a little out of my depth at times with how sciencey this one got. I dont like Novinha and Ender’s relationship, and I don’t like how it seemed as if nothing had changed when Miro returned.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Grief, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
justintocs's review against another edition
3.0
This book starts real slow. It doesn't become clear what is happening until close to halfway through.
garrodot's review against another edition
4.0
It becomes clear that Card is coming up with great ideas for stories and then going "oh, what the heck, the universe is a large place, I can make this fit into Ender's Game somehow."
Though it really is a very interesting storyline, weaving science fiction, a deft use of Japanese culture and rituals, and an incredibly brutal and detailed portrayal of OCD. And as usual, the heartstrings are well-tugged.
However, this book falters in taking many of the favorite characters of the previous book and wounding fans twofold: barely using them, and in those fleeting uses, changing them in dour ways. Gone is the spirit of the previous book, replaced by what can only be described as bitterness. Given my love for this series so far, it's clear I don't need happy endings, but man...
Though it really is a very interesting storyline, weaving science fiction, a deft use of Japanese culture and rituals, and an incredibly brutal and detailed portrayal of OCD. And as usual, the heartstrings are well-tugged.
However, this book falters in taking many of the favorite characters of the previous book and wounding fans twofold: barely using them, and in those fleeting uses, changing them in dour ways. Gone is the spirit of the previous book, replaced by what can only be described as bitterness. Given my love for this series so far, it's clear I don't need happy endings, but man...
abdallahelfar's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't enjoy this book. It's a good book, not very fun though. Turns into mostly philosophical, meta-physical speculative fiction. But that's not the reason I didn't enjoy it, I usually find that sort of stuff fun. It was a couple of issues: 1) 2) 3) 4)
Spoiler
Jane doesn't act like a AI should, an AI that lived to 3000 years would have discreetly expanded its body, building an army of ships to colonize uninhabitable worlds. To mine the worlds and build more machine that would be her body and mind, over many planets. This is how an AI would behave and it would have prevented a big conflict in the book.Spoiler
They didn't observe and attempt to influence Han Fei-Tzu from the start, I mean come on know your enemy damnit. Would have been much simpler and avoided a number of major conflicts. Why not look closely at the person who wrote the declaration that prevented revolt that Ender wanted in the hundred worlds.Spoiler
Don't tell me that in 3000 years we don't have the technology to at least lessen the issues with Miro's body, we practically have that technology today, to assist in walking and talking at least if not out right heal him.Spoiler
In all the time Ender spoke with the hive queen she seems to have learned a lot more from him than he learned from her. Its almost as if he hadn't communicated anything worth while in all their conversations, that she had to read his mind to gain anything from him. It seems dumb that Ender who is depicted as a great communicator didn't really talk to the hive queen about anything useful in all those years until the point in this book where he does because he must and the plot calls for it.dyselxic's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a great continuation of one of the most complex science fiction stories I have ever known.
awingard's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
spacepiratequeen's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
son_of_battles's review against another edition
3.0
Xenocide has already received a whole lot of negative reviews on Goodreads already, so I'm gonna start this off by saying that I liked this book, but that doesn't mean that I don't have some reservations about it. I'm sure it was incredibly difficult to continue a story that began with "Ender's Game", followed by an even better book, "The Speaker for the Dead". With such a strong foundation set in place, the expectations on this book would've no doubt been massive for Card to live up to. It's not that I was disappointed with this book as a whole, it was only a few aspects of it that made it lose a few stars.
First off, the good things about this book for me were Jane, Path, and the buggers. I fell in love with Jane in "Speaker" and she has only grown more interesting throughout this novel. She stands as a solid, reliable force of reason in the midst of a maelstrom of chaotic human emotions and brokenness. Her storyline was the highlight of this novel for me and the final reveal about where she came from and how she exists was a satisfying twist in a novel already rife with twists. I started off hating the Path storyline and all of the characters associated with it, but all of them, even Qing-jao, began to grow on me through the course of this novel. I know the whole government-made virus conspiracy has been done to death in the Sci-fi genre, but this was a new and refreshing take on it. I really enjoyed the descriptions of bugger-controlled territory and the buggers themselves. It was a very visceral, dark place and the writing reflected that in a powerful way. Also, I just think the buggers are just plain cool and would love to read more about them later.
I really had a hard time with the Ribeira family as a whole. That was strange for me because of how much I liked them in "Speaker", but maybe that was because their actions were acceptable then because they were children. The fact that most of them behave the same even though 30 years has passed is definitely something I didn't see coming. It would have been much more interesting to see how they grew and changed over the decades since Ender came into their lives and changed everything by healing their brokenness. But did anything really change after he came? it's difficult to know, but since the majority of "Speaker"'s plot revolved around the family's dysfunctional tendencies, I came into this book thinking that the family would be different. Instead, everybody has just grown more and more stuck in their ways and remain even more stubborn about their views than ever. I know that this was probably because Card wanted to have a bunch of characters with widely different voices, but it felt slightly redundant.
And of course, Card uses his characters to talk about his own beliefs and philosophies which was alright at first, but after 5 pages of Wang-mu's or Miro's inner monologues about life and what it is or isn't, it grows stale. I preferred when the characters actually engaged in dialogue with each other on these issues, but the inner monologues sounded a bit too much like Card's own voice.
So, this is my first foray into Ender's universe (multiverse?) and I have enjoyed all three of these books in different ways. It is good Sci-fi for me because I don't need an astro- or quantum physics degree in order to be able to enjoy them. The plotting of this book is good, but I didn't really believe that the characters were ever actually in danger from the fleet, and so it felt less urgent to me than "Speaker" did. This book is leading up to "Children of the Mind" and the ending definitely makes the book feel like a middle book. The story is what will make me keep going in this series when I have time for it, but there are just so many books and so little time. I would recommend Xenocide to Sci-fi fans with a warning about not having too high expectations.
First off, the good things about this book for me were Jane, Path, and the buggers. I fell in love with Jane in "Speaker" and she has only grown more interesting throughout this novel. She stands as a solid, reliable force of reason in the midst of a maelstrom of chaotic human emotions and brokenness. Her storyline was the highlight of this novel for me and the final reveal about where she came from and how she exists was a satisfying twist in a novel already rife with twists. I started off hating the Path storyline and all of the characters associated with it, but all of them, even Qing-jao, began to grow on me through the course of this novel. I know the whole government-made virus conspiracy has been done to death in the Sci-fi genre, but this was a new and refreshing take on it. I really enjoyed the descriptions of bugger-controlled territory and the buggers themselves. It was a very visceral, dark place and the writing reflected that in a powerful way. Also, I just think the buggers are just plain cool and would love to read more about them later.
I really had a hard time with the Ribeira family as a whole. That was strange for me because of how much I liked them in "Speaker", but maybe that was because their actions were acceptable then because they were children. The fact that most of them behave the same even though 30 years has passed is definitely something I didn't see coming. It would have been much more interesting to see how they grew and changed over the decades since Ender came into their lives and changed everything by healing their brokenness. But did anything really change after he came? it's difficult to know, but since the majority of "Speaker"'s plot revolved around the family's dysfunctional tendencies, I came into this book thinking that the family would be different. Instead, everybody has just grown more and more stuck in their ways and remain even more stubborn about their views than ever. I know that this was probably because Card wanted to have a bunch of characters with widely different voices, but it felt slightly redundant.
And of course, Card uses his characters to talk about his own beliefs and philosophies which was alright at first, but after 5 pages of Wang-mu's or Miro's inner monologues about life and what it is or isn't, it grows stale. I preferred when the characters actually engaged in dialogue with each other on these issues, but the inner monologues sounded a bit too much like Card's own voice.
So, this is my first foray into Ender's universe (multiverse?) and I have enjoyed all three of these books in different ways. It is good Sci-fi for me because I don't need an astro- or quantum physics degree in order to be able to enjoy them. The plotting of this book is good, but I didn't really believe that the characters were ever actually in danger from the fleet, and so it felt less urgent to me than "Speaker" did. This book is leading up to "Children of the Mind" and the ending definitely makes the book feel like a middle book. The story is what will make me keep going in this series when I have time for it, but there are just so many books and so little time. I would recommend Xenocide to Sci-fi fans with a warning about not having too high expectations.