kbkbkbkbkb's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Chapter 2 Ender is conversing with a female student. Mid sentence he calls her "he" in both the audiobook version and the print edition I have multiple times.
Chapter 3 Novinahs character constantly changes. She starts off as a loner and seems content with being an outsider. After she decides she just needs to delete all her work (because for some reason if anyone finds out what she knows, they will die, even if they keep the info to themselves the pig aliens will magically kill them?),she gets upset that now she can't marry anyone because she would be forced to share what we knows with them. Despite the fact that she wants to know one to know, she contacts a speaker hoping they will come figure everything out. Please make up your mind. Characters can be indecisive but when it's back and forth constantly for an entire chapter and it's so against everything she is as a character so far, it makes no sense. It ruins the story.
I'm also confused. Is speaker a religious role or not? In Enders Game, it is. In this book it is but then it isn't but then it is again. Being indecisive about the plot of your book makes for a terrible story.
And how is the universe so accepting and protective of other aliens and their culture but at the same time ridiculously close minded about religion? On a Catholic planet you can only be Catholic. You can only do what Catholics do. Women aren't allowed to spend time with men unless they marry them....
No wonder I've never been recommended these books by anyone over 12 or by anyone that wasn't male. They are so awful.
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Religious bigotry
Lots of sexism.jessthanthree's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent and Child death
Moderate: Torture, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Cultural appropriation
nrogers_1030's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Grief, Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Infidelity, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Incest
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Colonisation, Xenophobia, Injury/injury detail, and Alcoholism
Minor: Infertility, War, Religious bigotry, and Body horror
runitsthepopo's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Speaker for the Dead: 4.75/5 stars
My few criticisms are that it took a long while for things to pick up, and I still don't understand why Miro was given the story that he was, unless there's a sequel involving him that I'm not aware of. At the end, it seemed everyone was given a happy ending aside from him.
"They're afraid of the same thing you fear, when you look up and see the stars fill up with humans They're afraid that someday they'll come to a world and find that you have got there first."
"We don't want to be there first," said Human. We want to be there too."
And that's when I stared at the page for a good half-minute, struck by how much I was feeling. It didn't stop there. I continued tearing up when the piggies learned that Libo and Pipo were in pain as they died, when they cried out in grief because they realized that their honored friends had spent their last moments in fear, when Ender is told that he'll have to kill again, that he'll have to kill Human, when Human embraces the gift Ender gives him, consoling Ender with the fact that he'll be living his third life, the life of light. When Ender admits to himself that Human will still be dead to him, no matter the facts.
The piggies are so undoubtedly alien. The mystery of their culture and biology was the biggest driving force for my reading the early parts of the book. But during their first meeting with Ender, they come alive. They are still alien, but so painfully human too.
And that's the point, I suppose. The narrative keeps coming at you with the Hierarchy of Foreignness, with the question of "Are the piggies ramen or varelse?" You continue to ask yourself, at what point do the piggies become sentient, mature creatures? But in one chapter, you realize that it was never a question of how advanced their society was, but a question of "At what point will humans see themselves in the piggies?"
Graphic: Animal death and Colonisation
Moderate: Abandonment, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Genocide, Infertility, Pregnancy, Racism, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
bencaroline's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Gore and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Infertility, Medical content, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual violence, Ableism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, and Genocide
beachbuddy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Body horror, Death, and Genocide
Minor: Religious bigotry