A review by rhganci
Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

4.0

Hard to say. Deep, deep, deep thoughts on human consciousness and behavior, on racism, on self-importance and self-preservation. About identity and self-concept, about religion, about what is possible and what is not. And about perception—the whole Chinese pantheon thing on the planet Path was a very good, harsh, and realistic study of perception. This may be the thickest piece of science fiction I have ever read, and I read it slowly, because I just couldn’t go fast. So much to process. So much to understand. So many observations to relate to the real world. And through it all, Ender remains Ender. The re-introduction of Peter at the end of the book made for a great last 100 pages; perhaps CotM will have more with the neo-Peter. It really brought the old Ender back, the one from the early chapters of EG, who struggles with his identity and the realization that there are elements of Peter within him, just as there are elements of him within Peter. I feel like I got a lot out of it, even if I didn’t enjoy it as much as the other two. Maybe that’s not the point, but…I guess it’s just hard for me to process so soon after reading it. It is hard to imagine wanting to read this book again, because the plot and characters are really quite simple. The ethics and morality and humanity are the complicated elements, and, because of the great execution, they are what make the book great. And it was a great book, for what it was. It’s not a far-flung or sensationalized or humorous story—it’s a deep story, one that attempts to look at a tremendous amount of thematic material. With dialogue rampant, and some very well-drawn characters, I as the reader felt like I could follow Ender through these events and draw some conclusions of my own. I especially love Jane’s observation that the only way to get someone to stop doing something is to find a way to make him or her stop wanting to do it—and in evaluating the conclusion of the book, perhaps that is the core idea behind Xenocide after all—and what an idea it is.