A review by mattpfarr
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
5.0
This book is certainly rivaling other great books to claim the spot of my favorite. I was amazed at how deep it was. The character work on loneliness, guilt/shame, coping behaviors, self hate was just amazing and seemed way above what I would expect in a scifi novel about alien encounters.
The story follows Ender as he goes to a planet with an alien life form to "speak the death" of a member of the human colony there. He is known as Andrew Wiggin, a speaker for the dead, which seems to be an idealogy that spawned out of his book he wrote for the buggers (anonymously of course). Ender Wiggin is renowned as a murderer who wiped out an alien race. Of course, this isn't exactly the truth but he took the role of scapegoat. The speaker for the dead idealogy has ascended to almost religous devotion which was unintended by Ender. The planet he goes to is inhabitated by an alien race which are reffered to as "piggies". Somehow this story pulls off using that term while remaining a very serious and deep tale. Which is quite impressive in itself. The "piggies" culture is truly fascinating and completely fleshed out even to the biology of the species. During this exchange we are exposed to many ideas about human culture between assumptions (which are on both sides), religious oppression both in the terms of religion being oppressive and it being oppressed, and how quickly things can escalate to militant actions. I thought the deepest part was what the purpose of the speaker for the dead was, which is that every person, no matter how horrible, has more to their story than just the evil we might see from the surface. When he spoke the death it was truly a magical experience to read. And these concepts are true for even entire races such as the buggers, piggies, and human race. When you take the time to fully understand each other, you will see much more than just the evil you assume.
I did have some issues with suspended belief with the story. Ender Wiggin is known as Andrew Wiggin, which also is his true name the whole time. Ender came from his sister's inability to say his name right as a young child. Yet this is the name he goes by despite Ender Wiggin being the most reviled name in history. Yet somehow nobody even thinks to connect them in any way. Everytime this came up, I had to suspend belief because it was ridiculous. Why didn't he just go by a different last name? That would be easy since he was essentially 3000 years old (due to how star travel works) and he already disappeared for many years anyways.
While this is technically a sequel to Ender's Game, they are completely different books. Pretty much, not even close. I really enjoyed both, but each one for different reasons. Speaker for the Dead is not an action story like Ender's Game. However, it is a gripping story with a lot of payoff and excellent themes. I am truly impressed by Scott Card's writing and character work. Highly recommend.
I listened to the audiobook and it was very high quality. The narrators switch, supposedly by view point, but sometimes it was confusing.
The story follows Ender as he goes to a planet with an alien life form to "speak the death" of a member of the human colony there. He is known as Andrew Wiggin, a speaker for the dead, which seems to be an idealogy that spawned out of his book he wrote for the buggers (anonymously of course). Ender Wiggin is renowned as a murderer who wiped out an alien race. Of course, this isn't exactly the truth but he took the role of scapegoat. The speaker for the dead idealogy has ascended to almost religous devotion which was unintended by Ender. The planet he goes to is inhabitated by an alien race which are reffered to as "piggies". Somehow this story pulls off using that term while remaining a very serious and deep tale. Which is quite impressive in itself. The "piggies" culture is truly fascinating and completely fleshed out even to the biology of the species. During this exchange we are exposed to many ideas about human culture between assumptions (which are on both sides), religious oppression both in the terms of religion being oppressive and it being oppressed, and how quickly things can escalate to militant actions. I thought the deepest part was what the purpose of the speaker for the dead was, which is that every person, no matter how horrible, has more to their story than just the evil we might see from the surface. When he spoke the death it was truly a magical experience to read. And these concepts are true for even entire races such as the buggers, piggies, and human race. When you take the time to fully understand each other, you will see much more than just the evil you assume.
I did have some issues with suspended belief with the story. Ender Wiggin is known as Andrew Wiggin, which also is his true name the whole time. Ender came from his sister's inability to say his name right as a young child. Yet this is the name he goes by despite Ender Wiggin being the most reviled name in history. Yet somehow nobody even thinks to connect them in any way. Everytime this came up, I had to suspend belief because it was ridiculous. Why didn't he just go by a different last name? That would be easy since he was essentially 3000 years old (due to how star travel works) and he already disappeared for many years anyways.
While this is technically a sequel to Ender's Game, they are completely different books. Pretty much, not even close. I really enjoyed both, but each one for different reasons. Speaker for the Dead is not an action story like Ender's Game. However, it is a gripping story with a lot of payoff and excellent themes. I am truly impressed by Scott Card's writing and character work. Highly recommend.
I listened to the audiobook and it was very high quality. The narrators switch, supposedly by view point, but sometimes it was confusing.