Speaker for the Dead is a great book by author Orson Scott Card.
In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin was gone, and a powerful voice emerged: The Speaker of the Dead, who told the true story of the Bug-Man Wars. Years later, a second alien race was discovered by Portuguese colonists on the planet Lusitania. But once again the ways of the aliens are strange and terrifying… once again, humans are dead. And only the Speaker of the Dead, also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, has the courage to face mystery… and truth. Orson Scott Card injects wisdom into this story by placing his characters in social, religious, and cultural context.
Hide the author’s final take on the sequel to Ender’s Game, which also includes an original postscript written and recorded by the author himself, Orson Scott Card!.
Ender’s Game is like a story full of clever action. Speaker for the Dead is like a murder mystery mixed with analysis of small-town family life.
Speaker for the Dead is fun, but it doesn’t sound like a true sequel to Ender’s Game.
Orson Scott Card wrote Shadow Saga years after Ender’s Game / Speaker for the Dead, but Shadow Saga is like a much more authentic sequel to the excellent Ender’s Game. Shadow Saga features the same characters as Ender’s Game, the same time period, and the same style of action.
It’s hard to give a review without spoiling the plot, but it feels almost dishonest to call Speaker for the Dead a sequel to Ender’s Game. The time frame is different, the protagonist has a different attitude, and the book has a very different pacing and focus.
After reading some reviews for this book, I didn’t want to try it at first. However, I bought it and read it and was fascinated by it. To be honest, I think the previous reviewers who have heavily criticized this book must have been at least a bit dense. Either that or they find it difficult to ‘drill into’ anything more complex than Enid Blyton. An excellent book in which Orson Scott Card presents himself as a true Genius.
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Speaker for the Dead
