From the Bookshelf of The Evolution of Science Fiction…

Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)

Orson Scott Card

Start date: January 1, 2025

Finish date: January 31, 2025

Discussion: Group Reads 2025

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Group Reads 2025

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What Members Thought

Dec 05, 2018 Tomislav rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, read-2-times, 5-stars

second read - 26 May 2007 - ***** I read Ender’s Game and this book and when they were new, about 20 years ago - but never went further in the series. However, Xenocide bubbled up to the top of my to-be-read list recently, and I went one chapter into it, before deciding to check out a plot synopsis of this predecessor book. I didn't remember it very well, so I then decided to re-read Speaker for the Dead. Lucky choice! This book is excellent!

It is set 3000 years after the events of Ender's Game, ...more

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May 20, 2008 Meghan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, favorites, sci-fi, science, political, library, young-adult, award-winning, audiobook, south-american

This is a reread for me and it held up very well over the years. A lot of readers don’t know or realize that this was the original story. Ender’s Game was written after to give readers a better sense of sense of who Ender was and why he does what he does.

In a lot of ways, I can see why many people prefer EG. It’s faster paced, a more recognizable world with more recognizable problems. It’s familiar and it’s fun. SotD is less so in many different ways. But it is my favorite in this series because This is a reread for me and it held up very well over the years. A lot of readers don’t know or realize that this was the original story. Ender’s Game was written after to give readers a better sense of sense of who Ender was and why he does what he does.

In a lot of ways, I can see why many people prefer EG. It’s faster paced, a more recognizable world with more recognizable problems. It’s familiar and it’s fun. SotD is less so in many different ways. But it is my favorite in this series because it hits so many points on the nose about immigration, dominant cultures, bias—in science and society, and the rippling effect of our choices on other people—intentional or not.

This second read I saw a lot of flaws on the science part. On one hand, it is common enough that scientists get so involved in the micro of their study that they fail to see the macro. And in this claustrophobic community, they lack the eyes that peer review would help point out. However, it just feels unlikely that no one (view spoiler)

The narration was uneven. I liked the multi narrators but given this community is Brazilian/Portuguese, it would have been nice if the narrators sounded somewhat South American/Portuguese. I did not like the female voice for these characters. I hardly think Valentine nor Novinha would have a wispy, breathy, girlish voice. The female narrator is a fine narrator, just not who I would have pictured for these people. The male neither.

But I do love the questions that Card asks. And there are a lot of similarities with The Sparrow in terms of our human expectations and assumptions and what that can lead to. Perhaps, until we get better with handling other cultures, we leave other life forms alone. ...more

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Jul 29, 2014 Thomas rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Orson Scott Card is one of a distressingly large class of science fiction authors whose work is best appreciated by those who can ignore the writer’s opinions and behavior regarding religion, politics, and sex. The question for a reader is not what Card believes about these issues but what his novels say about them.

Ender’s Game dramatizes the pitfalls of innocence. Young Ender commits near xenocide because he doesn’t know that the decisions he makes in simulated battle games cost lives. In Spea ...more

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Feb 20, 2011 Darlene rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, kindle, kindle-books-i-own, not-loanable

I am having a hard time writing this review as I am going through Ender withdrawal. I can't afford the next book so I will have to wait a couple weeks. I loved Speaker for the Dead. That is how it should be for funerals and wakes. Truth, simply. This gave everyone a chance to face their lives and continue to live openly.

The book isn't one that leaves you feeling completed. There are threads of plot left undone and I want to know what happens next.

Ok, it's not as though I don't have several other ...more

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Jun 03, 2008 Rope rated it liked it

This book surprised me in a couple of ways. I was expecting an "Ender's Game 2" and while Ender Wiggen is the central character in this book, it is VERY different from the style of Ender's Game. This irritated me all the way up until about halfway through the book when I finally began to appreciate it for what it was. I still didn't enjoy it as much as Ender's Game but liked it enough that I'll probably read the next book in the saga sometime. ...more

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