Dragons & Jetpacks discussion

I just finished Speaker and I am wondering what other people thought of the book?

I felt it read very differently from Ender's Game but I liked Speaker more. There was far less action but I thought Card did a great job of conveying emotional action/drama. I would have liked to see Novinha's sadness near emotional collapse in greater detail (I felt like it was rushed in the beginning) - the concept was fascinating.

I was also intrigued by a quote that went something like "Ender did not react because he knew that's what Grego wanted. Long ago, Ender had learned to not react to his emotions until he had analytically arrived at that decision as the best course of action. At that point he consciously surrendered his decisions to reacting on his emotions."

Its a trivial scene but I thought this whole idea of choosing when to engage your emotions is the ultimate blend of Spock with passion. How would one know when to 'turn off' their emotions? Would that be an analytical decision or an emotional reaction?

The only two things I did not enjoy about this book was I felt Ender was a demi-god. He could do no wrong - even when he messes up with Jane he figures everything out and understands her non-response. And I felt cheated that he only spoke Marcau's death. He never actually speaks Libo or Pipo.

I think any speaker marginalizes someone's life by condensing it into a linear narrative. Rarely do people do A make mistake B correct with C and then move on to D. Life is like a ribbon weaving through time and to truly 'speak ones death' I think one would have to capture a little of the essence of that person's own distorted grasp of the cause and effect of his/her actions.