Speaker for the Dead

Date Finished: July 6, 2012                                                          

Genre: Sci-fi / Aliens

Ender finds himself in a place called Trondheim where he finds a new friend named Jane.  Jane is special in the way that she has nearly no limitations to her existence.  She helps guide Ender into a new world where he plans to uncover mysteries as well as possibly start a new life for the Hive Queen in order to resurrect the buggers he once nearly eliminated in the xenocide.  The one thing that Ender must lose on his journey is time with his sister and her children. 

Back Cover:

In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: the Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War. Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens ways are strange and frightening…again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the dead who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery…and the truth.

Let me start off by saying I was really excited to read this book after having read Ender’s Game twice in the course of the past 10 years.  Why did it take me so long to read this?  I simply didn’t come across a copy of it until I went to the bookstore back in March of 2012.

This book started out kind of slow and didn’t feel much at all like an Ender book.  This isn’t anywhere close to being anything that Ender’s Game was, in my heart.  After reading the reviews on the back of the book I was pretty intrigued.  They were saying this book was better than Ender’s Game; I have to strongly disagree.  A friend of mind also said this is one of her favorite Ender’s books.  After having read this I can see why she enjoyed it more than I did.  Before you jump to conclusions and think I hated this book, allow me to tell you that I didn’t.

This book brings a few new characters into play, as well as a new species of aliens that is more interesting toward the end of the book.  The problem with this was getting me interested enough to keep reading.  I started this book back in May 2012, and I didn’t finish it until July 2012, mostly because I had nothing else to do but read, so I just decided to finish it.

I did enjoy some of the new characters that came from this, for instance Jane.  Jane’s got a personality that I can instantly connect with, for what reason I can’t explain, nor would I want to give anything away.

So why did my friend find this book so intriguing?  My only guess is that it’s got many elements that base themselves in Biology, which is part of her major.  It deals with diseases and evolution of species.  It was interesting enough, but given my lack of interest in that particular science, it just didn’t capture me as much as it would with anyone who might enjoy the concepts it brings into play.

With all of that being said, read this for no other reason than to continue Ender’s Saga.  You might find that this one meets your interests more than Ender’s Game did.  It also might be interesting enough if you enjoyed the first book.  Just don’t do what I did and expect it to be a repeat of what went on in Ender’s Game because you will be severely disappointed.

Shame on anyone who thinks evil of this.