| Speaker for the Dead | |
|---|---|
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Author |
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Publication date |
1986 |
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Genre |
Science fiction |
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Series |
Ender |
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Preceded by |
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Followed by |
Xenocide |
1986 sequel to Ender's Game, therefore the second of the Ender's saga.
Length[]
371 standard pages, I think[1].
First read (May 2013)[]
Finished, May 28th 2013.
Progress graph, generated by Goodreads but altered to the standard page count by me.
Format[]
Kindle, had a few weird spelling mistakes and one entire duplicated passage, so a bit nervous about its overall quality.
Journal[]
Started it on May 24th, after finishing Ender's Game, and finished it on the 28th having read it every day at 'Off the Tracks' festival, and in a flurry once I got back.
Definitely great sci-fi, I really enjoyed it. There were annoyances, in particular the continued prevalence of Catholicism (and generally the lack of advancement technologically and socially) in three thousand years (that's the amount of time that separates us from the Bronze Age[2]), the lack of explanation for how a tree could possibly think or move of its own accord, which I think defies scientific knowledge enough that the characters should have at least wondered about it, and the Ender's blasé proclamation that he has an all-powerful AI on his side capable of running circles around all of humanity.
I really liked Jane, though, I especially enjoyed her chapter and it effectively soothed my initial irritation at the inclusion of an omnipotent AI with no backstory, explanation, or precedent. I would have liked more of her for definite, and it did leave unfinished her initial intentions with Ender. Maybe that's for the sequels.
All in all, it springboarded from Ender's Game to deliver an interesting message effectively and enjoyably!
Rating[]
Reading record[]
Previous book: Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game
Next book: Ted Chiang, The Lifecycle of Software Objects
Ratings, awards, mentions and recommendations[]
Hugo and Nebula award winner.
Said by one redditor to be the reason Card wrote Ender's Game, and according to TV Tropes the author himself has said this[3].
Links and references[]
- ↑ An apparently complete PDF version I found was 715123 characters long.
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_millennium_BC
- ↑ By Card's admission, Ender's Game was expanded from its short story form just to set up Speaker for the Dead.