Title: Speaker for the DeadAuthor: Orson Scott Card
Publisher: Tor Books, August 15, 1994 (first published in 1986)
Pages: Paperback, 382
Series: Ender’s Saga #2
Book Synopsis (from Goodreads): 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.
Book Review
Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead is quite a different story from Ender’s Game, but it’s a great one. The setting is new, the characters are mostly all new and Ender is 3,000 years older (sort of). Unlike the first book, my favorite parts of this book have almost nothing to do with Ender. Rather, I’m all about the aliens in this one.
Much of this story takes place before Ender even arrives, which gives the reader a great chance to acclimate to the new surroundings. We are now on the planet Lusitania and we’re even further in the future. There are so many new and wonderful human characters in this book and each has their own separate identity; I both loved and hated most of them. (I think I also picked up a bit of Portuguese from reading this book!)
The alien characters, aka the “Piggies” are extremely complex and mysterious while at the same time very lovable. Never could I have imagined reading a book in which I care so much about the aliens (maybe more than the people!). Perhaps the best thing about this book is that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out the twist at the end so it was a real and unpredictable surprise ending which I love.
I really loved this book – it’s one of those books you wish didn’t have to end. If you’ve read Ender’s Game and loved it, I think you”ll love this one, too.
[Side note: I have read the next two in the series, but my advice is that if you want to remember the good times, stop after Speaker for the Dead and that way you can always think of Ender fondly.]