Everybody is crazy and also brilliantly smart about science but oh so stupid about people. Ender is amazing at reading people until he isn’t for a couple decades for some stupid reason (maybe another conflict was needed despite there already being 127 others?). Not Card’s best. I’m honestly just reading and listening to them for pure entertainment when I’m doing something boring. And because the narrators are amazing.

What if a whole new species was found living on a completely different planet? In the book Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, there is a planet called Lusitania that holds a human colony, but humans aren’t the only creatures that live on this planet. There is a native species, known as pequininos that thrive there as well. They are highly intelligent, and learn human languages very quickly. A virus that is fatal to the humans happens to be the virus that the pequininos need to survive. The numbers of humans that are living on the colony are barely avoiding death by this terrible disease, and when Starways Congress hears about the descolada, they decide to destroy all life on Lusitania to avoid letting the disease get free and wipe out all of humanity. The ships are on their way, and those on Lusitania have little time to plan a way off of the planet.
tI found this book very enjoyable. It is a sequel to the “Ender” series, and was written by a very well known author that has written many bestselling science fiction novels before writing this one. I liked this book because it shows the consequences of when a situation is judged without looking further into it. I also enjoyed it because it has several scientific theories that were very interesting to think about. For example, the scientists in the book believe that there is something even smaller than an atom. They call it a philote. To them, the entire universe consists of philotes. Some scientists even think that the philotes are what make up our individual will. This is one of the best and most interesting books I have ever read. It has many twists and different approaches that I would have never thought of before. This book is also an exciting page turner that I could not put down. Discovery after discovery kept me reading on, and new questions were constantly coming up, and by the end of the book, there were so many questions that I never even considered, much less came up with answers for.
tThis book has given me ideas that I would have never thought of myself. It is different from most other books, and that is what makes it so interesting. This book I especially recommend to those who are into science fiction, but anyone that prefers simply fiction can enjoy this novel as well. This book can teach people problems that we find in our everyday lives, such as discrimination, violence, and even teamwork. This book is very thought provoking and can be viewed in so many different ways, that it is truly amazing. I absolutely loved this book, and I usually don’t reread books, but I would be glad to read this book again.

To by była bardzo dobra książka, gdyby nie zakończenie, które wypada z rękawa i wszystko rujnuje.

1.5/5
This book...was nothing but filler.  Children Of the Mind better be good because this was ridiculous. It was less of a book and more of an essay written in a question and answer way to let the reader know what he thinks about ethical issues. Issues that I personally have never thought about as hard as he so obviously has. It just went on and on with no hope of ever ending; even after taking a month break from the book it was no less mind-numbing. Yes,  Orson Scott Card sets up the scene for the next book, but it didn't have to take this long to get there. In fact, it shouldn't have.

Characters
So the blurb starts with this: The war for survival of the planet Lusitania will be fought in the hearts of a child named Gloriously Bright. But I'm just not sure how that (if it even does) plays out in the book. Han Quing-jao was a character that didn't really have much of a point. I guess it was interesting(?) to see the point of view from a random person on a completely different planet, but it just made the story unnecessarily longer. I guess there was a point to Si Wang-mu and Han Fei-tzu's existence, but they could have been easily replaced or at least added in the end instead of writing an entire book on their introduction. I don't care about these people nearly as much as I care about Ender, but then again, Ender spends the entire book whining about how he doesn't want to lose Jane or Novhina.

Ethical Issues
Ender, Miro, and Jane spend one whole chapter talking about free will. One. Whole. Chapter. Seems like ever other couple of pages there's an argument about God and the purpose of pequininos. Why are we spending so much time talking about these things in a book? Look, I get that it's science fiction and all, but we don't need every single aspect from your point of view, or the characters, or whatever. Nobody normal goes around suddenly starting conversations like this in the real world:

“You will soon learn that there ARE no strange stars, no alien skies"
- No?
"Only skies and stars, in all their varieties. Each one with its own flavour, and all flavours good"
- Now YOU think like a tree. Flavours! Of skies!
"I have tasted the heat of many stars, and all of them were sweet”"


Dialogue In General
Really, maybe I'm completely daft and dimwitted, but I don't go around speaking in either riddles or proverbs. Some of the things the characters say sound pretty cool, but there's just so many of them. I can't even keep up with the actual story because I can't focus with so many empty fillers going around. I mean, even their  was like this:

“Isn't it possible, he wondered, for one person to love another without trying to own each other? Or is that buried so deep in our genes that we can never get it out? Territoriality.”
Oh, I think about that all the time, too. Definitely.

“Human beings remain grubs all their lives.”


Are none of these characters normal? I mean, I know there's no such thing as "normal," but come on. All of these characters are variations of the same person.

I finally decided to rate it one star down, though it wasn't completely a 1-star rating, but a 1.5, because while there were too many words, at least it set the stage for the 4th book.

Where to start with this book? I've enjoyed several other Card novels, and so started into this novel hopeful for the continued journey of Ender; however this book was a huge disappointment. So few times I've come away from a book with as much loathing for plot elements as I have with this book.

Warning you may consider my review beyond to contain spoilers.

This is less a science fiction novel and more a painfully head beating discussion of religion; its a profoundly disappointing future in which all the backwards mysticism of religion has been allowed to produce planetary enclaves (Path, Lusitania).

The "God Spoken" of the planet Path are, from the outset, (very transparently) mentally ill (OCD, Bi-Polar), but somehow in a universe of instant communication no one has paid any attention to it until the outset of the story. The nearly endless internal moralizing monologue of the main character is repetitive (author OCD?) and ultimately doesn't really contribute to the shape of the story outside of Jane's jeopardy. Frankly it would have been a better book if the entire Path story line would have been dropped.

Catholicism discussion on Lusitania is also quite lengthy/boring and IMHO antithetical to the spirit of SCI-FI. Further, its an impossible leap to imagine that Ender, who was essentially raised secular, and is in possession of great intellect, would suddenly decide to embrace religion. Perhaps the only exception to the monotony of catholic dogma (more OCD?), can be found in the discussion of Pekininos comparison of "Third life" to the crucifixion and afterlife; quite interesting. I can't help feeling that the lethal "descolada" virus described in the story might well be an apt allegory for religious effects, however I don't think Card was trying to make that point; a shame.

Also, "Novinha" who becomes Ender's wife. is possibly one of the most jealous, belligerent, self interested, sociopathic, cruel b*tches I can imagine. Their courtship and marriage is lost in the crack between the books "Speaker for the dead" and "Xenocide", and it stretches belief that, as empathetic and intelligent person as Ender, would pick a person such as her. If Card intended Ender's action to be one of penance, for his supposed crimes, then it only makes Ender a weak and naive individual, which doesn't fit with his character. Its difficult to imagine Ender slaving himself to this snake of a women.

Some of the concepts within this book are great and deserve deeper consideration than they received (Outspace, Descolada, Filotic strands, Hive queen and Pekininos interaction), while instead the author seems to have taken pains to flog the religious horse to death, and dedicate the title characters life to the appeasement of a sociopath shrew.

SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS

I thought Ender's Game was alright. I watched the movie mid-way into reading it, which makes me like it even more. (Though I do like the movie better because 1. It looked like there were more than two girls at the school 2. Ender doesn't start killing people at freaking SIX and 3. I like that he immediately finds and does something about the Buggers instead of waiting God knows how long. Sorry, kind of off topic...)

Now I hardly got through Speaker of the Dead. I only kept reading it because the library was closed. I DID like how they spoke Portuguese or whatever in some parts, because I am taking Spanish so I could understand some of it. I did think it was interesting that the pequinos turned into trees or whatever. (I am not going to think too hard about how that works.) That being said, I didn't like that Ender was suddenly thirty or something. I liked Ender in the first book, and honestly they don't seem that different. I guess my problem was that he seemed slightly mature-er, but that's it. What was the point of aging him up, except to have a love interest?
And there were a lot of stupid things I didn't like. Why didn't those kids just ASK the pigs why they killed their friends? Where they just too stupid?



But I got through it.

Now in this one, I kind of gave up. What's-his-name the cripple guy was interesting, but he got old fast.

I also didn't like how Jane just abandoned Ender, and I really don't like how the author said it was like millions of years for her. (Sorry, keep bringing up the last book) If that is so, then how did she deal with him sleeping? Did he leave the device on all night? And how is an hour worse than eight?

Then (I can't remember any of their names and I read this two weeks ago, I know...) the daughter discovers the virus has feelings. I don't normally swear but BULLSHIT! VIRUSES ARE NOT ALIVE! Bacteria--you can argue that. Fungus? You bet. But viruses? NO! They are life-like, but not alive.



Even getting past that part, the only salvation were the parts with Gloriously Bright or whatever her name was. I liked that she was always fighting the "gods" or whatever, though I don't get what they were. Are the gods real or is it all in her head? It might have been explained later, so I won't fault them for that. Yet these chapters come right out of nowhere and seem disjointed.

I know her task is to find Jane, but she could have easily been in her own story/cut from this one, at least at the part I quit. Even though each chapter started with a Chinese symbol, they still seemed like two different stories welded together by stupidity/laziness.

A lot of the characters do really stupid things. It is not as bad as in Speaker of the Dead, but still apparent. There are numerous plot holes. I am alright if a few things don't make sense, as long as while I'm reading the book I don't notice. But these things haunted me as I learned them.

RANT APPROACHING

First off, how is it that in 2,000 years, only Valery or whatever her name is and Ender travel enough to be really old? I mean, maybe no one is as old as they are, but anyone going from any planet is probably 200 years old. How come the colony people aren't really old? How come no one else wandered? I know people don't like to move all that much, but someone's gotta be keeping the moving companies in business!

Second, why does everyone hate Ender? I mean, HE WAS A KID! 11, I believe! Did the history books forget to mention he was tricked into doing it? Huh? Did Peter tell everyone he was evil? Is there any rhyme or reason? If anything, you'd think people would be SYMPATHIZING with him! How on Earth did everyone magically forget? And don't say, oh it was thousands of years ago...Because so was Jesus, and apparently they still teach about him in the future exactly the same way in this book. Heck, even the languages haven't evolved.



Third, why do they care what the pig things do? As long as they don't try to go to human inhabited planets, does it really matter? They can set down rules. Does that answer really have to be genocide--I mean Xenocide? (it's not sci-fi unless we make up a word!)

Also, what is up with all the religion? And why is speaking for the Dead suddenly a religion too? And why did Ender become a priest/speaker/whatever? And how is it a religion if Ender isn't religious? Isn't that like writing a book about the people who died in holocaust and then suddenly everyone wants to speak for their dead relatives? Is there any rhyme or reason?
Will we ever find out?

There are also a lot of theories in this that just lose me/I don't care about. I know it is Sci-fi, but do we have to get philosophical when two of the three only know self-aware beings are about to get wiped out?

In all, I don't think I will finish this book or any of the other ones by this author.
The fact that I learned the author is homophobic just rubs salt in the wound. (Though I have to question if it hypocritical, since in Ender's Game, Ender is kissed by another boy and some other stuff that could be taken the wrong way ensues. Just saying ;) It's Ok Card, you don't have to hate on others to make us believe you are straight. There is nothing wrong with being true to yourself. That or I am reading too deep into this...)

All things aside, I don't like this book.

I could probably think of more things, but I am getting tired. If you like this book, I won't fault you. Maybe you stuck it out to the end and it got real better. For me, though, I can't say it lived up to the first or even the second.

By the way, the lolcats have no rhyme or reason, I just like them. If Card doesn't have to make sense, neither do I! :)

Well, that was disappointing.
I loved Ender's game and Speaker for the Dead (for completely different reasons, but I happen to love both strategy/war sci-fi and philosophy sci-fi). This book however...

First of all, I could not bring myself to care for the Path. It seemed weird that the lower class had not rebelled yet (and I know that's because of religion, but... I don't know, at some point religion becomes insufficient, and revolution happens. Just read Marx.)
Qing-jao was a pretentious childish little genius who kept whining and whose decisions made no sense. Oh, and exactly how did she manage to find out about Demosthenes and Ender ? Because I assumed Jane could just erase all the things that connected them to Valentine and Andrew, but apparently not. I HATED her. She refused to understand what everyone was trying to tell her, and she was way too goddamn condescending towards other people, especially her father and Wang-mu. But what made me dislike those chapters was mostly the fact that they were so boring. Oh, and I think it makes no sense to have a whole planet of super-intelligent people. Just keep them separated, imagine what it would be like if they turned on the Congress ! And OCD is NOT enough to control them.
Well, Wang-mu was pretty likeable, though she seemed to switch personalities sometimes (from little servant who will obey your every command to rebel intelligent girl with her own mind and opinions in a millisecond). I wish she had had more of a development rather than going back and forth between the two, but she was all right as a character. I also liked Han Fei-Tzu.

Now, about Lusitania. About 30 years have passed between this book and the last one, so all of Novinha's children are grown-up now (well, Miro is still the same age). But they still act the same. It's like they haven't evolved at all, and that made me pretty angry. Come on, what was the point in having Ender helping them in Speaker for the Dead if they are still the same ?
Quara in particular was unbearable. I just wanted to strangle her every time she said anything. Her actions were reckless and made no sense, she couldn't justify them (she just kept saying the same thing in the hope that it would convince someone). And yes, I do believe you are justified in killing a species that might be intelligent when it is planning (consciously or not) to do the same to you. The descolada virus was going to destroy both humans and buggers, and it would also have destroyed the ecosystem of every planet it landed on. And Quara thought it was right to help it. Oh, and apparently she's just acting this way to get the attention of her family (or to get back at them). Hum, she's thirty-five years old. At some point, you need to stop being a child.
I still liked Quim and Olhado, mostly because apparently they decided to move on and stop acting like kids. Ela also behaved like an adult, despite her constant bickering with Novinha and Quara, but her role was the same as before : the one who calms everyone down.
Oh, and speaking of Novinha. She was already crazy and a bit unlikeable in the last book, but whoa. I don't care about her, and I still don't see how Ender as a character could have married her.
Jane, on the other hand, had an actual character arc in this, having doubts about herself, being afraid to die, wanting to save everyone. She is by far the most likeable character. It was interesting to see how she kept everything together, reassured everyone, and still had her own worries and desires.
Miro spent way too much time feeling sorry for himself. And yes, I do realise it is awful to be paralysed, but it doesn't allow him to be mad at everyone (including people who have been nothing but kind to him).
The Hive Queen and her species were fascinating, and I wish more time had been spent on them. The best part of the novel (in my opinion) was when Ender took Valentine, Miro and Plikt to see her, and the few conversations between Ender and her.

This book was also way too long and too preachy. I also disagree with some of OSC's philosophical ideas on religion, which were everywhere in this book. I feel like the Ender-Jane connection is supposed to be the god in this universe, and it just seemed wrong to me, because Jane is always defined by her connection to either Miro or Ender, and I think she should have been treated a bit more as her own character, since she's as much of a person (in the philosophical sense) as they are. But most of his philosophical ideas on the ethical dilemmas (Can we/should we wipe out an entire species to protect ourselves ? Are we all determined ? Can we/should we modify the DNA of another species to ensure our own safety ?) are very interesting. They just took way too long to explain, and it made the characters analyse one another every time any one of them did or said anything. The concepts aren't difficult to understand, just explain them and let the story move on ! As a reader, I wish this book had left more space for my own thoughts and interpretations, but here everything is explained (in length), and it gets pretty frustrating pretty fast.
And the science stops making sense at one point. Especially since Jane is the solution to everything... If you're following, Jane = God = Science. Kind of. And you get pages and pages of everyone discussing philotic connections and their nature, and ask where Jane came from (which you can just guess if you've read the other two books... it's not that difficult.) And then science stops being science and becomes either magic or God's will, I'm not sure.

Now, the ending. (This is just going to be a giant spoiler, sorry). So, if you want something, just make a wish and God will make it happen. And in this case, God is the connection Jane-Ender. What the hell ? Even Miro gets his young body again, and Ender's mind spawns two beings just because. Why ? I get that it is because both Peter and Valentine are a part of him, but so much that they actually exist as patterns in his head that are separate from him ? It would have made more sense if he had created a body for Jane, because she partly exists in him.
And it still seems to me that they spread the recolada virus on the planet without asking the pequeninos what they thought about it. They just asked the ones who were close to them (who would obviously say yes), but shouldn't the others have something to say about it ? Just because they are fanatics doesn't mean their opinion no longer counts... And I think the virus should have been spread even if they had disagreed ; after all, they were planning to wipe out humanity. But still, it seems unfair.

Long story short, this was a huge disappointment after two great books. I would actually give it 2,5/5. Most of the characters were unlikeable, the discussions on science and God were endless (though most of the philosophy is still very interesting), the Path storyline is boring. But the story itself is still compelling, and the species OSC created (Jane, the Buggers and the pequeninos) are all interesting and unique. I will read the last book, to have the end of the story.

This book is masterful and I'm extremely mad at myself for not finishing this series so much sooner....but then again, maybe it's good I waited.

My story with the Enders Game books seems to have a long history. I started Enders Game in high school. Ended up buying the audio for my wife years later. Then after she finished, we listened to Speaker for the Dead. And now, finally, another full set of years later, I'm finally finished with Xenocide.

To be honest it might be a good thing I waited. If I had read Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide while I was still in high school I probably would have sluffed this series off and never given it another thought. Enders Game was fast paced action with kids in a battle school! The latter 2 books are philosophical thought provokers that encourage you to think. That was not high school me.

With that out of the way I have to say how utterly impressed with this book I am. It has many ideas that make you question a lot, but in a good way. It challenges you on what is good and what is evil and what one person thinks does not diminish someone's else's differing thought. It has scientific ideas that are explained in a way stupid 'ol me could understand, and almost made me feel smart that I understood it. It's also a story about family, and struggles that a family has and how no matter how much you think you're right, you can still be wrong. After all, everyone is the hero to their own story.

With that being said this book is obviously not packed with action, but nevertheless I still didn't ever want to stop reading. I couldn't wait to pick the book back up and read more of the characters story. It was an expertly weaved tale from beginning to end and Card tells that tale with artfully crafted strokes of the pen, like a painter creating a beautiful painting. And it all culminated together in a wonderful way. There is a lot left open at the end of the book, but it still somehow managed to have a satisfying ending.

I was very pleased with this book, obviously. It might be one of my new favorites. But even with that being said I don't think this is a book for everyone. If you somehow found this review after you've read Speaker for the Dead and you liked that book, this is more similar to that, but better, in my humble opinion. If you like books that make you think and challenge you through other people's stories, then definitely give this a go.

I'm so happy I read this. And I'm so happy I ended up reading this now instead of way earlier in my life when I wouldn't have appreciated it. It also makes me wonder why I'm not reading more OSC books. Shame on me.

A good 5 stars, despite the ending. But let's begin with the good parts:

First and foremost, the book is a great exploration of diversity - in thoughts, behavior, appearance and the meaning we attach to actions. In the current world where everyone is offended, I believe more people should read Xenocide and think about meanings and intentions before raising alarm.

Then, we finally learn more about the society and origins of the alien races, which is always pleasant - I always like some back story and worldbuilding.

The bad parts were the rushed ending and the frigging resurrection of Peter. If a certain character took a turn towards evil and domination, I would have understood it, but to resurrect characters just to have someone take over the world seems very silly to me. Let's hope the next book salvages that by exploring choices and ethics, as the last few pages suggest it will. EDIT: I may have mistaken those last few pages with the early pages of the next book as I had started reading them back-to-back before writing this review).

The second worst part is that Novinha totally degraded into a horrible character that I simply can't imagine a gentle being like Ender ever loving. Actually, noone could, which makes her marriage to Ender a total farce from the start.

All in all, the philosophy and worldbuilding are good enough so that I am willing to overlook the silly plot devices. I hope they are sufficient for you too.

Three months ago I was introduced to Orson Scott Card through his book “Ender’s Game.” Seeing how awesome his envisioning of modern technology (a lot of which have come true since the book was published) and study of human nature was, I eagerly jumped into the second book of the series, “Speaker for the Dead.”

This book was even better!!

True, it was not as action backed as “Ender’s Game” but nonetheless it was an amazing book that dove deep into the human behavior. How does one treat an alien race that is different than one’s own? How about a human who is reacting out of guilt and secrecy? Can you learn to understand someone, even when they are ‘evil’ and do bad things?

It was with great joy that I picked up the third book in the series, “Xenocide” (especially since book two ended before everything was resolved).

Sadly enough, I have to report that “Xenocide” failed to uphold the same standard as the first two… =(

Well, kind of… the first three-fourth of the book was fairly good as Card tried hard to explore how one could live side-by-side with aliens, who by their very existence, places your life in danger. He also explores the nature of life and what it means to be alive.

I grant you that these are not easy questions/topics to explore…so some grace must be given to Card for tackling such concepts. However I must say that Card ended up backing himself into a corner with tons of major problems for his characters that could not be solved easily…

So instead of letting them die or having them fail, he jumps the shark and solves 95% of the problems with one action.

[Spoiler Alert!]

Normally I let an author get away with as there are times when something has to give…yet… when Card has his characters recreating their bodies, figuring out faster-than-light travel, bring 3,000 year old dead people to life, and developing new forms of a virus by simply wishing for it… sorry, I can’t go there… that is a tad much for me.

True, he develops a huge ‘scientific’ theory/argument for such wishing…but no…can’t buy it. =?

Sorry, Mr. Card, but you lost me.

The complexities of Ender’s universe continue to compound! This book is incredibly complex, but quickly following Ender’s Game and then Speaker for the Dead it works. Looking at that trilogy, it is quite remarkable how a relatively simple beginning transformed into something so intricate by this third book.

I listened to the audiobook and will say I have not enjoyed listening to multiple voice actors. Depending on the chapter and who is the dominating voice (in text) you get a different narrator (in audio). This can be confusing at times, but also kept pulling me out of the submersion as my mind kept jumping between the different narrators tones, trying to draw similarities between emotions and how those are expressed. There may be a justification for this approach somewhere as it is common throughout this series, but I have not seen that yet.

I loved the plot, I just hate how much it was hijacked for hysterical women. Novinha is horrible to everyone about everything, and this book just served to highlight how every single bad thing in her life had to be turned into a huge thing that everyone in Milagre had to stop the world and pay attention to. Her marriage was her own personal exhibitionist self-torture porn. She did obvious and irreparable damage to her children, but she never felt like divorcing him for their sake. Not while she had her little thing on the side. Her jealousy was insane and intolerable, and the fact that we're supposed to take her ridiculous insecurities seriously is intolerable. Hitting Miro when she was called out on her bullshit was unforgivable. And yet, like all bad people, she has the good people in her life all twisted up, wondering what they did wrong. You didn't do anything wrong, guys. She's just a human cancer. If only she would fall off the world and die.

Quara takes second place for making this book nearly unreadable. She's a histrionic hypocrite, and her insistence on her feelings being more important than her job is juvenile and shouldn't be tolerated at her age. She was treated way too leniently for her blatant treason, and then for withholding crucial information because nobody wanted to be around her. And the but about ow Ender was a bad and manipulative person was horseshit. I don't care if she says the opposite of what sh really thinks. She is a grown woman with a iob that literally thousands of lives depend on, and that trait is unacceptable. She should have spent this book in jail.

Quing-jao has a terrible case of sixteen, and appears to be run by the colony of locusts in her brain, but at least we're not supposed to take her seriously as a heroic character.

TL;DR, too many horrible women make this book nearly unreadable. It's about 45%plot, 15% awesome theory, and 40% terrible people being abusive to everyone they see because THEIR FEELINGS.