My Goodreads Review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Many sequels are written because either (1) the author is hungry and needs money, (2) the author is lazy and doesn’t want to start from scratch with a new story, or (3) the author is greedy and wants to milk their addicted fans for all their lunch money. Orson Scott Card might be hungry, lazy, or greedy, but, regardless, Speaker for the Dead might very well be a better book than Ender’s Game.*
The book imaginatively explores what happens when the human race discovers that they aren’t the only sentient creatures left in the universe, a reaction particularly complicated by a widespread guilt after wiping out the first sentient creatures (the “Buggers”) encountered 3000 years ago (in Ender’s Game). Card weaves history, political theory, social theory, and scientific philosophy in extrapolating on how the human race balances its interest in these creatures with their fear of another war. Card seems to know his science too and integrates creative evolutionary ideas as well as explorations into scientific integrity into the story quite well.
*Card actually developed the gist of Speaker for the Dead before he wrote Ender’s Game and never expected it to be a sequel.
2 responses so far ↓
[...] Orson Scott Card with his “Piggies” in Speaker for the Dead, Richard Adams invents a believable and fascinating culture around a non-human species. Card had a [...]
Hi DJ, it’s Drew’s mom saw you on the computer how are you