Speaker for the Dead

By Orson Scott Card

            In the second book of the Ender series, Ender has been traveling for ~20 years and Ender has journeyed far into the depths of space.  Due to his near light speed travel (time is slower when you move faster – see Einstein), 3000 years have passed on Earth since he wiped out the buggers.  Ender’s sister Valentine is traveling with him, and Ender is trying to absolve himself of his wrongdoings by searching for a home for the Hive Queen, the last of the Buggers from the first book.  Ender’s writing has also spawned a religion of sorts, and Ender is the equivalent of their priest: A speaker for the dead.  Soon, Ender is called to speak at a funeral on the planet Lusitania. 

            The colony of Lusitania is very unique to other colonized planets.  Most notably are the pequeninos (piggies), a native species which are being extensively studied by the humans that have colonized the planet.  The xenologers (those who study aliens) follow a code to not interfere with the piggies, not transfer knowledge, and basically just observe with minimal interference.  Upon initial colonization of Lusitania, it was discovered that the planet harbored a devastating virus.  Novinha’s parents (Gusta and Cida) ultimately discovered a treatment for the descoldada virus, and have become saints to the people of Lusitania.  Unfortunately this cure did not come soon enough to save themselves.  Novinha, now an orphan, follows in her parents footsteps and begins her studies at a young age with father and son xenologers, Pipo and Libo.  Pipo is eventually murdered by the piggies, and Novinha decides to hide the bulk of her research because she is afraid that her discoveries could lead to the death of others that she cares about.  She marries a monster named Marcão and has a number of children.  Years later Marcão dies, and this is the man Ender is called to “speak” for the dead.  This is a continuation from the end of Ender’s game where he has essentially established a new religion. By “speaking for the dead” he is able to convey why people lived the way they did.  It is a form of atonement for the dead, and allows the family to come to terms with the death of their loved one.  Ender bonds with the family and begins preparing to speak on Marcão’s death.  Ender discovers many secrets Novinha has hidden, and shakes the foundation of Novinha’s family.  While on Lusitania, Ender is also trying to learn about the piggies.  With Ender’s help, the people of Lusitania face a number of ethical questions about their behavior with the piggies.  Ultimately, they must make a difficult decision about living with the piggies, or face the judgement of the Starways Congress.

            From what I have read about the Ender’s Game series, Ender’s Game was written to establish a character for the subsequent books.  I must say that aside from the connections overtly established in the book, I felt that Ender could have been any character.  I noticed and felt little connection to the character which I had become so familiar with in both Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow.  While this would not be an issue in most cases, because the previous books were written to give a backstory to the main character, the connection between the characters should be well established.  (Note: after reading Xenocide, Ender’s background is much more important for the plotline.  The books begin to deal with the relationships between species, and the ethical considerations.  I’ll speak on this later in my review of Xenocide).  While this book was enjoyable, I felt that it was somewhat unfortunate that it could have been a brand new character instead of our familiar Ender.  Overall, I felt this was a significant drop off in quality from Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow.  This wasn’t a terrible read, but I’m starting to think that you can just read Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow and be fulfilled.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 Bunsen Burners

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