Teaser

Ender Wiggin was the monster who committed Xenocide. Andrew Wiggin is a speaker for the dead, committed only to remembering the lives of the fallen. Somewhere between the two lies the truth of history’s most famous man . . .

Review

Common wisdom has it that, while Ender’s Game is a true classic of the genre, it is Speaker for the Dead that is the better novel. After that, some would argue the series takes a downward turn, or perhaps merely loses some of its sparkle. The second book, however, is almost universally acclaimed. Just look at all the awards it has won if you want proof. It’s with that in mind that I decided to continue with Orson Scott Card after having a mixed reaction to Ender’s Game. Reading the Enderverse was set up to be my big reading project for 2024.

Fellow readers, I made a a mistake. Speaker for the Dead is one of the most infuriating and lacklustre sequels I’ve come across in recent years. I’d have been better off stopping at Ender’s Game.

The basic premise of the book, the implicit promise it picks up on from the end of the previous book, is good. How do you live with yourself after committing xenocide. Beyond that, how do you live with other people? What happens to everyone involved in the process of weaponing children to fight a war that didn’t need fighting? I would have loved to read that book, but that’s not what Card has written.

For some reason, Spekaer for the Dead is set three thousand years after Ender’s Game. Ender is around thanks to the vagaries of long-distance travel, as is his sister, but everyone else is dead. Every single person complicit in the xenocide is let off the hook. There’s no development of the relationships or politics of that situation. None whatsoever. Instead we see the name Ender transformed into a bogeyman that everyone reviles. It’s a bit like me being angry at Julius Cease for his conquest of Britain. You would think at such a far remove that there would be mystery or even nuance around Ender’s actions. But no, everyone acts like it was only yesterday that he murdered a bunch of aliens, treating the name on the same level as the Devil himself. There is no serious consideration of the actions taken against the Formics.

I say ‘serious,’ because there is an argument over those events, but it takes place entirely within a religious context. I am not a Biblical scholar, so I can’t tell you much about Calvinism versus Lutheranism. The basic gist I got from this book is that one believes actions are inherently good or evil, whereas the other believes that a person’s intentions matter just as much. That could have led to an interesting debate for Ender. But wait, what’s this? Ender straight up says if he’d known the truth of what people wanted him to do, he’d have done it anyway. So all that philosophical waffling was a complete waste of time. Oh yes, and we’ve also undercut the entire point of Ender’s Game to boot.

The rest of the book is concerned with human relations with a new alien race, but since this is largely used as a signpost upon which to hang Ender’s guilt (which he feels despite saying he’d willing do it all again), there’s no real substance to this. The primary arguments here are also religious, what with this particular colony being devoutly religious. Yes, this is a far-flung colony. Beause three thousand years have passed and nothing from the first book matters anymore. Instead of a reckoning for humanity, we spend our days among the members of a fanatical cult, worrying about souls. If you are a Biblical scholar, you’ll probably be thrilled by all this. I am not, and I spent the book alternating between boredom and anger.

In a way, I’m glad that Speaker for the Dead brought out such a strong reaction from me. If it has been another okay book, I might well have become stuck with the Enderverse for the long haul. As it happens, Speaker for the Dead is such an infuriating waste of potential, I find myself feeling liberated. I will not be continuing with the story of Ender Wiggin, which means I’ll have plenty of time for good books instead.

Book Stats

• The Ender Saga #2
• First Published 1986
• 314 Pages