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Monday, August 31, 2009

Orson Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead

I would like to write a short entry for this book too. It is a sequel to Ender's Game (which kind of feels like introduction for this book).

This book is one of the books that shocked me the most. This book made me thrill. It provoked such a strong fear that I had nightmares in my dreams. It made me laugh. It made me enjoy the smallest and simplest things you can experience. It made think of what humankind will be in the future. It made me think of what is the link between technology/progress and human race. I felt chill running down my spine...

3000 thousand years in the future everyone forgot what really happened when Ender won the war against the Formics. They consider him a mass murderer and think that he does not deserve a life.
On a planet called Lusitania which was colonized by Catholics a new sentient race is discovered. Humans don't want to make another mistake as they did with the Buggers. Thus they decide to study the race (without really interfering with them - Prime Directive anyone?). This brings Ender Wiggin (incognito as people don't realize that he could be possible alive after 3000 years) to the planet trying to figure out the mysterious of this pig-like race.
The book is rather an anthropological study than a science fiction novel. The book lacks any description of the technology and progress the human race made in those 3000 years. But the religious and piggies' rituals are described to its fullest. This makes quite a big line between these two aspects and is quite striking when reading the book.
The characters are much more developed in this book and we learn more about them from their own past and experiences (not situations that happen in the present).

Personal Rating: 4/5

Conclusion: This book is not so balanced as Ender's Game in terms of logic and story-telling but provokes really strong emotions that touch the very humanity of humankind. It is certainly a good experience to read this book and think about it.

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