Children of the Mind

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir, John Rubinstein

Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

The planet Lusitania is home to three sentient species: the Pequeninos, a large colony of humans, and the Hive Queen, who was brought there by Ender Wiggin. But now, once again, the human race has grown fearful; the Starways Congress has gathered a fleet to destroy Lusitania. Ender's oldest friend, Jane, an evolved computer intelligence, can save the three sentient species of Lusitania. She has learned how to move ships outside the universe, and then instantly back to a different world, abolishing the light-speed limit. But it takes all the processing power available to her, and the Starways Congress is shutting down the network of computers in which she lives, world by world.

Soon Jane will not be able to move the ships. Ender's children must save her if they are to save themselves.

Children of the Mind is the fourth book in Orson Scott Card's The Ender Saga.

Browse more titles in the Ender Wiggin series.

©1996 Orson Scott Card (P)2004 Audio Renaissance

Critic reviews

"This is a worthy ending to what might be styled a saga of the ethical evolution of humanity, a concept seldom attempted before and never realized with the success Card achieves here." (Booklist)

"Card's prose is powerful." (Publishers Weekly)

Astonishing revelations of human relations

In a way, the Ender story almost doesn't matter. It's just the stage set. What matters, what is highlighted in this book, are the entanglements between personalities, and wayward tangles within individual personalities. So much subtlety of thought, subtlety of emotion--desire for connection, for love, for belonging, for redemption, for doing the right thing, for not causing hurt or shame. Mr. Card has revealed depths that I found remarkable, even astonishing. I LOVE the hive queen's voice. LOVE IT. And Stephan Rudnicki could read a book upside down and backwards and sound soulful.

Just don't expect Battle School.

Intriguing

This is one of the most intriguing and nerve wrecking book in the series and this is the first time in my life I had almost cried at some point while reading

great book like all the others in the series.

definitely more philosophical than the others...very interesting way to explore various views on life, death and the soul...what really makes us human.

Waxing philosophy hidden in sci-fi

Well narrated. Like having someone play the voices of a really long thought out problem in your head for you. every angle is explored in this moral, ethical and philosophical conversation wrapped up in a sci-fi concept. Never feels repetitive or redundant regardless of how many times a topic is visited as each representation leaves a fresh idea in your head. It really feels like I'm just sitting in a coffee shop with a handful of great minds. the sci-fi story itself is unique and delicious as well, but it really is a vehicle for these in-depth dialogues between the characters. I've been delighted with each book of this series thus far. Looking forward to continuing. 100% would recommend, but start at the beginning. These ideas build off each other, and a short hand is developed throughout the series. It is not impossible, but would spoil the experience to jump in I believe in the fourth book with no context, or atleast without understanding the arch of each character which Orson Scott card does an excellent job of using to inform the dialogue of each persona he's created.

Focused on Philosophy

Excellent performance. A bit too philosophical. Felt out of place in the series. A number of facts and conversations were repeated from previous books. Found that boring. Overall, I continued to enjoy the characters and I enjoyed the sense of discovery that was carried on from Xenocide.

Repetative!!!!!

This book didn't need to be half as long as it is. The author repeated things WAY TO MUCH!!! If you enjoy listening to old dead white guys discuss philosophy over and over, round and round, then you'll love this book. It's very unlike the first book, Ender's Game.

Stop after Speaker for the Dead.

I do not know what happened after speaker of the dead. This series took a left turn and just went to the nut house. I loved Ender’s game and speaker for the dead was a different type of story but it held its own and kept me interested. The last two books just started going down this weird rabbit hole and it never pulled it self out. I couldn’t even finish the last 20 minutes. I read the other reviews and thought it can’t be that bad. But wow it was bad and I should have taken there advice and stopped after I completed speaker for the dead.

Weakest of the core series

I found this book to be the weakest so far of the core series (Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide). If you haven’t finished Xenocide yet, stop reading this review now as I’ll discuss things that happen in Xenocide.

...

This book focuses on the storyline of Ender’s Val and Peter alter-egos that we’re created at the end of Xenocide — that’s pretty much 90% if what’s going on in this book. I personally didn’t find these characters interesting, and I feel like the storylines created for them turned them into flat, two-dimensional plot devices rather than rich characters.

If you really absolutely must know how the main storyline of Ender wraps up, then get this book. If you find the concept of Val and Peter’s alter egos interesting and want to get to know them as much as possible, get this book. Otherwise, there’s not a lot here, and the ending left me feeling very cheated in the way it wrapped up all the unresolved storylines. Whereas I was excited to continue my journey into the other books of the Ender-verse before this book, I definitely have second thoughts now and will take a break for awhile.

the P's and S's

good book definatly worth the time to listen. but.......
the narration has so many loud popping p sounds and sharp long s sounds that when some narrator's read it's almost painfull to listen too. get a new mic or something? otherwise it's a great listen with lots of good narration being done. lots of variation and emotion in the reading. just dont turn it up too loud or your ears might regret it🙄

Held me in suspense

What made the experience of listening to Children of the Mind the most enjoyable?

Story was riveting. This Ender story was full of ideas and a deep storyline.

What did you like best about this story?

Multiple threads of converging stories.