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)

A Masterwork for Card

I have read some of the reviews here so far and I have to assume that they are mostly written by children. Card is one of the premier fiction authors of our age. In a genre such as science fiction, it is not common to find an author who can articulate the human experience while developing unique, interesting speculations on science and philosophy. In all of Card's works, he breathes life into the characters and creates palpable tension throughout the story. The acid test is this: do you care about the characters and find what they are doing relevant? There is no doubt that Card can pull this off with aplomb and style.

A little better, but still far too long

After a steady decline in quality from the masterpiece that is Ender's Game, to Speaker for the Dead, to Xenocide, Children of the Mind brings the level back up a bit after hitting rock bottom with Xenocide.

While the story is a little better, it still has the same problems. It is far too long, the characters, other than Ender, are extremely annoying and poorly developed, and the female readers of this audio book are the same.

I'll simply reprint my quote regarding the female readers in Xenocide:

The female readers are atrocious. The same whiney melodramatic voice reads Val, which is only just tolerable as it was in the first two, but now you have the most annoying voice in the history of readings with the "Hive Queen Voice". I would have rather listened to a thousand fingernails run across a chalkboard than listen to one more word from this readers mouth... unbelievable that they didn't change this after hearing the horrible performance in post production.

Good as expected

If you've fallowed the endervers this far, you really should here this one. I'm sure it was Mr. Card meaning, but the further in the endervers I get the more time I spend thinking of the deeper issues of self he raises. This is someing I think only a excelent story that maybe fiction, but contains a grain of real truth can do.

Loved it. Really made you think.

Really made you think about the consequences and belief of humanity. Am definitely going to read the others in the series.

What a wonderful book

Very little SciFi has stuck with me over the years in the way this has. The book is incredibly intelligent, it's like reading an academic philosophy paper with an incredible story driving it.

Such a Deep and meaningful Book!

Definitely a great sequel to the books that came before for it. A bit flawed but nevertheless a great read.

Not the best of the series

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I'm still enjoying the story and the characters, but the performance on this series can get wearing. Some of the readers are far too dramatic for the story line, sounding as if they are always shouting. Yikes. Just settle down and read the story!

Enjoyable Story with Engaging Narration

Where does Children of the Mind rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I am new to audiobooks, having only completed a couple of others so I don't know that I'd really rank any of them at this point. That being said, I did enjoy the audiobook and found myself trying to make time to catch in an extra 20 minutes of listening here and there throughout my days.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed the very personal interactions between the characters of the story. The situations they found themselves in along with how they responded felt very real.

Have you listened to any of Gabrielle de Cuir and John Rubinstein ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was the first time I've listened to performances by these narrators and I was impressed. I thought they performed well enough to give you the emotional context in the story without being so over the top that it distracted from the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did try to listen to this book straight through although it was lengthy and I unfortunately needed to sleep eventually.

Any additional comments?

Overall I enjoyed the book. I read the previous books in this series and enjoyed finishing it off with an audiobook.

Ends the trilogy in an unexpected way.

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

Someone reading it while I was driving, working, and house work.

Would you recommend Children of the Mind to your friends? Why or why not?

No, I recommend that no one reads past Ender's Game sense the rest of the series is SO loaded with religion and religious overtones that it destroys the story line.

What does Gabrielle de Cuir and John Rubinstein bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Actually knowing how to pronounce the words that are not Native English and the names.

Interesting Twist on Sci Fi

Overall the book gave me an introverted perspective on myself through the science explained throughout the story. Very interesting storyline