Speaker for the Dead

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: David Birney, Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: the Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War. Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered by Portuguese colonists on the planet Lusitania. But again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth. Orson Scott Card infuses this tale with intellect by casting his characters in social, religious, and cultural contexts.

This, the author's definitive edition of the sequel to Ender's Game, also includes an original postscript written and recorded by the author himself, Orson Scott Card!.

Browse more titles in the Ender Wiggin series.

©1986, 1990 Orson Scott Card (P)2002 Fantastic Audio, an Imprint of Audio Literature

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award Winner, Best Novel, 1987
• Nebula Award Winner, Best Novel, 1986

"The most powerful work Card has produced. Speaker not only completes Ender's Game, it transcends it." (Fantasy Review)

Slow Starter

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The male narrator is ok, but the female narrator is highly annoying. If I hadn't enjoyed Ender's Game so much I would have returned this book. The story is slow starting, and it was not until at least 40% of the way through that I was really hooked by it. I'm very glad I finished it and did enjoy the ending.

Wow...what a sequal

Speaker of the Dead is a wonderful companion to Ender's Game. It can be read without reading Ender's Game...but I suggest starting with Ender's Game. Speaker for the Dead is not as fast paced as Ender's Game...but it is just as powerful. It is filled with a wide array of political, religious, scientific, and extraterrestrial ideas. If you have not read it...get it today!

Well done!

This story was well thought out for time and content. I thought the flow was good and the in depth thought process was excellent.

great experience!

Best for hardcore space scifi types. made me tear up. Give it a try especially if you saw the Ender movie.

Very well wrote!

Not going to lie I almost cried ne’er the ending of this book. It tells a very unique understanding of how we perceive the image of someone after death but doesn’t focus solely on death. It has so manny different aspects to the story that keep it interesting and eye opening. I would honestly like to have a speaker at my funeral on day. Love this book. Definitely recommend to anyone and everyone.

great way to learn more about Ender

the multiple voice portrayal helped bring this book to life. a must read if you have read enders game.

I love this book!

I feel like everyone should read this book, it teaches so much humanity and also has a really cool story. Definitely a bit of a slow start, but I really enjoyed seeing the man that Ender becomes. Sometimes the voice actors can be a bit wonky and at different volumes, but overall well done

Good but surprising

The story is excellent but the mix of voices sometimes split by character and other parts just read was a bit confusing.

The use of multiple narrators was frustrating

While the use of so many different narrators was confusing - the perspective-based narration with different voices didn't seem to be used consistently - it was still an intriguing affect in such a unique book. I never knew, until listening to this book, that OSC intended this as the "primary" book in the Ender series and that Ender's Game was meant to be something of a prologue. This book was riveting and fascinated me to no end. I understand why there are so many fans of the Ender-verse and of OSC's writing.

Powerful sci-fi that affects you on many levels

I loved Ender's Game and Speaker For The Dead continues the strong but gentle narrative of what it means to truly be understood for who you really are, all the good, all the bad and all the murky middle.