Xenocide

Volume Three of the Ender Saga

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Gabrielle de Cuir, Amanda Karr, John Rubinstein, Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 20 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Xenocide is the third installment of the Ender series. On Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequeninos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. Or so he thought. But Lusitania also harbors the descolada, a virus which kills all humans it infects, but which the pequeninos require in order to transform into adults. The Starways Congress so fears the effect of the descolada, should it escape from Lusitania, that they have ordered the destruction of the entire planet and all who live there. The Fleet is on its way and a second Xenocide seems inevitable, until the Fleet vanishes.

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©1991 Orson Scott Card (P)2000 Audio Renaissance

Critic reviews

"Thought-provoking, insightful, and powerfully written." (School Library Journal)
"As a storyteller, Card excels in portraying the quiet drama of wars fought not on battlefields but in the hearts and minds of his characters." (Library Journal)

Excellent!

Really enjoyed this one looking forward to Children of the Mind.
Performance added to story, but wasn't over the top. Nice.

Seemless!!!

What did you love best about Xenocide?

It flowed seemlessly from Speaker for the Dead that I had to go back and listen to a few excerpts to understand where the break in the two stories occurred.

Which scene was your favorite?

Planter's sacrifice

Any additional comments?

I would love to have known precisely who the Hive Queen was engaged with regarding the on going dialogue which really helped further the story. I guess the mystery of who/what she was in conversation with adds to the flavor of the story. Some great surprises at the end, which just leave you salivating for the next installment!

wonderful book

I love the series and have listened to this several times. I do love the different voices

the third audio booker reader was meh

it was going great until chapter 11. I do not like this reader. she is missing words . what a disappointment. I like this book besides this reader though

Amazing Story, Recording/studio/editing Needs improvement

there are times where the narrator changes in the middle of an internal dialogue. Luckily, if you’ve been listening to the Scott Brick readings, the voices/cadences are very familiar and don’t interfere with the story.

Orson’s understanding of humans is remarkable

Like all of the ender series, there is a wonderful understanding of humans and the human condition.

The performance is good, but there are some artifacts in the recording from sounds near the recorder.

Still good, Still Ender

An interesting and satisfying continuation of the story. It's a sequel which had to happen, continuing the drama and answering more questions. On that alone it deserves its place.

On the other hand, I felt that Card indulged his characters with too many philosophical asides in this one, to the detriment of the book's pace and urgency. I could have done with much more concise dialogs between characters. This can be explained somewhat by the traditional slackening of editors in the blazing heat of popularity - more words, more books, more success for the publisher. But the story drags some of the time, which is a shame.

Still very good and loaded with interesting, applicable, and sometimes profound observations.

Audio production: Yeah, you've probably heard it before, but pump the brakes on such voices Jing-Zhau and the Hive Queen. The Chinese accent and the Bug-Queen accent were severely grating for me.

Otherwise great performances!

Good follow up to speaker for the dead

I say good not great for a few reasons. 1. Ender is not near as prominent or important in this addition. He seems to be sidelined in his own series. 2. The storyline that takes place on Path breaks the narrative flow and feels unnecessary. All of that entire story could have been scrapped and the book would remain congruent and cohesive. Other than those two grievances, this is an excellent continuation of the story of the Hibera family and the Wiggins.

Excellent read, still prefer Speaker of the Dead over this 3 lrd book though...

Was a bit bummed by the ending, really wanted a better conclusion for Andrew then what finally ends up happening. A much sadder read then I anticipated reading...

it is a heady book with lots of ethical questions with a fun story.

A little bit of a thicket headier story to finish out the ender trilogy