Children of the Mind

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir, John Rubinstein

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.

Critic reviews

“The novels of Orson Scott Card's Ender series are an intriguing combination of action, military and political strategy, elaborate war games and psychology.” —USA Today

“In his afterword, Card declares, ‘The ideal presentation of any book of mine is to have excellent actors perform it in audio only format,' and he gets his wish. Card's phenomenal emotional depth comes through in the quiet, carefully paced speech of each performer. This is a wonderful way to experience Card's best-known and most celebrated work, both for longtime fans and for newcomers.” —Publishers Weekly on Ender's Game

“The cast… gives life to the emotional and intellectual challenge of the story. Brilliant and compelling.” —AudioFile on Speaker for the Dead

Hmm

OK look, this book AND Xenocide must be read/listened to together; they are essentially one book. So if you cannot make it through Xenocide then there is no real reason why you should continue on through Children of The Mind, even though C.o.T.M. IS a better book. It would be stretching the truth if someone said these two were solely about Ender. Yes, Ender is in them and he plays a very pivotal role but it's also about his family. (A Very VERY dysfunctional family) There are some VERY useless characters these two books, in fact the whole Chinese thing in Xenocide could be axed completely.

The whole point of these two books is for Card to relate and discuss philosophy. Why are we here, who are we, etc. IF YOU'RE NOT PREPARED OR MATURE ENOUGH TO HANDLE THIS MUCH DEEP THOUGHT IN PHILOSOPHY THEN THESE ARE NOT THE BOOKS FOR YOU. If you're just reading these books to finish the Ender story you WILL be disappointed in the story but you will be satisfied in knowing what becomes of Ender. I listened to these books to finish the story and found myself wondering why useless characters were arguing over silly subjects; A LOT! Until you take a step back and accept the philosophical discussions that take place you will have a hard time continuing through the books.

Realize this, Card wrote Xenocide in '91 and Children of the Mind in '96 and states in his audio version of Children that there will be another book that will tie in to the Shadow series and wrap this up. Expect a wait.

As for the Audio presentations for both Xeno and Children, the voice actors were EXCELLENT. The only problem I had was the randomness of musical interludes in Xeno and the randomness of who was reading in Children. Although I very much appreciated the spacing out of sections read, even though they weren't tied to chapters. It felt like they read enough for someone driving to and from work.

I loved the ending and Children was a very redeeming book compared to Xenocide.

That fake Chinese accent is the one bad thing here

Wonderful story. -1 Overall star because of that reader with the awful fake Chinese accent

A bit over the top

I loved all the ender books. However, this one was a little bit too "new age". If you want to hang out for the end of ender it is fun to listen to.

Better

This book has a lot more of the same bickering and bloviation found in a previous novel in this line, but it's somehow less irritating and easier to empathize with the characters despite this fact. This book is both sci-fi and philosophical in nature and more entertaining than the previous installment.

Fascinating and provocative

Rarely is philosophy so well-played on a stage filled with action. Card blends three or four story threads at a time, and, like Tom Clancy, tears you away just when you thought you were comfortable with the new thread. And all this played against questions about what we are, both as individuals and a species. He is brilliant. This book puts real punch in the Ender Saga. A great listen if you're running 100 miles, as I was.