Speaker for the Dead

De: Orson Scott Card

Narrado por: David Birney, Stefan Rudnicki

Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in Orson Scott Card's The Ender Saga, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

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, 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.

THE ENDER UNIVERSE

Ender series
Ender’s Game / Ender in Exile / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind

Ender’s Shadow series
Ender’s Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight

Children of the Fleet

The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens

The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
The Swarm /The Hive

Ender novellas
A War of Gifts /First Meetings

Reseñas de la Crítica

“The most powerful work Card has produced. Speaker not only completes Ender's Game, it transcends it.” —Fantasy Review

“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

“A well-presented audio novel, this is one to enjoy with your feet up and a cap of tea or coffee. Don't have any other distractions. The results will be rewarding.” —Stephen Hunt's SFCrowsNest.com

Ender's world gets

This book was very enjoyable. But, if you're looking for the same kind of excitement that you found in Enders Game, you might be dissapointed. It's ironic that the author only wrote Enders Game to set the stage for Speaker for the Dead. As my 14-year old daughter said, "becasue he [the author] tried too hard to be serious and send a moral message, the story suffered." I enjoyed this more than my daughters did. (But even so, they listened non-stop.)

Worthy successor

I actually liked this a bit more than Ender's Game (which I thought was also great). The story has matured along with Ender's Character. However, this book will be disappointing if you are not prepared to consider it the first of a trilogy. The two following books are excellent as well.

Great sequel

I enjoyed this book just as much if not more than Enders Game, no doubt I'll get the whole series XM163 got me started with this book but they only give you 1/2 hr at a time and some days I missed some so had to buy the book but decided to start with Enders Game then got this one have listen to it 3 time so far am sure in my travels will listen more!

Guilt and redemption, Ender style

One of the best things about Orson Scott Card's work, for me, is the depth of his insights into human psychology and Speaker for the Dead is a tour de force in this sense. In this novel, Card gives us a taste of what it feels like to save the world and live with the consequences when genocide is the way it was accomplished. It also deals with both obvious and subtle emotional reactions to one's identity being formed by acts performed without any knowledge of their consequences. It is a perfect metaphor for the psychological realities we all deal with in life on what is, for most people, a very grand scale. As such, it gives us each an opportunity to revisit our own decisions and unwitting actions, as well as our own perceived guilts and forms of redemption.

That there is also a brilliantly conceived and written first contact story here, to boot, is one of the things which makes this novel special and very precious to me.

I highly recommend this novel to people who want to push the envelope of their own perceptions of what right and wrong are, who the good and the bad guys are, and what responsibilities come with victory and/or power. It's great science fiction but it's also just great writing about what it means to be human.

A service to the genre

While I really appreciate the psychological voice of Ender's Game and the story & characters make for a very strong work of sci-fi, Speaker for the Dead is something else altogether. Despite the science fiction trappings -- they play only a background mechanical role -- this story is driven by emotional tension and transformation unlike most other's in this dewey decimal neighborhood. This is a story about the honesty and empathy we need to live together, not just with other people, but with life -- that domination over it isn't the end game (forgive me). For me, it casts some light into the void Daniel Quinn masterfully poses in Ishmael -- what can a new story of mankind be?

I was taken by the richness of language and honesty of dialogue here. Card's time as a Brazilian missionary clearly tuned his ear to the beauty of the Portuguese tongue. His time with Ender lets him tell the truth, no matter who is speaking. The narration is mostly superb, using an array of pros to emphasize perspective. It was so great to hear Valentine again. After comparing notes with a friend who read the printed version, I think the Portuguese was a bridge to the story for the listener but it may have been a barrier for the reader. Finished it in just a few days and now can't wait to continue with Xenocide. Ho Orson!