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)

awesome

it's awesome! make sure to start at the beginning of the series. love these books.

A life philosophy and excellent science fiction

Give me things to think about and a story to examine . entertainment at its best.

Profound and Insightful

Unusually deep look at the existential condition of man, life, and existence. At the same time, riveting. A must read.

Astonishing revelations of human relations

In a way, the Ender story almost doesn't matter. It's just the stage set. What matters, what is highlighted in this book, are the entanglements between personalities, and wayward tangles within individual personalities. So much subtlety of thought, subtlety of emotion--desire for connection, for love, for belonging, for redemption, for doing the right thing, for not causing hurt or shame. Mr. Card has revealed depths that I found remarkable, even astonishing. I LOVE the hive queen's voice. LOVE IT. And Stephan Rudnicki could read a book upside down and backwards and sound soulful.

Just don't expect Battle School.

Intriguing

This is one of the most intriguing and nerve wrecking book in the series and this is the first time in my life I had almost cried at some point while reading

great book like all the others in the series.

definitely more philosophical than the others...very interesting way to explore various views on life, death and the soul...what really makes us human.

Waxing philosophy hidden in sci-fi

Well narrated. Like having someone play the voices of a really long thought out problem in your head for you. every angle is explored in this moral, ethical and philosophical conversation wrapped up in a sci-fi concept. Never feels repetitive or redundant regardless of how many times a topic is visited as each representation leaves a fresh idea in your head. It really feels like I'm just sitting in a coffee shop with a handful of great minds. the sci-fi story itself is unique and delicious as well, but it really is a vehicle for these in-depth dialogues between the characters. I've been delighted with each book of this series thus far. Looking forward to continuing. 100% would recommend, but start at the beginning. These ideas build off each other, and a short hand is developed throughout the series. It is not impossible, but would spoil the experience to jump in I believe in the fourth book with no context, or atleast without understanding the arch of each character which Orson Scott card does an excellent job of using to inform the dialogue of each persona he's created.

Focused on Philosophy

Excellent performance. A bit too philosophical. Felt out of place in the series. A number of facts and conversations were repeated from previous books. Found that boring. Overall, I continued to enjoy the characters and I enjoyed the sense of discovery that was carried on from Xenocide.

Repetative!!!!!

This book didn't need to be half as long as it is. The author repeated things WAY TO MUCH!!! If you enjoy listening to old dead white guys discuss philosophy over and over, round and round, then you'll love this book. It's very unlike the first book, Ender's Game.

Stop after Speaker for the Dead.

I do not know what happened after speaker of the dead. This series took a left turn and just went to the nut house. I loved Ender’s game and speaker for the dead was a different type of story but it held its own and kept me interested. The last two books just started going down this weird rabbit hole and it never pulled it self out. I couldn’t even finish the last 20 minutes. I read the other reviews and thought it can’t be that bad. But wow it was bad and I should have taken there advice and stopped after I completed speaker for the dead.