Speaker for the Dead (edit title)

ScarTissue edited the summary of Speaker for the Dead 7 days ago.

• Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card is the second science-fiction novel in Ender's Quartet. Preceded by Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead picks up nearly thirty-thousand years into the future. The main character of Ender's Game, Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin, appears again in Speaker for the Dead, because in the futuristic time setting of interstellar travel, taking a ship from one planet to another will only take you a few weeks, but to everyone not on your ship, it would appear to take decades. This allowed Ender and his sister, Valentine, to survive the momentous years by 'skipping' from planet to planet, while those around them aged and passed away.

  Ender is a Speaker for the Dead, meaning that when someone is disheartened at one's passing, they call for a Speaker to speak the truth of their lives, good and bad, no matter how difficult it might be to hear. This is how he skipped from planets, for on each planet, he stayed less then a year working on the speaking of one of his calls. His next call comes from a young girl called Novinha, for the speaking of Pipo, the closest thing she ever had to father, since her parents died when she was of a young age. She called Ender from the planet with the least calls in his history; Lusitania. Lusitania is framed around the Bishop of the Catholic church and believes that people should only be remembered by the good of their lives, forgetting their mistakes. For this, they despise Speakers, for they speak both a person's best and worst. Speakers do this because from one's mistakes, we learn what they wished their lives to be, and how it made their hearts react if it failed.

  So as Ender went to answer the call, he left his sister behind for the first time in thousands of years. In Trondheim, she had married and was with child, and though she wished to accompany Ender, she knew that she could not. As Ender leaves on the ship, he knows that Valentine, and Novinha, will age for almost twenty years, while he will only age for two weeks. The weeks pass to Ender, and at the end he is found as he was. As the years pass to Valentine, she bears three children and is in her late forties. To Novinha, she gets a married, has six children, and lives through the passing of her husband. When Ender lands on Lusitania, the adventure begins.

  Pipo was found dead near the gate surrounding the piggies. The 'piggies' are a humanoid alien figure with abnormally large snouts (thus the name piggies). Pipo was a xenologer studying the creatures. He has all his vital organs removed, while his eyes stared lovingly at the creatures he had for years studied. Ender has to find out why Pipo was killed, and whether the piggies are human or animals, while trying to find the history behind Novinha's children and their departed father. As the secrets are unraveled, the people of Lusitania are hit with more than they ever thought possible. The answers lie in Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card.

Andrew Powell edited the language of an edition set of Speaker for the Dead Wednesday, December 9 2009.

• Speaker for the Dead (Ender, Book 2)
• Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Game Sequel)
• Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Game Series, No. 2)
• Speaker for the Dead (Ender Quartet)
• and 22 more...

Shelfari edited the description of Speaker for the Dead Wednesday, December 9 2009.

• 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.

Pequeño saltamontes edited the awards of Speaker for the Dead Wednesday, November 25 2009.

• Edited category of an award: Nebula Best Novelscience fiction or fantasy novel

Pequeño saltamontes edited the awards of Speaker for the Dead Tuesday, November 24 2009.

• Edited an award: Hugo AwardHugo
• Edited category of an award: Hugo AwardHugo Best Novelscience fiction novel
• Edited an award: Nebula AwardNebula
• Edited an award: Locus AwardLocus

Joel Carlson edited the awards of Speaker for the Dead Tuesday, November 10 2009.

• Added an award: Locus Award
• Added category of an award: Locus Award Best Science Fiction Novel
• Added year of an award: Locus Award 1987

Timothy Gray approved Timothy Gray’s request to combine 26 books, including Speaker for the Dead, Friday, October 30 2009.

Mua'Dib edited the contributors of Speaker for the Dead Friday, October 30 2009.

• reordered the contributors.
• Added a contributor: Orson Scott Card: (Primary Author)
• Removed a contributor: Orson Scott Card: (Primary Author)

Mua'Dib edited the contributors of Speaker for the Dead Friday, October 30 2009.

• reordered the contributors.
• Added a contributor: Orson Scott Card: (Primary Author)
• Removed a contributor: Orson Scott Card: (Primary Author)

Joel Carlson edited the awards of Speaker for the Dead Wednesday, October 21 2009.

• Added an award: Nebula Award
• Added category of an award: Nebula Award Best Novel
• Added year of an award: Nebula Award 1986