“"Speaker for the Dead" confirmed my impression of "Ender's Game" - the first novel in the Ender's Quartet was a story of child abuse.
Lemme back up. (Please be advised I'm spoiling "Ender's Game" in this review.)
I really enjoyed "Ender's Game", but I've grown increasingly uncomfortable with its depiction of children violence, and how its ending glorified the Xenocide of the buggers. Yeah, it showed Ender as repentant for its action, but there was no denying the level of satisfaction Ender's final victory gave the reader.
What makes "Speaker for the Dead" so awesome is that it takes these questions, and explore them without holding back. Ender is now 40 year-old, and feels deep guilt for the Xenocide. Humanity has conveniently forgotten its own role in shaping Ender's life to commit this crime, and now blames Ender solely for it. All this sets the stage for Card to explore the meaning of being human, and criticize moral colonialism.
The story at the heart of "Speaker for the Dead" is deeply human, a family tragedy set against the backdrop of an interspecies first contact. The role that Ender plays when he arrives there is poignant, magnificent, and thought-provoking. The way Ender deals with the alien species made me ponder the way we, as a society, act against beings that our society somehow deems our moral inferiors, whether they are animals, convenient enemies of the state, or simply human brothers we judge to be more primitive than us.
Fans of Battle School rivalries will not be satisfied by this novel. But if they give it a chance, they will find a mature, sad, thought-provoking story, and one which is ultimately a lot more satisfying than "Ender's Game".”
Daniel Roy wrote this review Sunday, August 30 2009.
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