I'll start by saying, that in a way, at least through the first 400 pages of the book, I was amazed by it. I felt that Card had trully surpassed the first 2 books of the series. "Ender's Game" was all about the plot, the action, and didn't really get into the characters. "Speaker of The Dead" was a better, but had waaaayy too much useless theological/religuous discussions, even though the story was trully intruiging. On "Xenocide", I felt Card had reached his peak - The characters were deep, interesting and human. The plot was intersting, complicated a true thriller, and while there are many ethical dilemas, it wasn't "heavy" or religion filled like "Speaker"... I won't get into the story itself (you can read about it everywhere) - But what happens after page 400 is a big, big dissapointment. Looks like Card had reached a dead end (too many unpossible to be solved issues) and was looking for an easy way out. First of all, almost 100 pages are devoted to scientific debates, that I am sure make sense to noone (I am not sure even Card had an idea was the f&#* he was talking about), that finally lead to the miricalous solutions to the many problems there are. Suddenly, there is Jane who can fix everything, suddenly Grego, Ella and the rest of them can come up with impossible scientific achievements in a matter of days. The last 100 pages are compelling, you can read them in an hour or so, but still what happens there is just beyond any logic. I realize this is a science fiction novel, but still things need to make sense (the way the previous books did!) instead of the author making us feel like idiots for not understanding what happened! I also felt that the whole Path thing, although interesting, was totally useless and added almost nothing to the story. With all the miracles happening, I didn't feel they needed the Chinese girl to solve one of the questions (it's just absurd - they can solve a TRILLION things, but the questions they asked her they cannot?!?) Another thing that was very dissapointing was Ender's character. While ALL the other characters are deep, interesting and feel like real life personas, and they all have important parts of the story, Ender's character is a mistery: I gotta admit, that Card made him more human than ever (even though he still remained a perfect, peaceful, and impossible rightous person), Ender barely did ANYTHING useful in this book, other that talking with the characters! Roughly speaking, everything that's done on this book, was done by the many other characters, while Ender seemed to just be around and say a few things here and there (nothing trully important actually). You just might forget that he used to be the ultimate leader - briliiant, unbreakable and even ruthless - a genius who killed two people with his bare hands, and destroyed a whole species, all this when he was just a kid! I guess being 60 years old really killed his abilities, didn't it?... He just stands there, old and helpless, his spirit broke because that annoying bi$%& left him (that Novinha character needs to be shot right away!). To sum it all up, Xenocide is still a GREAT read, for any Science fiction fan, it raises many important questions, and deals with a lot of issues, but in many ways it will let you down. This book had huge potential, and the first 400 pages live up to the promise. However, as I already stated, most of the last 200 pages doesn't make sense at all, too many quick, unreal and impossible to understand (not to mention that they come out of nowhere and make no sense whatsoever) solutions that made me, and will make any reader, feel cheated. I don't know the reason for this - Maybe Card found himself stuck, or maybe he got lazy, or maybe he had to reach some publisher's deadline, I don't know. But the bottom line is that when you get to the final 200 pages, you'll feel that in terms of consistency it doesn't really look like the book you started reading... The book turns into a real absurd. Suddenly too many comfortable miracles occur. Suddenly a cripple turn healthy, suddenly Ender creates clones of his dead brother and living sister out of his mind (although I love the idea of having Peter back - it was fun to see him humiliate Ender, just like when they were kids), suddenly there's a cure for everything and for everyone!.. Everything goes just the right way. Come on now, the readers aren't idiots, Mr. Card! Many reviewers critisized the book for it's many ethical dilemas. Well I disagree with them - the questions asked are rellevant and interesting, I had no problem there. I had a problem with all the ABSURD things happening in the last 150 pages. Us fans deserve better.

... would have been better as a stand alone book. Worth a read on a slow day, but if you think you have something more interesting then read that instead.

In the middle of my last law school exam, someone looked at my copy of Xenocide and asked me if I had been disappointed by the direction the series had taken. Although stressed from the upcoming exam (anyone who has survived their first year of law school can understand), I looked at him and told him that I was disappointed, especially considering how remarkable the book that started it all - Ender's Game - had been.

At some point, Card decided, or maybe it was in him all along, that a book of science fiction philosophy would be more appealing than continuing the epic adventure of Andrew Wiggin and his family in the same kind of fast-paced, exciting prose. For those familiar with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series, this book is the kind of filler that you find in the last few books of the series. Don't get me wrong, if science fiction philosophy were a genre unto itself, then this would do very well; however, considering how almost monumental the first book was, this shift (started in Speaker for the Deadi) is incredibly disappointing. If I wanted philosophy and discussions concerning the human psyche I would turn to Sartre or the Bible. But Card is not content with advancing the story and instead gives us 300 pages of fluff.

Maybe I'm being too hard, but I've really been expecting something more from this series. Some things do happen - Ender et al figures out how to travel faster than the speed of light, the piggies and the humans learn how to tame the descolada virus, and we are introduced to a world called Path where certain individuals can commune with the gods. Unfortunately, that's almost all that happens. The buggers, humans, and piggies are still stuck on Lusitania and the fleet has yet to arrive. That is how the book starts and that is how it ends.

For those who want an end to the series, you, like myself, have to march on, but for those who have finished Ender's Game should read Ender's Shadow and possibly move on to something else.

Some interesting quotes:

"Every day all people judge all other people. The question is whether we judge wisely."

"Isn't it possible, he wondered, for one person to love another without trying to own each other? Or is that buried so deep in our genes that we never get it out? Territoriality. My wife. My friend. My lover."

"Parents always make their mistakes with the oldest children. That's when parents know the least and care the most, so they're more likely to be wrong and also more likely to insist they are right."

Ender's Game is an absolutely amazing book--I have given it to countless people who have uniformly loved it. Personally, I like Speaker for the Dead even more than Ender's Game, as it deals with interesting moral dilemmas.
However, Xenocide is boring, ridiculous, and uninteresting. You, like me, want to continue reading about Ender. But trust me, you should stop at Speaker for the Dead.

This is the third book in Card's "Ender" series. After finding it hard to put the first two down, the third is a disappointment. Xenocide tries to span the known universe - with plots and sub-plots taking place on several of the 'Hundred Worlds'. It drags in a lot of places and is just too long for no purpose I can discern. I'm struggling to get through it and am not sure I'll continue with the series now.