Xenocide

This book was horrible! It feels like 1/2 of the book is spent describing a character with very little contribution to the story. The author describes at length its home world, its daily activities and rituals. And although these aspects does have importance in the book, it was TOO LONG. Another 3/4 of the book is dedicated to Jane, the very uninteresting AI. She's alright as a side character, not as a main one.

The other characters are Ender's children. For absolutely no reason, all but of them exceeded at one field of study. They just felt as little variations of Ender himself. Totally pointless. And the one who didn't exceeded at anything, ended up saving th world. WTF!

To sum it up, much biography, little unbelievable story. The author explains that he was told that the book was sold before it was even written.

I can't say that I liked it very much. The first half of the book was very slow and I found the characters to be boring. The plot didn't start to pick up until the second half of the book and there were many pieces of the plot that seemed forced in and unnatural. This book ended in a cliffhanger and even though that I don't have high hopes for the next book in the series, I want to read it to find out what happens next.

If you're into long-winded speculations on morality, free will, and the space-time continuum, than you will enjoy this book immensely because there is not much else going on here. Xenocide is really dialogue heavy, way more than Speaker for the Dead and Ender's Game, even more than the Shadow books I think. And by dialogue I don't just mean conversation, we're talking inner monologues that go one for pages. Some of those can be rather self-deprecating, rivaling Samson Agonistes on the angst-level, but its not unwarranted (Samson was blind, Miro was severely crippled and essentially had everything static in his life ripped out from under him - I think Miro takes that cake). I was a little disappointed that the normal wit used in Orson Scott Card's books was lacking, every once in while it would pop back in and there would be a good laugh and a one-liner you're dying to use on someone, but for the most part things keep pretty serious.

As with Card's ability though, there is still a lot emotional investment going on, and he manages it subtly enough that you don't notice until the anvil drops. I found myself a mess at points asking myself, “Why am I so upset by this? I didn't even like that guy.” There are also a lot of really interesting new characters introduced, keeping things lively, and while some plot points were predictable, it was more satisfying than cliche. So if you're looking for a more plot and action driven story, this is not for you. But if you feel like getting deep into some metaphysical shit, not to mention falling in love with these characters, then have at it.

Continues on from Speaker for the Dead. Valentine and her family arrive on Lusitania, even as Starways Congress' Fleet bears down on the planet with the M.D Device. Ender is struggling under the impending doom from the Fleet, the adaptable and destructive descolada, the diplomacy between the three sentient species and the problems within his own family.

Introduces Han Qing-jao, Han Fei-tzu and Si Wang-mu, who live on the Taoist Chinese world of Path. They are given a mandate to discover the whereabouts of the Lusitania fleet after Jane hid it. Raises issues of servility, as well as the nature of religion and faith when it has been engineered into you.

Orson Scott Card expands on his idea of the philotes, indivisible particles that join and create everything real. They use this idea to permit instantaneous starflight by shifting to the Outside and back In. Possible relations to string theory? The concept of an auia, the spirit philote which represents an individual - controlling a network of smaller auias in cells etc. resembles a physical soul. Provides mechanism for Jane's emergence, and for the transfer of memories in the pequenino lifecycle.

Ender

Toward the end of this story, several crises are resolved. Unfortunately, the ‘science' that resolves these problems is completely unbelievable and unscientific. It's almost as if the author painted himself into a corner - and decided to fix technological problems by allowing a genie in a lamp to pop up. Quite disappointing.

This was the first book that I've gotten on audiobook. I'm not sure if there are multiple versions, but I got the bbc one. It was well done. There were multiple voice readers, one for each of the major parts.

To the book. I thought this was a descent book, though I still think Ender's game is the best in the series. There are some twists and turns, but its very long in parts. I think it would have been much harder to read than listen to.

I was pretty disappointed about this book. The first two were fun and interesting, and I really liked getting to know the characters. But in this book, I felt like the whole thing was just different characters giving long preachy philosophical statements, which weren't even interesting. The amount of plot movement could have been fit on 30 pages. Just not great.
Plus, who writes 60-page chapters? That's messed up.

Age range: 16+
Confusing, boring, definitely need to be older to subject yourself to this.

Short Review: I like Xenocide. I like sci-fi books that are primarily philosophical. But this is one where Card just tried to put too much into it. If he had kept this and Children of the mind as a single book book, then it probably would have been a better book.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/xenocide/

I'm surprised to say this is the strongest so far in the Ender's series. It's a little more philosophical than the others but in a way that suits what's happening on the page plus it also includes a fantastically realistic anti-heroes journey I didn't expect.

I'm really not sure about the whole young Peter and Val surprise, it felt like it came out of nowhere purely for the purpose of sequels

Considering who wrote this, it's fascinating to see the issues of religious fundamentalism discussed in such detail.

Pentru mine nu a trecut testul celor 100 de pagini. In rezumat, vorbărie, ceartă, vorbărie, vorbărie și tot așa, fara nimic interesant. Extrem de plictisitoare. Chiar mai rău, mult mai rău decât Vorbitor in numele morților, altă telenovelă proastă, vag conectată cu Ender. Din partea mea, dez-recomand Xenocid.