Ender Wiggin, the hero and scapegoat of mass alien destruction in Ender's Game, receives a chance at redemption in this novel. Ender, who proclaimed as a mistake his success in wiping out an alien race, wins the opportunity to cope better with a second race, discovered by Portuguese colonists on the planet Lusitania. Orson Scott Card infuses this long, ambitious tale with intellect by casting his characters in social, religious and cultural contexts. Like its predecessor, this book won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.


From Publishers Weekly
Card's novel Ender's Game introduced Ender Wiggin, a young genius who used his military prowess to all but exterminate the "buggers," the first alien race mankind had ever encountered. Wiggin then transformed himself into the "Speaker for the Dead," who claimed it had been a mistake to destroy the alien civilization. Many years later, when a new breed of intelligent life forms called the "piggies" is discovered, Wiggin takes the opportunity to atone for his earlier actions. This long, rich and ambitious novel views the interplay between the races from the differing perspectives of the colonists, ethnologists, biologists, clergy, politicians, a computer artificial intelligence, the lone surviving bugger and the piggies themselves. Card is very good at portraying his characters in these larger, social, religious and cultural contexts. It's unfortunate, then, that many of the book's mysteries and dilemmas seem created just to display Ender's supposedly godlike understanding. A fine, if overlong, novel nonetheless. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Library Journal
Told with compassion and keen insight, this powerful sequel to Ender's Game is highly recommended.


From AudioFile
Set 3,000 years after the events of ENDER'S GAME, Card's SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD follows Ender Wiggins to Lusitania, a Brazilian colony on a distant planet where intelligent extraterrestrial life has been found for the first time since Earth's initial encounter with--and destruction of--the "buggers." An ensemble cast of performers explores the mystery of the culture and the biology of the pequeninos, the gentle natives of the planet who seem to ruthlessly murder their most valued members. The cast includes David Birney, Scott Brick, Gabrielle de Cuir, Amanda Karr, Lisa Nemacheck, John Rubenstein, Stefan Rudnicki, and Don Schlossman, who read alternating sections with little interaction, staying true to Portuguese pronunciations, and giving life to the emotional and intellectual challenge of the story. Brilliant and compelling. S.E.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Review
"A great read!"--UPI Reviews

"Less brash than Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead may be a much better book. Don't miss it!--Analog

"Told with compassion and keen insight, this powerful sequel to Ender's Game is highly recommended."--Library Journal



Review
"A great read!"--UPI Reviews

"Less brash than Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead may be a much better book. Don't miss it!--Analog

"Told with compassion and keen insight, this powerful sequel to Ender's Game is highly recommended."--Library Journal



Book Description
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.



From the Publisher
Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.


About the Author
Born in Richland, Washington in 1951, Orson Scott Card grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He lived in Brazil for two years as an unpaid missionary for the Mormon Church and received degrees from Brigham Young University (1975) and the University of Utah (1981). The author of numerous books, Card was the first writer to receive both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel two years in a row, first for Ender's Game and then for the sequel Speaker for the Dead. He lives with his wife and children in North Carolina.

His works have been translated into many languages, including Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish, and Swedish.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Card's novel Ender's Game introduced Ender Wiggin, a young genius who used his military prowess to all but exterminate the ``buggers,'' the first alien race mankind had ever encountered. Wiggin then transformed himself into the ``Speaker for the Dead,'' who claimed it had been a mistake to destroy the alien civilization. Many years later, when a new breed of intelligent life forms called the ``piggies'' is discovered, Wiggin takes the opportunity to atone for his earlier actions. This long, rich and ambitious novel views the interplay between the races from the differing perspectives of the colonists, ethnologists, biologists, clergy, politicians, a computer artificial intelligence, the lone surviving bugger and the piggies themselves. Card is very good at portraying his characters in these larger, social, religious and cultural contexts. It's unfortunate, then, that many of the book's mysteries and dilemmas seem created just to display Ender's supposedly godlike understanding. A fine, if overlong, novel nonetheless. (March 3)

AudioFile