Speaker For The Dead A science fiction written by Orson Scott Card in 1986 Reviewed edition by TOR from 1994 A paperback has 380 pages ISBN 0-812-55075-7 Click to rate this book from worst 1 2 3 4 5 to best.

Tied loosely to the previous volume. After realizing that he wiped out an entire sentient civilization, Ender travels the world as a Speaker for the Dead. To most, he is just one of many claiming a profession that the supposedly long deceased original Speaker created, and of all people, only his sister knows his true identity. In the course of his profession, Ender receives request for a Speaker from a colony on Lusitania, the only planet where humans discovered what appears to be a sentient life form. Intrigued by the circumstances of the death he was requested for, and hoping to perhaps get a chance to remedy his previous Xenocide, Ender sets out for Lusitania ...

The author seems to have a weakness for melodramatic scenes and lengthy discourses into the thoughts of his characters. For one thing, this makes some of the more tense scenes look like a Reader's Digest article. For another, the text sometimes feels like a cartoon where everyone speaks their thoughts out loud.

Also, when you get everyone's thoughts served on a silver plate, you tend to take them as a given and only sometimes realize that they do not make much sense. I prefer to see the actions and try to deduce the thoughts and character traits, rather than getting the thoughts and either accepting them or having to backtrack the character at the risk of realizing that the thoughts do not fit it.

Still, these are just poor attempts of your tired reviewer to make at least a few points on what is otherwise a very readable text. I have to say I liked the book, and would rate it as good.

Rated as good by Ceres on 2000-10-02

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