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A review by thebookhito
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
2.0
Short story: my friend tells me of this series about a guy named Ender. About how he's a genius and does many amazing things. Okay, you've got my attention. So I went out and found Ender's Game. Loved it.
Obviously I had some hype going into this one, but the book fell short. Orson Scott Card, OSC, seems to have forgotten how to write until the last hundred pages or so. The head hopping between characters makes you wonder who said what, no place is laid out to give the reader a general feel of the land, the use of foreign language turns away rather than invites, the description of characters is non-existent, and the women in the book and the majority of the men are push overs.
The thing that really drove me nuts was the preachy-ness of the whole book. I understand that the church is a big part of the book and how religion shapes certain groups of people. But at parts where, say Ender was traveling or talking to Jane, his computer cohort, "facts" and references to religion were being thrown in and they had no point to the story.
Before you judge me, yes, I do believe in God, but sadly, talking about Him in this book takes away from the story and causes it to become a bore.
This reminds me of something Vonnegut said, "the words to a story must do one of two things: reveal the character or move the story along." (I'm paraphrasing, but my point remains the same.
OSC was trying to put his views too much into the book and it ruined the story.
Going back to my friend, I told him of this and he said that I was comparing it Ender's Game and that this one you had to think more. Yeah, I get that, but isn't a sequel supposed to keep a story going? With that logic, I'm supposed to look at this book as something separate than a continuation of Ender's Game?
Maybe I'm stupid, which I won't deny, but that still sounds ridiculous to my ears.
Ender in this book "feels" like a different character completely, and it's not a logical progression of character. I know there are more books for the Ender series out there, and I hope they can bridge a gap between the Ender of Ender's Game and Ender of Speaker for the Dead. They're just too far removed to be the same character right now for me.
The bottom line to my spill I guess would have to be, I didn't care for this book and would not recommend it to anyone unless they were reading the series and even then I would tell them to hurry through it.
Obviously I had some hype going into this one, but the book fell short. Orson Scott Card, OSC, seems to have forgotten how to write until the last hundred pages or so. The head hopping between characters makes you wonder who said what, no place is laid out to give the reader a general feel of the land, the use of foreign language turns away rather than invites, the description of characters is non-existent, and the women in the book and the majority of the men are push overs.
The thing that really drove me nuts was the preachy-ness of the whole book. I understand that the church is a big part of the book and how religion shapes certain groups of people. But at parts where, say Ender was traveling or talking to Jane, his computer cohort, "facts" and references to religion were being thrown in and they had no point to the story.
Before you judge me, yes, I do believe in God, but sadly, talking about Him in this book takes away from the story and causes it to become a bore.
This reminds me of something Vonnegut said, "the words to a story must do one of two things: reveal the character or move the story along." (I'm paraphrasing, but my point remains the same.
OSC was trying to put his views too much into the book and it ruined the story.
Going back to my friend, I told him of this and he said that I was comparing it Ender's Game and that this one you had to think more. Yeah, I get that, but isn't a sequel supposed to keep a story going? With that logic, I'm supposed to look at this book as something separate than a continuation of Ender's Game?
Maybe I'm stupid, which I won't deny, but that still sounds ridiculous to my ears.
Ender in this book "feels" like a different character completely, and it's not a logical progression of character. I know there are more books for the Ender series out there, and I hope they can bridge a gap between the Ender of Ender's Game and Ender of Speaker for the Dead. They're just too far removed to be the same character right now for me.
The bottom line to my spill I guess would have to be, I didn't care for this book and would not recommend it to anyone unless they were reading the series and even then I would tell them to hurry through it.