Archive for the ‘Orson Scott Card’ Category
Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card
published in 1986, Revised Edition published 1991
where I got it: purchased used
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Hard to believe I’ve never reviewed Ender’s Game. How many times have I read that book? Four times? Five? Maybe more?? It’s one of those novels that I’ve returned to over and over during the last 15 years, when I need to read something that I know I’ll enjoy. If you’ve never read Ender’s Game
- You totally should, because it’s an awesome book
- Don’t waste your time on the movie that came out a few years ago, because it sucked
- Me talking about Speaker for the Dead will probably spoil some Ender’s Game stuff for you. #sorrynotsorry
I’m going to review this book backwards. All the good stuff is right here at the beginning, and maybe I’ll get to the nitty gritty stuff later.
The good stuff: I fucking loved this novel. The last 50 pages? I cried through every single one of them. I have a thing about trees, and I suck at dealing with death. What I got out of Speaker for the Dead is that trees are way awesomer than I ever thought, and that’s ok to be shitty at mourning and to not have any idea how to process it when someone dies.
More good stuff: really cool aliens! Really cool Artificial intelligence!
Only a few xenobiologists on the Lusitania colony are allowed to have contact with the indigenous sentient animals, who have been nicknamed “Piggies”, due to their physical resemblance to Terran pigs. The xenobiologists are keen to understand everything they scientifically can about the Piggies (their reproductive cycle, their genetic code, you name it!), and it’s a two way street as the Piggies are pretty curious about us too. If the Piggies words and phrases don’t always make sense, maybe their actions and “gifts” will. We view them as cute little animals, they can’t possibly be intelligent, and they certainly don’t fit our view of civilized mammals.
Ender has an assistant, of sorts, Jane. She talks to him through a bluetooth-esque speaker in his ear, but she’s not a person. She’s an AI born within humanity’s interstellar communications system. No one but Ender knows she exists, because she knows if humanity knew she existed, she’d be destroyed. Because of what Ender has been through, she trusts him. And she helps him, most of the time. In a way, Jane loves him. If nothing I’ve said so far has gotten your attention, read this book just for the banter between Ender and Jane.
Are you a YA fan who is looking for something a little grittier, a little meatier, a little SF-ier?
Are you an adult SF/F fan looking for something a little lighter, but still with the grit and humor you’ve come to enjoy from your favorite writers?
If you answered “why yes! Yes I am!” to either of those questions, allow me to introduce you to some great SF/F YA reads by authors who are known for writing for adults.
For the Win, by Cory Doctorow – American kids enjoy online games for fun. Asian and Indian kids play online games for money, more than just what gold farming can give them. When the undertrod, underpaid, undervalued child workers are taught the word union, only good can come of it. right?
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow – big brother might be watching, but what happens when little brother watches back? Of every book on this list, this was the hardest book for me to read, and I don’t mean hard intellectually. I believe Little Brother should be required reading in every high school government class, but I’m sure once it got some attention it would be banned.
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville – Part Wizard of Oz, part Alice in Wonderland, and very punny. You just can’t not like this book!
The WWW series by Robert Sawyer – the first book in the series didn’t do much for me, but as far as YA reads go, this is a contemporary SF winner. Blind teenager Caitlin can “see” the world wide web, and there is something there that can see her.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman – what can I say about this that hasn’t been said before? if you haven’t read it, you owe it to yourself to enjoy this book!
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – Ender’s Game as YA? really? hey, it’s what all the cool kids were reading when I was a teenager. It’s a SF classic.
Which of these have you read? Which of these look most promising?
the Little Red Reviewer 
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