Speaker for the Dead ~Orson Scott Card
–published 1986
–280 pgs
–Awards: Hugo (1987), Nebula (1986), Locus (1987)
–5/5 stars 
The waning hours of 2007 passed with me lost in Ender’s Universe. I had to admit, as the ball dropped, that I was not going to finish this book in 2007 and thus edited my Year in Review post. Did that bother me? Not in the least. I ended the year with Orson Scott Card (A War of Gifts) and have begun the year with Orson Scott Card. And what a fantastic beginning! If I believed in omens I would have to say that on the strength of this book alone, 2008 looks to be the most satisfying year of reading in my life.
To recap for those playing along at home, Chris sent me a very touching Christmas gift early in December, for which I falsely accused him of being my Secret Santa. That gift contained, among other things, this shiny new copy of Speaker for the Dead. His generosity, coupled with the fire that was already burning to start reading science fiction, inspired me to pick up Ender’s Game and finish it. If memory serves, I believe my review began with a “Wow!!!”
Allow me to repeat myself: WOW!!!
Had I but known, 20 years ago, that these books were so amazing I would have been singing Orson Scott Card’s praises throughout the cosmos with the same fervor that I do for Neil Gaiman, and more recently, John Scalzi. I wasn’t sure if I would have the same strong emotional response to Speaker for the Dead that I did with Ender’s Game. I did! It think it is reasonable to suggest that Orson Scott Card now shares the pedestal with Kate DiCamillo as the Authors-Most-Likely-To-Make-A-Stainless-Steel-Rat-cry.
Speaker for the Dead picks up the story of Ender 3000 years after the events of Ender’s Game. While that may seem like the beginning of the most implausible story ever, I assure you it is not. In fact the space travel and time elements of this book are handled so skillfully that the reader just accepts this as fact and is swept along with the story. Speaker for the Dead is a much more complex story than Ender’s Game and there is a very good reason for it. Eventhough Ender’s Game:the novel precedes Speaker in chronological order, the books were not initially planned that way. Ender’s Game was an already published novella and Speaker for the Dead was a concept Card was forming well before deciding to make this an Ender’s Universe novel. That decision prompted him to rewrite Ender’s Game into a novel, thus paving the way for the storytelling that needed to occur in Speaker. Card details this in a fascinating introduction to the book (which of course I saved to read after I had read the story).
In my opinion one of the strengths of Orson Scott Card’s novels is the characterization. He writes such fully formed, realistic characters. Though living in a time far in our future, his characters are as accessible as the people we meet in our everyday lives. It takes only the simple act of turning the pages to form deep bonds with the main characters in these books, most especially in Speaker for the Dead in which Card introduces several children and adults who play vital roles in the tale.
Card also has a knack for writing science fiction that is palatable to the layman. At no point did I ever feel like the concepts were too difficult to grasp. Make no mistake, Card includes very rich and detailed science fiction elements, but he writes so well that those things fade into the background to serve the story, rather than standing out and screaming “look, I am a science fiction novel!!!”.
In the course of one novel, Orson Scott Card made me care about a young child conscripted for war and ultimately for his likeable sister and unlikeable brother as well as the aliens that humanity was at war with. In Speaker, Card has extended that to make me care deeply for a handful of broken children, a new race of aliens, an intelligent, computer life form, and for government officials and religious leaders…any one of whom could have been written to be very one dimensional. Instead Orson Scott Card treats his creations fairly. He allows them to live, and in living they demonstrate the complexity of being human to the reader who takes the time to look.
I haven’t really told you what Speaker for the Dead is about. If you really want to know, you could read the blurb on Amazon. I would encourage you not to. One of the joys for me in reading Ender’s Game and now Speaker for the Dead was in not having any of the details spoiled for me by reading jacket blurbs or reviews that discuss the plot. Take my advice. Read these books. I am the first one to say that just because a book wins an award, or multiple awards, doesn’t mean that it is a book that everyone will find worthwhile. I can say with no reservations that there is a reason that Orson Scott Card is one of a few authors who have won back to back Hugo and Nebula awards for their work–these books are that good. If you need more convincing, allow me to reveal that I did some book reshuffling this morning to accomodate these two books on my revered bedroom bookshelf. Not a small honor! 😉
Speaker for the Dead is a story about healing and redemption and the sacrifices that sometimes have to be made to acquire them; a story about connection between people, and races, and what it means to attempt to overcome suspicion and prejudice; a story about love…and all set in a fascinating universe in our distant future. What could be better?
Orson Scott Card ends his introduction for Speaker for the Dead with the words:
“You will make of my story what you need it to be, if you can. I hope my tale is true enough and flexible enough that you can make it a world worth living in.”
I have Mr. Card, and I hope others will too.
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A Sci Fi Experience 2008 Read
For those of you participating, please remember to link any of your reviews here.
Maybe I will like this book better than Ender’s Game. I do own it, so we will have to see. It is always great to start the year with a ‘wow’ book. I ended last year with one, so I am hopeful the book I am reading right now continues to be as good as it is so far, and then I will start the year off on a good note too. 🙂
I had goosebumps the whole time I was reading your review, Carl 🙂 You’ve found exactly what I love in this book and I’ve found that it’s pretty universal when people read these. OSC’s characters are what do it for me. Like you said, he really has a gift when it comes to creating truly believed characters that the reader comes to love and respect. So many of his characters in so many of his works will never leave me. And (once again, like you said) while many of his works are classified as science fiction, and they are by definition, they’re not “over your head science fiction”. They’re easily readable, yet they’re easily readable because they seem to make sense!
I have to say, the Pequeninos have to be my favorite alien race ever created by an author. I was brought to tears by their culture at times and just by the thought that someone created this work. Let it never be said that a book can’t be a piece of art!
I love where the series goes from here (The “Speaker series”). Others hate it. It seems to be about half and half. I think you’d like it, personally 😉 Glad you had the same experience as me with this one! I love it when that happens!
You’ll have to let us know what you think of it Kailana if you do get around to reading it. It is wonderful and very different in many ways from Ender’s Game.
I knew you’d be thrilled Chris that I had such a great experience with it. It was all I could do to not pick up a copy of Xenocide at the store today…thankfully the one there was a bit beat up. I need to read some of the books I already have, but Xenocide will certainly be read this year, maybe even this month! I miss them all already.
Thanks again for a gift that turned out to be much more than just a book (and I use the word ‘just’ very loosely because a book itself is such an amazing gift for someone who loves books), it was an ‘experience’. One that I will no doubt keep experiencing as the story stays with me.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one, Carl. And this could quite possibly be one of the best reviews for the book 🙂 Like Chris said, some people don’t like the Speaker series as well. But I for one, love them. So I’d definitely encourage you to finish the series when you can. (I like the Shadow series as well, just not quite as much). I look forward to rereading them myself for the challenge I’m hosting. That plus I’m in the A to Z challenge, and I think Xenocide is a must 🙂
Oh, I really can’t wait to read this one! I haven’t read much Card, but I do agree that he writes great and unforgettable characters.
I finished the year’s reading with The History of the Dead, with it’s disappointing ending. So I am really in the mood for Wow! book. I got a head start on my resolution to use the library more frequently by putting a hold on two books. I think I’ll make it four. What a great review, Carl. I felt excited about the books by reading your review.
Reading War of Gifts last week really has me wanting to jump back into Ender’s universe soon. I need to pick up a copy of Speaker for the Scifi Experience. What I great excuss to cruise the used bookstores again. Thanks Carl!
Whoa…another beautifully written review! (You really should get paid for this, you know.) From all you and Chris have had to say about the Ender books, I think I really do need to find a way to move them to the front of the list.
It is always hard to gauge what someone else will like, Debi, but I suspect that you might actually enjoy these.
Wow. Speaker for the Dead really moved you. I agree with you about the theme of redemption and healing at the end, and understanding the other. But I always felt the ending was so sad.
Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead — I felt — were the best books in the Ender series. The other books down the road will always pale in comparison.
I found both of these stories really moving and meaningful. Certainly not your average ‘read for entertainment’ science fiction. Not that there is anything wrong with that because I love a good entertaining read, but I got something more out of both of these books.
I guess I find the ending both sad and happy. Some very good things happened with the characters and yet the book has the kind of melancholy and sadness you should expect from a story that has realistic characters dealing with real interpersonal issues.
I also recently read this book on Chris’ recommendation, and it definitely stands out as one of the best of my 2007, which was in a lot of ways a disappointing year. I still think about it and consider its themes, which is an endorsement in itself. It was the first book I’d ever put down at the end and said “There’s an author I really respect.” I also wish I had known about it years ago.
High praise! I intend to re-read Ender’s Game and move on to Speaker for the Dead at some point this year! Great review, and I will not read the Amazon blurb, I want Speaker ot speak for itself. Thanks, Carl.
Becky: Thanks for the kind words, I really enjoy doing reviews for books that captivate me and this was certainly one that did.
Scott: I agree with you completely, the themes of this book, and Ender’s Game, really stay with you.
JenClair: Thanks, I look forward to your thoughts when you re-read EG and when you read Speaker.
Well I stopped in at a used bookstore today on my way to work- traded in some old books and got 6 books back for a toonie. nice! Two OSC books- Ender’s Game and Memories of Earth. Other than his writing sf book I have never read him so I am glad to finally get around to it. And I keep looking for Stainless Steel Rat but it wasn’t there- instead another Turtledove book was, something about Byzantium. Also my first book from him.
I was in the same boat Homie. I read his two writing books decades ago when I worked in a bookstore but had never read any of his books until this past December. I look forward to your thoughts on them. And you’ll stumble across the rat sometime.
And here’s another thing I forogt to say- thanks to you I got a Scalzi on Writing and liked it so much I bought Old Man’s War and Android’s Dream, so right now I am reading Ender at work and OMW at home- Young Child’s War and Old Man’s War. Kind of neat to juxtapose them.
I imagine it would be a neat experience to be reading both of those books at the same time. There are some definite similarities. So glad you are enjoying Scalzi’s work. I hope you like the Old Man’s War series. Androids Dream, which is very different from OMW, is quite a fun book as well.
I finished listening to Speaker for the Dead today and audio format and loved it. Great cast for any audiobook listeners out there. I agree with Carl’s review in that it’s the characterization that sucks you in and won’t let you go. The ideas are universal and timeless that Card writes about as well. That’s why this novel doesn’t feel dated at all. I mean I’m reading a SCIFI novel 20 years plus after it was published and if I hadn’t known it from the copyright date I wouldn’t have guessed it. I liked this book more than Ender’s Game myself and I really enjoyed that novel as well.
Carl – Thanks again for hosting the SicFi experience. It has been an incredible way to start the new year. I’ve read/listened to more books already this January than in any month last year and that makes me excited as well. I’ve been wanting something just like this to balance out the RIP and Once Upon challanges and the SciFi experience is the trifetca of the categories of books I love to read.
Same here Jeff, that’s why I decided I had to give some love to sci fi this year and not just to fantasy and gothic horror. Got to honor my site’s namesake after all! 😉
I’m glad you enjoyed it and that the audio format was entertaining. This is one I may check out sometime to listen to as one of my re-reads since it is available at the library.
I agree that Speaker for the Dead is an amazing book, and personally I think it is one of his best works, if not the best. One of his strengths as a writer that always surprises me is his ability to understand the underlying spirituality of a religion. If you didn’t know his background as a Mormon, this book would make you think he was a Catholic – and the Alvin Maker books do the same with Native American beliefs. While I may not support much of Card’s belief system, in a world where religion is often polarizing, it is refreshing to come across an author who explores, and more importantly, seems to understand the deeper spiritual elements of humanity. To be honest, I haven’t kept up with his work in the last decade or so, but Speaker will always remain one of my top recommendations to people who are looking for a damn good book–regardless of genre.
Great thoughts Peter. I agree. I think his handling of religion was one of the things that surprised me the most. Where another writer might have handled a religion different than his own with less tact and made it a negative thing, Card actually respectfully explores religion and spirituality without resorting to caricaturization or criticism. He is very good.