'Speaker for the Dead' by Orson Scott Card, 6/16/10

Almost one year to the day after finishing ‘Ender’s Game’ I finished the second book, ‘Speaker for the Dead.’ I wish I hadn’t waited so long to read it.

I didn’t write a review for ‘Ender’s Game,’ so if you don’t know that story, let me give you a brief overview.

Ender is short for Andrew Wiggin. He is considered a Third, meaning he is the third and youngest child in the family. In the time that he was born, couples were not allowed to have more than two children without special permission from the government. The government allowed Ender’s parents to have a third child is because they were looking for something specific from their genetic line….a child that was a military genius. They found it in Ender.

Ender was sent to a military school at a very young age, six if I recall correctly. Through tactical training, Ender became very good at what he did. During the course of his training he played what he thought was a video game against the enemy, known as Buggers. Unbeknownst to Ender, the video game was real; he was really commanding starships and was solely responsible for the destruction of the entire Bugger race. He became know as Ender the Xenocide because of the destruction of the Buggers.

Three thousand years later, ‘Speaker for the Dead’ picks up. After the Bugger Wars, Ender became a speaker for the dead, someone who travels from world to world, upon request, telling the story of those that have died. Because of star travel, even though it is three thousand years, the same Ender is traveling telling the stories of the dead. He is now about 35 years old.

In this particular situation Ender is called to the planet of Lusitania to tell the story of Pipo, who is a scientist studying the planet’s other species, most notable what they call the “piggies.” Piggies are humanoid creatures with a language and a culture. At this time, Pipo is not allowed to teach the piggies anything that might move forward their evolution faster than what it is meant, but he is to learn of everything the piggies will teach him. When the piggies kill Pipo, one of his assistants and friends call for a speaker so that the truth may be known.

Much happens on Lusitania from the time Ender gets the call to when he arrives twenty-two years later. His arrival sparks fear, excitement, sadness and nervousness among the people of Lusitania. Much happens after his arrival, including the planet rebelling against the main form of interstellar government, the Starways Congress.

But for me the story held so much more than just a tale of time travel and interstellar wars. I saw it as a brief history of men exploring Earth and what happens when you encounter people with different beliefs than you. It is a story of what can happen out of miscommunication, jealously and fear of the unknown. By the end of this book it takes an outsider, Ender, to bare the truth of peoples lives, to break all the rules so that the humans and the piggies can join forces against the Starways Congress who is on its way to Lusitania to destroy them both.