BOOK REVIEW: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

BOOK REVIEW: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

Sequel to Ender's Game.
"In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: the Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War.
"Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth." (from back cover)

Novinha, hurt and afraid, calls for a Speaker for the Dead, and though she recalls her request 8 days later, Ender Wiggin shows up on her planet twenty years later--the time it takes to travel from the nearest planet, though to Ender it was only 2 weeks. During his flight, two of Novinha's six children calls for a Speaker, also. Ender is not well recieved on the Catholic planet, but soon earns the hearts of all, even the cold-hearted Novinha. We learn to love and fear the piggies, the alien creatures they share the planet with. They discover that they must decide how they can continue to coexist with a virus that the piggies can't live without but that kills humans.

This is definitely as good as Ender's Game, though in a different way. Ender is a much more peaceful and older person. He's in his 30's in this book so you don't feel sorry for him like before but rejoice as he earns the hearts of a damaged family who, though they don't know it, need him deeply. And he needs them. 415 pages of sheer entertainment. Some tears expected. Rated PG-13 for graphic violence and 4.7 stars.