Customer Reviews

Children of the Mind (Ender, Book 4)

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(36)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

Having read and loved the first three books in the Ender series, there was no way I was going to miss this entry. Like so many others, though, I am of split mind about the finale (and how appropriate, given the schizophrenic existence of its lead characters Ender-Peter and Val-Jane). While "Children of the Mind" does contain Card's trademark wit and while the last 100 pages kick into high gear, the final installment, on its own, is as unsatisfying as it is pleasing.

One of the major problems is Card's ill-considered decision to publish "Xenocide" and "Children of the Mind" as two books rather than one cohesive unit; the fourth entry seems more an epilogue to the series--a 350-page denouement--than the climax it should have been. Card admits he originally planned the two books as one work, and this admission resonates like an apology. Well over a third of "Children of the Mind" summarizes what happened in previous volumes, and another third is riddled with endless conversations on political and metaphysical topics, many of which the characters already debated at length in "Xenocide." Only in the last 100 pages does Card finally abandon the themes that were presented more thoroughly (and competently) in the earlier books and turn his attention to resolving the many loose ends. In sum, Card would have been much wiser to have written a unified 600-page book rather than 900 needlessly repetitive pages.

The second problem is that Card's philosophical ruminations often steer awfully close to quasi-religious mumbo-jumbo. The entire section set on Pacifica, a planet governed by Samoans, feels particularly incongruous. (Peter and Wang-mu wonder aloud--twice--what they are doing on this particular world, a question that is never really fully addressed.) True--some of the philosophical questions are fascinating, but there's very little that wasn't already said better and more succinctly in "Xenocide," and the dialogue is often excruciatingly shallow. Take this conversation between Valentine and Novinha, which reads in part:

"You didn't really need him anymore." "He never needed me." "He needed you desperately," said Valentine. "He needed you so much he gave up Jane for you." "No," said Novinha, "He needed my need for him. He needed to feel like he was providing for me, protecting me." "But you don't need his providence or his protection anymore."

I wish I could tell you this bit of dizzying dialogue is an exception, but there are similar angst-ridden conversations between Miro and Val, Peter and Wang-mu--in short, between any two characters who feel the need to explain to each other their raison d'etre. In the earlier books, Card allowed metaphysical questions to arise as much from the actions of the characters and the development of the plot as from the dialogue; in "Children of the Mind," everyone seems to be in post-Freudian interplanetary counseling.

Yet the book is not a wholesale disaster; and I particularly enjoyed the page-turning final resolution, even though it relies on a melodramatic sleight of hand. If the last third of "Children of the Mind" were merged with a pared-down version of "Xenocide," the whole would probably have been equal to the excellence of the first two books in the Ender series.

About halfway through "Children of the Mind" I realized that I hated it. With a passion. Anything that evokes so much passion can't be worthless. That's why I'm giving it 3 stars. If you loved the first three books as much as I did, you may similarly feel a strong emotion when you read this one. It's not exactly boring. I just felt like I was in another universe trying to understand what in the world Card was doing.

Why do I hate it so much? Because the characters are all varying degrees of unsympathetic, and all of the major action surrounds Card's weird new mysticism, rather than the intense ethical dilemmas of the previous books. This book is like the opposite of the other books and I couldn't understand why. No one is rational, no one is wise, no one has any empathy at all. The spirit of Ender Wiggin doesn't exist in this book.

No, Ender isn't really present in this book. Card would like you to believe that he is, in the form of Peter and Valentine, Ender's "children of the mind", but I found those characters frustrating and unbelievable and not at all like any side of Ender. Interestingly, they could be viable characters on their own, but Card insists on treating them as if they are not real people and we should not care what happens to them (especially Young Valentine who is subjected to extreme emotional torture but we're not supposed to care about her feelings, she's just an "empty vessel").

No strong characters rise up to replace the absence of Ender. Card tries, with Miro (who becomes loathsome in my opinion)and Peter (all the fun sociopathy drained out of him). With the exception of Wang-Mu, all of the female characters come off looking really bad. You'll wonder why Ender married Novinha, as awful, self-centered and destructive as she is. You'll wonder why you didn't realize (Old) Valentine was such a self-righteous prig before. You'll wonder when Jane became so extraordinarily selfish and annoying.

Far too much time is spent on the planet Pacifica, a planet apparently inhabited by self-righteous and rude religious nuts. The chief one being a holy man who doesn't "believe in ceremony" yet insists any roof he eats under be burned because he is oh so holy. And did I tell you that we are supposed to love these Pacifican nuts? That they are supposedly so wise and above everyone else that main characters are reduced to tears and supplication?

If you want to know how the situation with the Lusitanian fleet is resolved and what happens to Ender and the gang, then go ahead and read this book. I thought everything that happened was backwards and wrong but hey, that's just me.

"Children of the Mind" is the final book in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quartet. It picks up right where "Xenocide" left off, and is the logical conclusion to Ender's story, wrapping things up in a satisfying enough manner.

Like the books that preceded it, "Children of the Mind" is largely character driven, and this is certainly one of its strengths. Few of the characters are explored in excrutiating detail, but Card gives us just enough of a glimpse into their lives and personalities to give the reader the feeling that we know these people.

While the book is certainly satisfying in that it ties up all the threads woven in the previous books, I feel that it is the weakest of the series. I'm not sure that much would have been lost if it had simply been compressed and included as the final chapters to "Xenocide". That said, if you are a fan of the series, and particularly if you have read "Xenocide", then "Children of the Mind" is a must read.

In classic Card style, Card breaks off completely from the story that he has been telling for the past 3 books to unburden his soul and really spell out in blatant terms his opinions on life, the universe, and everything else. This book completes the Ender Saga in a rather roundabout way, really not dealing with Ender in any way/shape/form. Instead it goes on to tell the story of Ender's evil brother Peter who was born out of Ender's fear and his pairing with a servant girl who beleives in serving her god. This book is so philisophical I think Card is overshooting his audience a bit. For those who enjoyed the series as a story, they will not find any joy in this book at all, as it really is a weak storyline. For those that were taking the depper route they too will feel cheated as Card underestimates their intelligence and blatantly explains the story he is trying to share with everyone in a rather direct manner.

If you have read the first 3 books then you will want to read this one to enjoy the end of the story, but if you have not read an Ender's book before, this is not the place to start.

I agree with what reviewer Webster says, and add the following.

Ender's Game is no doubt a classic sf novel, and one I enjoyed all over again 25 years after I first read it. The second and third novels follow logically, maintain the forward momentum of the plot, and increase the emotional depth.

But Children of the Mind was a real disappointment. It reads as an afterthought, beginning with the fact that, unlike the books in the Ender "trilogy", it assumes you've read the first three -- and recently. Each of the other three could stand on its own; this one can't.

Also, it's way too talky. Card seems here to have given up *showing* and just decided to *tell* everything he wanted to say.

Finally, it seems to me this book breaks the golden rule of sf: assume one element contrary to nature as we know it, and trace the logical consequences. When Jane starts popping people in and out of places, Card's just playing God, and it ceases to be interesting.

In the Afterword, Card says he's trying to write mature American fiction, and maybe even mature Mormon fiction, but this ain't it.

It seems almost like two different people wrote Ender's Game and Children of the Mind. Ender's Game was brilliant ... Children of the Mind was just dull, melodramatic, and overextended. Ender himself all but disappeared in this last book, even before literally crumbling to dust 2/3 of the way through the book. I couldn't really buy into all of this one-Ender/three-bodies business, and the love interests of all the main characters seemed awfully forced. The "looming" Lusitania Fleet seemed like an afterthought as the characters launched into long winded philosophies on aiua and dealing with the three Enders. It's almost like Card tried to make a large scale, Dune-type epic out of this series but changed course with this last book. The idea of aiua connecting us all together was interesting (very reminiscent of neo-Confucian ideas about the structure of the universe), but it just wasn't enough to carry the book.

I think Card's biggest mistake with the whole series was aging Ender so quickly and reducing his role to meaningless cameo appearances. The tragic young Ender of Ender's Game--the Ender that won our hearts and imaginations--and the middle-aged Ender of the later books were like complete strangers. Maybe if the books had developed around Ender's growth as a person and Card had allowed Ender himself a more active role the conclusion would've been more satisfying. But sadly, by the end of the book, I just couldn't bring myself to care anymore. Ender was dead, the characters were all dull and the wild plotlines just seemed to spiral out of control. I believe that development of characters and the depth of a book's environment/setting is absolutely crucial and the difference between great science fiction and average material. Children of the Mind really is not that bad of a book. But coming from Card, knowing he can do better ... it was a disappointment.

The good news is that after this book, the Ender's series returns back to its roots, back to the time when Ender was in Battle School. While the next books in the series might not be as "deep" as this one, they are much more emotionally engaging. Regardless of how you felt about how the Speaker-Xenocide-Children trilogy ended up, if you liked Ender's Game (hey, who didn't?) continue on in this series.

I never thought I would say this about a book in this series, but I hate this book. I was absolutely disappointed with the way Card chose to resolve his story. I'll give him license since he may do what he will with his story, but I feel so bitter about this ending to such a magnificent saga that I can't recommend this to anybody that isn't dying of curiousity at the end of "Xenocide".

And to those who believe you fit in this category, I'm sorry for the feelings you will like possess upon completion. I honestly feel the same unrest now as I did when I finished "Xenocide". I hope everyday that Card will come to his senses and revise his plot here to be more logical, less rushed, more conclusive (which some may argue with), and more fulfilling to a character of such quality as Ender Wiggin.

Card shows again that he has a unique talent for developing complex problems with answers that only cause other problems...a situation more like real life than most novels. However, he shows this strength of his is almost a weakness here, as he seeks to find a final resolution to the Ender series.

This one feels a little too metaphysical. This idea about the aiuas has taken over a good series. Most of the first half of the novel is Val and Peter struggling with being half-people; struggling to find their identity, if they have one. Then it all becomes lovesick mush; is this a romance novel? Ender loves Novinha, Wang-mu loves Peter but will she be enough? Miro loves Val and Jane, but doesn't know if he can love them as one person. Yeesh.

The final resolution is okay, but not quite satisfying, and though Xenocide was plenty long, this idea doesn't feel like it justified a whole book. Card feels like he's filling space a lot of the time. And trying to figure out how to end a series of strong books. It's a tough challenge; he almost rises to it.

His afterword -- an essay about the function of literature within culture -- is worth reading and thinking about.

And I have to say it again -- who came up with these book covers? They have nothing to do with the book and look terrible. What is that thing?

A sample passage:

"But the point is to go on, isn't it? To connect with the future?"

"That's one part, yes," said Olhado. "But part of the purpose of it is now, is the moment. And part of it is the web of connections. Links from soul to soul. If the purpose of life was just to continue into the future, then none of it would have meaning, because it would be all anticipation and preparation. There's fruition, Grego. There's the happiness we've already had. The happiness of each moment. The end of our lives, even if there's no forward continuation, no progeny at all, the end of our lives doesn't erase the beginning."

If you would like to argue about this book with me, e-mail me at williekrischke@hotmail.com

I highly recommend NOT reading this book, which managed to diminish the magic of Ender's Game for me. Stop at Xenocide, which was pretty good, and skip straight to Ender's Shadow, which is VERY good. This book is exceedingly disjointed, makes way too much of the Valentine/Peter dichotomy, and is boring, boring, boring. Where I couldn't put the other Ender books down, I had to really struggle to finish this one. And then wished I hadn't.

Talk about pretentious -- in the afterword to Children of the Mind, Orson Scott Card compares himself to Nobel Prize winning author Kenzaburo Oe. And that really illustrates the problems not only with this latest novel, but the problem of the Ender series, in general.

Card is so taken with moral and character dilemmas that he gives short shrift to the actual plot of the story. It might be acceptable if Card had the craft and skill of good "mainstream" author, but he is so heavy-handed that his attempts at literary depth are embarassing.

Ender's Game was a great novel because Card did a magnificent job of compression; the result was a taut, gripping and moving story. Speaker For The Dead was a very good novel because the main plot involving the mystery of piggy culture and biology was strong enough to carry the reader past the bland soap opera of the Portugese biologist's family.

But the third novel, Xenocide, completely collapsed under its weight, and C! hildren of the Mind -- after starting with what is admittedly a touching scene with Ender and his wife in the monastery -- dissolves into a mess. Any interesting plot flow that might have moved the book forward stops dead every time -- and there are many of them -- Mr. Card yields to his didactic side and inserts a boring, almost expository, conversation about the meaning of reality.

Mr. Card also continues another unfortunate trend that began in Speaker For the Dead, as he again speculates on how different ethnic cultures might handle space colonization. No doubt the author is exploring his own well-intentioned curiosity about other people, but his literary clumsiness again betrays him and the results are parodies, such as Japanese wisemen spouting Lotus wisdom and Pacific Islanders who have the wherewithal for space travel but still row on bamboo craft to speak to primitive prophets. It's as annoying as the Catholic Portugese stereotypes that populated Speaker and as insul! ting as Xenocide's Chinese Geniuses-Who-Speak-Like-Confuciu! s.

Children of the Mind tries to give us a cliffhanger ending with an interesting mystery to be explored, but although the sci-fi concept itself does have its intrigue, I just can't take any more of these characters.