Customer Reviews

Xenocide: Volume Three of the Ender Quintet (Ender Wiggin Saga)

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(77)
3 star:		(47)
2 star:		(44)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

It seems the reviewers of this book are divided into two camps. Some hated the book because it doesn't live up to Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, because the "plot" is boring and minimal, because it's too long and drags, etc. Others rate Xenocide highly because of its well developed characters and its treatment of ethical issues. Both views are valid to some extent, but if you're able to accept this book for what it is, then you'll find it's a superb book, well worth the time to read it.

Ender's Game is all about Ender's childhood development, as he trains to become the savior of humanity. Speaker for The Dead explores some larger issues as it tracks Ender's healing of Novinha's dysfunction family, and the plot is kept going partially through the mysteries concerning the pequininos. Xenocide is different from both of these in that there's no real main character, and very little plot; instead, the focus of the story is the dillema faced by the three sentient species of Lusitania. Within this framework, Card explores a number of unusual ethical questions, such as whether human survival justifies the extermination of another species, and whether fear of the unknown will always be a barrier when interacting with those unlike ourselves. He also develops the complex web of love and hatred within Novinha's family, and the nature of the relationships within it. At times it was almost painful to read about the emotional states of the characters, so well did Card depict it. Yet I was completely hooked from the start, and I marvel at his ability to write about some very abstract issues within a science fiction setting.

If anything, the situation Card created was too hopeless, and once things started resolving the plot became a bit incredulous. One reviewer suggested that Card wrote himself into a corner and had to resort to cheap plot devices to save himself, and that's certainly how it looks to me. Happily, this occurs so near the end it doesn't detract much from the overall value of the book. (However, the consequences are compounded in the final book, Children of the Mind, which is the only one of the four I do not recommend reading.)

I enjoyed Xenocide as much as, if not more than Ender's Game and SftD. (One has to admit that Ender's Game, fantastic as it is, is much more simplistic and lightweight than Xenocide.) As long as you don't enter with undue expectations and you are willing to explore some tough ethical issues, then you'll see the merits of this book, perhaps the most human novel Card has written.

"Ender's Game" is a rapid-fire, tremendously adventurous novel with a rip-roaring end. "Speaker for the Dead" is more challenging, as it turns a murder mystery into a philosophical quest. "Xenocide" goes even further up the difficulty scale, and should not be read unless a copy of the final novel, "Children of the Mind," is close at hand. "Xenocide" takes the issues of religion, racism, genocide, love, family, insanity, redemption, and the nature of the universe as its subject matter; a truly amazing mix, as you might guess. But it's not really a stand-alone novel; when you come to the end, you may feel as I did that Card cheated with a deus ex machina at the end. He didn't; I think he just decided to chop the novel off and publish it, then publish the second half as "Children of the Mind." My anger at the ending quickly faded when I started "Children of the Mind"; clearly, "Xenocide" was not the end of the story. I loved the entire Ender Quartet, even if it was hard going for many readers to shift from "Ender's Game" to "Speaker for the Dead." Card has produced a philosophical masterpiece of science fiction in this series, and one that is only matched by his "Pastwatch Redemption" in its scale and importance in his writings. One of the few genre writers worth re-reading in his or her entirety, Card continues to amaze with the breadth and depth of his creations.

I'm not really sure why Card called this book Xenocide. It sounds like the worst-of-the-worst Sci-Fi trash books. What this novel does, I feel, is take the themes alluded to in Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead and absolutely elevates them to a high philosophical debate.

Card, more than aptly, discusses: Sentient life, the human soul, genetic makeup vs. destiny, martyrdom, catholicism, and finally, and most poignantly, personal dichotomy. Ender, unlike his angelic sibling Valentine and his satanic brother Peter, is made up of a dual nature - like anyone. Card's none-too-subtle journey to the heart of this issue makes an utterly fascinating and insightful read.

"Xenocide" continues the compelling storyline begun in "Speaker for the Dead". Having violated the strict policy of the Starways Congress regarding interference with indigenous species, the human colony on the planet Lusitania has been targeted for dissolution. The added factor of the existence of the killer (and highly contagious) genetic virus, Descolada, on Lusitania has led the Congress to order to the planet be destroyed before the colonists or other indigenous life can leave and spread the virus elsewhere. On Lusitania, a group of colonists, led by Ender Wiggin and his adopted family, are in a race against time to find an antidote to the Descolada (not just a 'fix' like they are using currently) and find a way to stop the Fleet that is being sent to destroy the planet. The official full partnership between the 'piggies' species and the humans threatens to break apart under the stress of the events surrounding the Descolada and arrival of the Fleet.

"Xenocide" is, on may levels, as equally captivating as "Speaker for the Dead" because author Orson Scott Card focuses on what he does best, character development and character interactions. Such focus is what made "Speaker for the Dead" and "Ender's Game" spectacular novels and Nebula award winners. "Xenocide" keeps much of that momentum going. The politics on the planet among the species (the Buggers have also been reborn there) are quite compelling. The efforts of the high-minded members of the human and piggie species to prevent the ignition of a bloody civil war caused by ignorant members of both species is both harrowing and suspenseful. The events take place 30 years after "Speaker for the Dead" and Novinha's children are all grown now and play major roles in the resolution of this conflict. Seeing how they have evolved from the broken children when Ender first arrived in "Speaker..." is one of the more satisfying aspects of "Xenocide". The paths in life they have chosen are wholly believable and the reader can see that, without Ender's intercession decades earlier, these children might never had the opportunity to make the choices they make here.

This book is nearly 600 pages long, but powers forward at a rapid clip until about the last 100 pages. It is there that "Xenocide" goes on an existential path that would continue into, and plague, "Children of the Mind". Without revealing any plot details, it can be said that this literary choice of Card's dramatically slows the momentum created by the previous 2 1/2 books. Since it only occurs over the last 100 pages, it doesn't slow the reader down so much that they would be compelled to put the book down. It does, however, make reading the sequel, "Children of the Mind", more difficult.

Card seemingly wanted to explore a higher meaning in the overall story arc with this development. It just seems unnecessary because the character-driven stories he had told up to this point clearly revealed a greater meaning that just simply science fiction novels would. Complaints aside, "Xenocide" is still an excellent book and a good read for anyone who appreciated what "Speaker for the Dead" stood for.

Most people who have read "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead" will like this novel, not for its content but because they love Ender. Card wrote Game as a stand alone novel and Speaker as the first of a trilogy, (he may not have meant to from the beginning, but that's how these books play out). Readers familiar to trilogies know that in most cases they follow a rigid pattern, 1) Setup, 2) bridge, 3) conflict and conclussion. Speaker set up the saga with more style than most trilogies, and is a great novel on its own. Xenocide is just a bridge which disappointed me, and from what I've seen from other reviews, quite a lot of people as well. I was expecting another great novel, but what I read had a "to be continued" feel.

The book is above average for a bridge or arc, which is usually a good thing. However, with our expectations so high from the first two books, this novel falls short of absolute brilliance, and is instead just a good read. We meet a supporting cast of new characters, some hateful and seemingly villianous, which is something new to the series. We are introduced to the dark side of Starways Congress who seem to act out of spite and anger for no real reason. This was the most troubling aspect of the book for me. The first books of the series gave us moral ambiguity and actions bourne of neccesity rather than evil. The story always gave us hope for the future, but the darkness introduced here dims that a bit.

The story still takes place on Ender's "home" world of Lusitania, where the three species are gearing up for the threat of destruction by Starways Congress. We still get the moral dillemas typical of the series, but they feel just a bit contrived at times. Ender's wife acts too standoffish to be true to life. One wonders how Ender ever fell in love with her, and stayed with her for so long. The Sci-fi/fantasy aspect of the book overtakes the human drama which made the series so great and feel so real to the readers. If you get through this book, the conclussion of the series waits on the other side in the novel "Children of the Mind", which gets a lot of the greatness back. If you've read the first two, stick with it. If you haven't read Ender before, please don't start here. If you start here, don't give up on it.

I have read the whole ender series, but with a strange sequence which may have affected the way I view the different books in the series. The first book I have read was the Shadow of the Hegemon, thanks to a tourist that had left it in the library of a hotel in Skiathos island. This book got me hooked, but it confused me also as I didn't know if I should start reading the next books or the previous ones.

The general pattern in the whole series is:

The beginning book is Ender's Game. Then we have two subcategories, one the Shadow series (which, with the exception of the first book, take place on earth and are more within military strategy) and one the Ender series (which take place in space and are more into new sci-fi ideas). Shadow series probably can be read from everyone, while I guess that the Ender series (especially from Speaker for the Dead onwards) would be read mainly from sci-fi fans.

Below are my comments for the books of the series, in the order I have read them and a marking (10 is the highest mark):

Shadow of the Hegemon: The first book I have read, and which I could not leave from my hands. I finished it in 2 days. It was fast paced action, very smart plot and after reading it I believed that Orson Scot Card (OSC) has invented/re-invented a new genre of literature. That of military strategy and adventure combined with brilliance/mind games and hidden portions of romance. Such books always existed but this seemed to be THE book. It was like the way Dan Brown re-invented books with trivials and puzzles, together with fast paced adventure. I strongly recommend it to everybody that likes such type of books. (mark: 10)

Shadow puppets: The sequel to the above. I found it interesting but somehow boring as the above story developed little and the focus was on the characters (maybe too much focus so that it seemed to me that it was slightly mumbling jumbling. Strategy, brilliance and adventure seemed to be very low here. I would not recommend it for anybody to read it in isolate, unfortunately you have to read it if you want to go to the next book. I really believe that OSC made a mistake here (deliberately or not) as this book should have been told in 50-60 pages and be included in the previous or the next book. (mark: 6 but you will read it because you will want to read Shadow of the Giant)

Shadow of the Giant: (see below)

Ender's game: A really great book to read, probably the best of the series, however, as I had read its sequels first, when I reached the 80% of this book, I had predicted the end. However, it's at the highest standards of sci-fi, military strategy, adventure, brilliant mind games and very good depth in the human aspect of the characters. In comparison to the shadow series, it is more "space" sci-fi, while shadow series have much lesser sci-fi elements and are more down to earth. (mark: 10)

Speaker for the dead: Another great book, but different style. Less adventure, more human aspect, more maturity. Brilliance yes, but not military, sci-fi yes (some great ideas) but not spaceship style. (Mark: 9)

Xenocide: A good sequel of the previous novel. In certain points more brilliant, in other sections more boring, however is again a very good sci-fi book. The only flaw in these series (Speker for the dead, Xenocide, Children of the mind) is the idea behind one of the alien species described which I found outrageously extreme, however if you ignore it becomes first class reading. (Mark: 9)

Children of the mind: I think that OSC has wrapped up his case pretty badly in that one. It's a fair book except the fact that I felt that OSC mumbles jumbles for one third of the novel not having decided how to end it. In other critiques I have found it described as nice approach to moral dilemmas, however, moral dilemma is when you describe it once and make your choice, while here the dilemma is repeated and repeated... I felt like I was watching a movie worth 10 oscars and the end did not worth to be included even in a cheap video movie. And again, many open ends at the end (for possible sequels). (Mark: 7 but you will read it as you will be hooked from the previous ones).

Ender's shadow: Having read Enders Game and Shadow of the Hegemon, I found this book probably the best of the series, which of course is my subjective preference. I could characterize it as probably the best book I have read ever! Not to repeat myself, it has all that Shadow of the Hegemon and Ender's Game have, and even more...(Mark: the absolute 10).

Shadow of the Giant: When I read shadow puppets, I said, "that's it, OSC has lost either his talent or his appetite for good writing...", so I was pretty unwilling to read it. Fortunately I decided to, as it proved to be a good one, were I believe that OSC has nicely wrapped up his story, with two small flaws.

* The one is described below (its end needed to be slightly more complete) and,

* The other is the fact that although he describes certain smart battles, he does not focus enough on them as it seems that he is in a hurry to wrap all things up. It had all elements to become a masterpiece but it ended up being a good to read book (Mark: 9)

In general, both series have three categories of good stuff:

1) Some great sci-fi ideas (battle room, battle games, fantasy game, ansible, aia, Jane, in/out travel, raman varelse etc)

2) Great military strategy, mind games etc combined with adventure

3) In certain books, depth of characters, moral dilemmas etc

And two main bad stuff:

1) Mumbling jumbling in certain books which was completely unnecessary (either OSC wanted just to produce and sell another title - see shadow puppets- or he could not decide how the story will continue-see last book of Ender series).

2) One of the alien species described in the Ender series was so too outrageous even for sci-fi that made it look ridiculous. The idea behind it was brilliant in sci-fi terms, but he could try a different living organism...

Finally, OSC has left open ends in both series (probably for next sequels), however I believe that there are two things missing. a) the story of the Hive Queen and the Hegemon, told in a metaphorical manner so it means much for humanity. b) In ancient theatre, a story should end in a way that brings "katharsis" to the story, and the souls of the readers. I believe that the end of the shadow of the giant may be smart for commercial purposes but it was very unfair to the reader as it did not bring full "katharsis".

First off, this book is the second sequel to Ender's Game, so I suggest you go read the other two books first. Second, Xenocide follows the story of The Speaker for the Dead, so don't expect a story similar to Ender's Game.

But with that over, lets get on to the good stuff! Xenocide is not a direct sequel, instead, Card takes another of his twists and makes it take place 20-30 years later, once the children are grown, and Ender is an old man.

(For those of you who have read the series) it's interesting to see how everyone has changed over the years, to see what fields each has entered. Card built a person out of each name, and with this book, the personality grows for all of them.

On top of that, the series also sees the return of Valentine, Ender's sister. Reading this book is like looking at your highschool yearbook, it's fun to see how everyone's both changed and stayed the same.

Concerning the plot, this book has gained some respect. I don't read too many sci-fis because of the fantasy involved. In Star Trek, if a ray-gun is needed, there it is. It is assumed that they were made a long time ago and are as common as pants now. But this series, and especially this book rejects that theory. Everything exists for a reason, and Card does a fantastic job at explaining "histories" and describing theories, then BUILDING on those theories to make more. I'm sure it was time consuming to Card, but it has an excellent effect on the reader.

A word of caution though. Some of the theories (especially the ones involving space) get, to say the least, confusing. On more than one occasion, I needed to put the book down because I either had a headache, or needed to work out the words in my mind. But nothing written is too confusing to figure out. The benefits of the explanation outnumber the time it takes to figure it out.

It's a good, long story with realistic characters and just enough science fiction to satisfy the crowds. Enjoy!

This series went downhill a bit in each subsequent book. Ender's Game was stunning. By Xenocide, the pace was slow and plodding, the characters too heavy with baggage from the previous 2 stories. Still a good book, just in no way measures up to Ender's Game.

The first thing you have to understand about "Xenocide" is that half of it wasn't actually intended to be an "Ender" novel. Card fused his previously unsuccessful Novella about the crippled geniuses of "The World of Path" with the successful "Ender" series, hardly even bothering to create even the most basic of segues between the two stories. This is why much of the book doesn't appear to have anything at all to do with Ender, Lusitania, or indeed, anything else in the series.

The next thing you need to know is that most of "Xenocide" is Card musing about his own arrival at Middle Age, and his personal obsession with the Portuguese culture. The adult Andrew Wiggin of "Xenocide" is nothing at all like the gifted young boy we met in Ender's Game. In Xenocide, Andrew is now a broken-down loser with a bad marriage, shattered dreams, and the secret conviction that he's the most boring character in his own story. The book has been out for a while, so certainly it's no Spoiler to mention that by the end of the book, Andrew has basically committed suicide, apparently out of a desire to avoid having to appear in any more sequels.

It's fine that Card grew bored with the series. It's even understandable that he'd attempt to continue milking it as a Cash Cow, long after he actually wanted to continue writing them. But what I personally resent is the way that, with each new sequel, he ruined the legacy of the first novel. Eventually Card informs us that Ender, our hero from Ender's Game, was actually the least important person in the series. EVERYONE turns out to be cooler, smarter, and more important. But honestly, it's not Card that's to blame. He's just a guy trying to make a buck.

So you know who IS to blame? You. The Fanboy. The person that's busy looking for the "Not Helpful" button in a flurry of righteous indignation because I dared say anything critical about this series. You're the ones that always ruin EVERYTHING. You convinced George Lucas that Jar Jar Binks was a pretty cool idea. You convinced the Walchowski brothers that the Matrix needed two increasingly boring and idiotic sequels. You flocked to "Pirates of the Caribbean: at World's End". You made Transformers 2 one of the biggest movies of all time. In short, by rewarding garbage, you encourage artists to keep producing ever-larger HEAPS of garbage.

Many people don't like this book because of the long ethical and philosophical discussions in it, but these are the people who only read Ender's Game for the action, violence and war aspect of it. In fact, I'm surprised these people got so far as to even read Xenocide. If you look closely, all of the Ender Quartet are philosophical books, but Xenocide it the most open about it. Xenocide considers outrageous things, such as an entire planet inhabited by geniuses who are struck by a crippling and incurable variation of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or a self-aware computer program making herself into a martyr even though only three people in the entire universe know she exists, or a group of aliens determined to bring humankind to meet it's maker by spreading an incurable plague, etc. The sub-plot on the world of Path is riveting, and holds up the whole book of itself. I don't know how Card does it. First I was convinced that Ender's Game was the best book ever written, then no one could tell me that Speaker for the Dead was anything less than perfect, and now Xenocide has risen to claim the title! I want to read Children of the Mind, though I am skeptical about whether Card can improve on the perfection of his previous three books. For the reader who is into deep philosophy: read Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder, but take it in small doses! I have only one question. Orson Scott Card, will you marry me?