Reviews

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

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cjvphd's review against another edition

3.0

Like Ender's Game, but without the action and thrice the religion! Except not really. The story was fine, the writing was adequate, whatever. The buggers are more interesting than the piggies (I can't believe that I, an adult, just wrote that), and Valentine/Demosthenes is infinitely more interesting than the succubus of self-pity that is Novinha, so this story didn't really work for me. I was bored. We wiped out the buggers, so let's not wipe out the only other sentient species we've encountered. That's basically the plot, with some family drama thrown in to distract you from the guilt and morality clubbing you into oblivion as you just want to get to the end to figure out why certain characters died early in the book.

elliedotmcd's review

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

cecile87's review against another edition

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4.0

Read a very long time ago. Recall being moved by the story and the family dramas. It was a bit preachy, but I got the point and wish more people could learn acceptance of other good people even though they don't look like them.

bhfine's review

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

samara_mattos's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

5.0

im_basil's review

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hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

kinda wild that this guy writes about seeing past blind intolerance and hate and is a proud homophobe 0-0 like ok we can build understanding with alien pigs and bugs, but not with men who kiss other men? wild.

unfortunately i really like the ender series, but i will be borrowing copies from my local library or buying books secondhand so card earns not even a cent from me :)

Content Warnings