Review: Classic and brilliant
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 14, 2014
I will first answer the question I most needed help with when I first bought this book: is it worth it to buy the whole collection, or will I only want to read Ender's game? Answer: DEFINITELY buy all five books! These are classics, and I don't mean only in their genre. I am confident they would appeal to people of all ages and fans of any type of fiction. Yes, they are science fiction, but they are so much more than that. They are books that speak about - and somehow transcend the topic of - the deepest meaning of humanity. Period. Looking back, I think Orson Scott Card is a genious. I have no doubt he will be remembered as "one of the great ones", especially in his own genre.I will try to describe each book to you and give my honest review.Ender's Game: 4.5 stars - For the record, I saw the movie before I read the book. I meant to do it the other way around, but it wasn't possible. So the surprise, edge-of-my-seat element was obviously missing in the book for me, even though it wasn't the writer's fault. I think that is why this is not rated 5 stars, it got a bit slow, since I knew what happened in the end. Still, it was well worth the read. The book is about a world that was changed by an alien atack, and the children that are trained to save it from them. One particular exceptional child: Ender Wiggin. But the book is about so much more. It's about inocence lost and hope found, it's about how much of our identity is bound by the actions we are obligated to take in do-or-die sitiations. It feels real. All the cruelty and all the kindness feels utterely human. But since it's about all the "action" that happens inside of Ender, and not so much about the real action, the book felt a little over-explained to me sometimes.The Speaker for the Dead: 5 stars - this book is about what happens to Ender long after the events of the first book. He is 35 years old (but it is 3.000 years after the fact, since space traveling changes the space-time continuum) and he has yet to find a safe place for the last hive queen. He arrives in a world where the only (other) sentient species has been found, and revives his own story in a most beautiful way. This book truly changed me in a deep level. The themes - survival, compassion, understanding, truth, what it means to be human - will rattle your humanity to the core (if you have any). I know it's cheesy (especially because I'm practically quoting a totally unrelated movie), but it made me want to be a better person. More like Ender, it made me want to use my intelligence in order to enhance my emotions and vice versa, instead of the usual letting your emotions take away your intelligence. It is possible, and Scott Card creates it beautifully! This is my favorite of the 5 books. In this one, even though you are thrown in to a million different characters all at once and the pace is still slow, I didn't feel confused or bored, or ever wanted to stop reading it. I absolutely loved this. It truly moved me.Xenocide: 5 stars - It is a bit hard for me to separate Xenocide and Children of the Mind, but I'll try since they are obviously separate anyhow (and my ratings show that). Xenocide starts where The Speaker for the Dead ended. As the name indicates, in this book Ender and the people of Lusitania are trying to prevent the xenocide of the Pequeninos and the Hive Queen, while still fighting for their lives. Jane gets more and more exiting and the introduction of the people of Path creates a really interesting mix.Children of the Mind: 4.5 stars - This is the end of the story. And the reason that I gave it half a star less is that - even though it absolutely satisfied me in an emotional level (I wanted things to end up well) it was a little to farfetched of an ending for me. Things just worked out too perfectly, people creating technologies out of thin air... It was very tender and absolutely humane, but I didn't buy all of it. Still, these bookes changed me and I'll carry their lessons around. The genius of Scott Card in putting cultures together and managing to keep their identities hole and their human characteristics shine baffles me.Ender in Exile: 4.5 stars - This book, as the author himself explains, happens between the 14th and 15th chapters of Ender's Game. So technically it should be read as the second book. But since it came last (and I enjoyed it that way) this is how I'll review it. This is the story about what happens to Ender exactly after the Formic war. I love how Scott Card organizes Ender's actions to be perfectly reasonable and perfectly generous at the same time. It's a beautiful lesson. But I did miss some info (that was referred to) that happened in the shadow books. I wish I had read them before I read this.Summing up: It is a great series in all aspects of it. I would absolutely recommend this.