"Second Quarter Outside Reading Book Review"

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Tor Books.1986 Genre: Scientific Fiction

Speaker for the Dead is a sequel for Ender's Game. It involves love, understanding, and discovering the truth. The story takes place on a planet named Lusitania. The planet was discovered after destroying the Buggers, a type of alien species. On the planet lives humans and a new type of alien species, the piggies. They can communicate with the humans very fluently, but are very different. The people of Lusitania are learning more about these species and discover a murder! The piggies have always been very friendly and generous. Why would they commit a murder to someone that has always helped them? The book is full of mystery and suspense!

"Less brash than Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead may be a much better book. Don't miss it!" the Analog says.

Speaker for the Dead is written in third person. In the beginning, you meet a xenologer, someone who studies about the piggies, named Pipo. Pipo learns about the piggies and makes experients on them. He and the piggies form a tight bond with each other because Pipo always gives them what they need to survive. One day, Pipo runs out after observing an experiment. Libo, his son, and Novinha, his student, go out and look for him. They find him dead on the piggies' land. Evidence shows that it was the piggies that killed him. The experiment that Pipo observed was created by Novinha. She doesn't know what Pipo saw, but knows it's her fault; therefore, she hides the files away forever to prevent Libo from knowing and dying as well. Her plan does not work though. Libo does not discover her files, but dies the same way as Pipo and for the same reason. No one knows why they killed the two xenobiologists. Andrew Wiggin soon comes to Lusitania to speak for their deaths and discovers the truth that Novinha has been hiding for so many years. The truth that he learns will set everyone free from sorrow and guilt.

"They found him all too soon. His body was already cooling in the snow. The piggies hadn't even planted a tree in him." (30)

I chose to read this book because the prequel, Ender's Game, was very well written. Speaker for the Dead is very different from Ender's Game, but are both entertaining and interesting equally. Speaker for the Dead shows that a misunderstanding can cause death, hatred, and sorrow. The book also implies that holding back a secret and blaming it on yourself causes depression for you and people around you. The truth will set everyone free from guilt and sorrow. Orson Scott Card's books are very interesting and suspensful, so I will continue to read the whole series.