Home Literature Stories Movies Games Comics Blogs News Forum FunZone Art Gallery
  Science Fiction and Fantasy News
NYTBR SFF Bestsellers – 5/11/08 (05-17)
The Box: T.V. & Electronics News – 5/11/08 (05-12)
The Hollywood Universe – 5/5/08 (05-06)
The Open Page – 5/4/08 (05-04)

Official sffworld Reviews
The Dragon's Nine Sons by Chris Roberson (05-12 - Book)
The Demon and the City by Liz Williams (05-06 - Book)
The Host by Stephenie Meyer (05-02 - Book)
Ancient, The by R. A. Salvatore (05-01 - Book)

Author

Site Index

Book Info 

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card   (43 ratings)

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Rating (43 ratings)
Rate this book
(5 best - 1 worst)
 
Book Information  
AuthorOrson Scott Card
TitleXenocide
SeriesEnder
Volume3
Year1991
GenreScience Fiction
 
Book Reviews (submitted by readers)
 
Submitted by Steven Hess 
(Nov 29, 2005)

After years of being a hardcore Clarke and Baxter fan, I decided to go out on a limb and read Card's "Ender's Game" and "Speaker of the Dead". Initally I was stunned to see such excellent writing and decided to read "Xenocide".

To my dismay, Xenocide was a collection of ideas and characters mashed together into a 500+ page high school quality journal w/o any depth, coherence, or true storyline. I was so saddened to see Ender portryed as a shallow character, upset to read that "belief" is the way to travel superluminal speeds, confused on how religion would be so prevalent in a scientifically advanced society, and the poor attempt to write dialogue between characters that should have had really deep and philosophical conversations.

In addition, the Jane character was given a human persona (a major manifestation of OSC's laziness) and appears only as an almost non-person in the story. (Come on OSC, you really botched her character!)

As for the ending, I was stunned that the editors allowed it in the text. It was disjoint, ill thought, and short sighted.

In the end, I want my money back. What a way to kill a stunning character and potential future.


Submitted by Marc Osborn
(Sep 16, 2000)

As different a book as "Speaker of the Dead" was from "Ender's Game", "Xenocide" continues the saga of Ender but in a much more metaphysical direction. Like Speaker, Xenocide takes a couple chapters before you accept that you are about to read a book that's about new character's and not about the characters you've spent a novel getting to know (and love, no doubt- otherwise you wouldn't be reading another sequel). And just like Speaker, you will soon be interested in these characters. Card's greatest skill is characterization and that skill is demonstrated here in abundance. Again we are meeting inhumanly gifted people in unbelievable situations, but Card is still able to keep it VERY readable and interesting (unlike this review).


 

Latest

NYTBR SFF Bestsellers – 5/11/08
05-17 - News
The Box: T.V. & Electronics News – 5/11/08
05-12 - News
The Dragon's Nine Sons by Chris Roberson
05-12 - Book Review
The Hollywood Universe – 5/5/08
05-06 - News
The Demon and the City by Liz Williams
05-06 - Book Review
The Open Page – 5/4/08
05-04 - News
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
05-02 - Book Review
NYTBR SFFH Bestsellers – 4/27/08
05-02 - News
Ancient, The by R. A. Salvatore
05-01 - Book Review
Empress by Karen Miller
04-28 - Book Review
Interview with Kay Kenyon
04-28 - Interview
The Box: T.V. & Electronic News – 4/27/08
04-28 - News
The Hollywood Universe – 4/26/08
04-27 - News
Witch Doctor: First Incision
04-26 - Article
The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan
04-26 - Book Review
The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien
04-26 - Book Review
Interview with Tim Lebbon
04-24 - Interview
Extract from Tim Lebbon's FALLEN.
04-24 - Article
The Open Page: Book & Print News – 4/22/08
04-22 - News
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
04-22 - Book Review
The Box: T.V. & Electronic News – 4/18/08
04-19 - News
The Hollywood Universe – 4/17/08
04-18 - News
NYTBR SFF Bestsellers – 4/13/08
04-18 - News
The Open Page: Book & Print News – 4/15/08
04-15 - News
Matter by Iain M. Banks
04-14 - Book Review
A World Too Near by Kay Kenyon
04-14 - Book Review
The Box: T.V. & Electronics News – 4/9/08
04-10 - News
The Open Page: Book & Print News – 4/7/08
04-09 - News
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalyps by John Joseph Adams
04-06 - Book Review
NYTBR SFF Bestsellers – 3/30/08
04-03 - News

New Forum Posts


About - Advertising - Contact us - RSS - For Authors & Publishers - Contribute / Submit - Privacy Policy - Community Login
Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use. The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1997-2008 sffworld.com. All Rights Reserved.