Beginning with Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card created one of the best series of all time in his story of the life of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a boy who gets sent to outer space at the age of six to join the intergalactical army. He shifted to a more philosophical mood in Speaker for the Dead, before creating a more "hard science fiction" mood with Xenocide. All three were amazing books. The final novel in this quartet, Children of the Mind, had a large standard that it had to meet.
It is with great misfortune that I declare that it did not live up to its predecessors.
Don't get me wrong, Children of the Mind is a good book, but it cannot even cast a shadow when compared to the amazing work of literary genius Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card combined just the right amount of childhood with intellectual and brute strength into the boy called Ender and his life on a military spacecraft. In Children of the Mind, however, Ender plays a small role as an old, weak man trying harder to rebuild his marriage than to save the planet on which he lives, being satisfied to delegate this to his resourceful, if not occasionally annoying step-children and brain-children.
The planet on which Ender and his family live is called Lusitania, and Starways Congress is fixing to destroy it because of the horribly deadly virus vital to the survival of every native species on Lusitania, to which the humans on the planet have invented an antidote. The destruction of the planet, however, would kill many humans, as well making extinct three sentient species: the pequeninos, small pig-like creatures; the buggers, large insectoids; and Jane, a sort of supercomputer who lives in the networks all over the Universe. Starways Congress has sensed Jane, who was before known only to Ender and his step-son Miro, and is planning to shut off every computer simultaneously so as to destroy Jane.
Meanwhile, we are trying to find out about Peter and Wang-mu's mission to change Starways Congress's mind about their decision to destroy the planet, and Miro and Valentine's mission to save Jane's life. These young people out in space leaves the dying Ender with nothing to do but try to salvage the last strands of his marriage and await his own death.
The lack of focus on one of the best literary characters ever conceived is somewhat troubling. Why would Card make a sequel with the main character of the preceding novels as only a minor character? Not a smart move. This unintelligent decision made the novel not nearly as good as it could have been. Was it a good book? Yes. But in light of Card's previous successes, Children of the Mind did not meet my expectations at all.
http://www.amazon.com/Children-Mind-Ender-Book-Quartet/dp/0765304740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266726635&sr=8-1
Grade: 7
It is with great misfortune that I declare that it did not live up to its predecessors.
Don't get me wrong, Children of the Mind is a good book, but it cannot even cast a shadow when compared to the amazing work of literary genius Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card combined just the right amount of childhood with intellectual and brute strength into the boy called Ender and his life on a military spacecraft. In Children of the Mind, however, Ender plays a small role as an old, weak man trying harder to rebuild his marriage than to save the planet on which he lives, being satisfied to delegate this to his resourceful, if not occasionally annoying step-children and brain-children.
The planet on which Ender and his family live is called Lusitania, and Starways Congress is fixing to destroy it because of the horribly deadly virus vital to the survival of every native species on Lusitania, to which the humans on the planet have invented an antidote. The destruction of the planet, however, would kill many humans, as well making extinct three sentient species: the pequeninos, small pig-like creatures; the buggers, large insectoids; and Jane, a sort of supercomputer who lives in the networks all over the Universe. Starways Congress has sensed Jane, who was before known only to Ender and his step-son Miro, and is planning to shut off every computer simultaneously so as to destroy Jane.
Meanwhile, we are trying to find out about Peter and Wang-mu's mission to change Starways Congress's mind about their decision to destroy the planet, and Miro and Valentine's mission to save Jane's life. These young people out in space leaves the dying Ender with nothing to do but try to salvage the last strands of his marriage and await his own death.
The lack of focus on one of the best literary characters ever conceived is somewhat troubling. Why would Card make a sequel with the main character of the preceding novels as only a minor character? Not a smart move. This unintelligent decision made the novel not nearly as good as it could have been. Was it a good book? Yes. But in light of Card's previous successes, Children of the Mind did not meet my expectations at all.
http://www.amazon.com/Children-Mind-Ender-Book-Quartet/dp/0765304740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266726635&sr=8-1
Grade: 7
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