Xenocide (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Third in Orson Scott Card's "Ender" cycle, "Xenocide" charts the events on the planet of Lusitania, home to all three sentient species in existence, two of which are not represented anywhere else in the universe. All living things on Lusitania are subject to a virus, the Descolada, which attacks and modifies the genetic information of the host and is evolving rapidly to the extend that combating it requires constant alteration of viricides in both non-native sentient species. Yet the native species, the Pequeninos, require the Descolada to survive, as it forms the means by which they transform into the different phases of their lifecycle. Any species looking to leave the planet would be required to take the Descolada with them, as it adapts and becomes a necessary part of any organism's genetic make-up. This is one of the main problems the planet is faced with, but the second is equally serious:
Lusitania is under threat of being annihilated by a fleet sent by Starways Congress, because the planet's scientists have broken the law of not interfering with alien species by helping the sentient Pequeninos to gain a foothold in agriculture. Rather than sending the scientists to trial and certain lifelong exile, the colony rebels and is thus to be turned into an example.
The narrative hinges on Ender Wiggin and those around him, with a wealth of emotional, scientific and philosophical conflict between unique characters against a background of questions more normally expected in moral philosophy.

First two books in Ender series are wonderful reads with a gripping storyline and excellent writing. Well, the third book has the same excellent writing but lacks the storyline.

No wonder Mr.Card is a great writer; whatever he writes he writes it good. Unfortunately Xenocide serves the purpose of bringing up a number of muddled ideas rather than telling a story. As a matter of fact there are so many ideas (overcoming an intelligent virus, how to save Jane, the Godspoken, Novinha's frustration against Ender, Ender's "split" personality, piggies' rights, virus rights, Bugger's way of thinking, Inside and Outside, faster-than-light-travel and some more minor things) that all comes to frustrating complexity and since the author does not have enough "time" (number of pages) to devote to each idea, almost everything except a few becomes muddled.

At the end, since the author creates more problems than necessary for a book - that can be handled in a single book - in order to neatly tie all that mess up, he has to resort to deus ex machina by means of hard sci-fi. Well Mr. Card is a great writer of characters, but he's not that great in hard sc-fi; thus his attempt makes you feel kinda cheated.

Overall this is an inescapable book. If you've started Ender Saga you'll have to read this. Thanks to Card's writing, it is still a fun read but especially with its ending it is unsatisfactory.

Let us first make clear that this is the third installment in a series, and that it should not be read before its two precursors Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. If you haven't read Ender's Game, go buy it - you are in for a treat, as that book has earned its place as one of SF's true classics. No, I mean it: off you go.

The rest of us are already old Ender hands. We know that we find old Ender on the planet Lusitania with its little "piggies" aliens, and a just implanted Hive Queen. Ender's endless caring has brought together a seriously dysfunctional family, and has helped establish a fragile truce between humans and piggies. So. What's on offer here?

The title gives it away. It most certainly is all about xenocide. We get no less than five (or six depending on your theological outlook) warring species with varying capability to exterminate the others. The moral permutations are endless, and endlessly explored. Orson Scott Card is an accomplished writer, but he has set himself a task that is barely manageable. That he even pulls off some of it is impressive, but then the caleidoscopic morals has been at the core of his writing from the outset. The first 300 pages or so are intriguing, and most enjoyable. Orson Scott Card has a sure and precise voice, and a rich source of novel ideas. We get introduced to the planet Path where an intriguing chinese-derived culture is brought to life with a few deft brush strokes. The philosophical dialogue that kicks off each chapter is also a fresh device that helps carry the multiplying moral options. Stylistically, many of his SF contemporaries seem little more than hacks in comparison.

Eventually the sheer weight of possibilities, actors and thematic and narrative strands form a gravity well that robs the book of all speed, however, and this is where, for the first time in the Ender saga, the author seems to weary of his chores. Depth suffers, as individual strands are either cut or made simplistic to speed things up again. What I personally object to the most, however, is that Orson Scott Card so blatantly decides, and late in the game too, to set up the scene for the next Ender book, rather than to focus on salvaging what he is doing in this one.

I will not give away much when I reveal that Ender's brother Peter - the original Hegemon, and a nasty piece of work all around - who has been dead for 3000 years is (literally) conjured out of thin air. This new Peter has no role in this book, and is basically just rigged so that he follows Ender around whispering evil things in his ear, reminding us how horrible he is. This Prince of Darkness bluntly states that he plans to take over the galaxy... later. I think it a terrible affront to readers of what is after all a novel, and something that I did not expect an author of this calibre to try to pull. I read The Speaker for the Dead because I found Ender's Game so engaging; not because I was led there (tongue a-lolling) by the hand by some teleported character from this future novel. This, the hurried handling of many parts of the by then very convoluted plot, and what very nearly is a Deux ex Machina solution to many of the looming problems, make the final 100 pages a struggle to get through, and permanently ends my interest in Ender's doings. That Xenocide still gets three stars is testament to Orson Scott Card's stylistic and lingual powers - and in some part homage to previous works.