Xenocide

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First thoughts: This is a long book. And confusing--the science part of the fiction is a bit over my head. The philosophy is deep. The characters are intense.

Where I read: at work, during overnight shifts.

Favorite characters:
Wang-Mu is snarky, smart, and a well-developed human being.
Jane is snarky, smart, and a well-developed computer program.
Ender and Val and other original characters have become like old friends.

Favorite quotes:
"She felt contained in his embrace, never confined." -Val, about Jakt

"In Valentine's experience, normality was always a pretense, people acting out what they thought were their expected roles."

"There are many different purposes in this world, many different causes of everything. Just because one cause you believe in turned out to be false doesn't mean that there aren't other causes that can still be trusted." -Ender

Recommended for: people who've read Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, sci-fi buffs, scientists, philosophers, politicians, religious leaders, people starting new colonies, anthropologists, historians, and aliens.

Final thoughts: things seemed to tie up pretty neatly at the end, in a deus ex machina way: lots of problems get solved with one magical/philosophical answer. I still appreciated the journey and the story, and I know there's more to it (in the next book), so I won't judge this ending too harshly.


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