If aliens are real, they may be so different from humans that any attempt at communication is doomed to fail. So, in a future where we are not alone, how might humans interact with members of an alien species? This conundrum is addressed in Hugo and Nebula Award-winning science fiction novel Speaker for the Dead, written by Orson Scott Card and published in 1986. The book is set three millennia in the future, where interstellar travel and alien species are real. It is a sequel to one of Card’s other novels, Ender’s Game, but it is not necessary to read Ender’s Game before Speaker for the Dead.
It follows Andrew Wiggin, also called Ender, as he travels to an alien planet and uncovers its mysteries. The planet is inhabited by a group of Brazilian Catholics who have formed the colony of Lusitania and by a primitive alien species called “piggies” or “little ones”, who bear a resemblance to pigs. Laws restrict the scientists studying the aliens, called xenologers or zenadores, from interacting with the piggies in any way that would allow the aliens to gain new technologies. The first few chapters of the book provide a background on the childhood of Novinha, the daughter of the colony’s former biologists, Libo, and apprentice xenologer, and Pipo, the colony’s xenologer and Libo’s father. Pipo and Libo are murdered by the aliens twenty years apart, and Ender arrives to talk about their lives and discover why they were killed. He has to work around the strict laws of the interstellar government and confront the Catholic church, which is hostile to him as an outsider.
Speaker for the Dead covers an interesting topic and touches on deep topics such as morality, community, and empathy. However, the conclusion was unsatisfying and some characters’ motives seemed forced to fit the plot. I think this book is good for people who read for deeper meaning but don’t care as much about the integrity of the story itself. This book earns 2 out of 5 stars.
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