Xenocide
-
-
4.4 • 794 Ratings
-
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
The war for survival of the planet Lusitania will be fought in the heart of a child named Gloriously Bright.
On Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequininos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. Or so he thought.
Lusitania also harbors the descolada, a virus that kills all humans it infects, but which the pequininos require in order to become adults. The Starways Congress so fears the effects of the descolada, should it escape from Lusitania, that they have ordered the destruction of the entire planet, and all who live there. The Fleet is on its way, a second xenocide seems inevitable. Xenocide is the third novel in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quintet.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Card returns to the highly popular, award-winning story of Andrew ``Ender'' Wiggin, the boy wonder who saved humanity from alien invasion and, guilt-ridden over his near-total destruction of the alien species, has now become a sort of traveling conscience. This third Ender novel picks up where Speaker for the Dead left off: on the planet Lusitania, Ender and the other human colonists strive to neutralize the ``descolada,'' a possibly sentient virus that adapts itself rapidly to every attack. Meanwhile, tensions are rising between the colonists and the indigenous ``pequeninos,'' who rely on the descolada for their survival; and the fleet sent by Starways Congress to destroy the rebellious colony closes in with its doomsday weapon. With the help of their family, their pequenino friends, and Jane (an artificial intelligence living in the galactic computer network), Ender and his sister Valentine race against time to resolve these crises. The plot is sometimes compelling, but the novel's many flaws make the book more often dull and irritating. Card's style is openly didactic, and when his characters do veer away from lengthy philosophical and scientific ruminations, they venture into contrived personality conflicts and endless self-deprecation. Some, notably Ender, Valentine and the wonderchild Wang-mu, are simply too good to be true--too smart, too reasonable, too kind and generous. The reader quickly tires of such impossible perfection.
Customer Reviews
Good continuation of the Ender series
I loved Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, so I bought this book to see where Card would take the series. This story was entertaining, but not as cohesive as the previous two, nor as easy to read. I think there are three reasons for this: personally, I get tired of books in series and lose attention. Also, this book has more characters, story lines, and tangents than then the others. Finally, Card spends more time fleshing out the details of relationships, personalities/motivations, and science/metaphysics/religion.
The story continues to be fun and interesting; I plan on buying the next book in the series right now. I recommend this one if you liked the first to books.
eh
bit confusing for my taste but the writing is good
Appreciation
People might say this is too long and could be shortened, but when you are able to understand why and appreciate it and learn from it, it’s a wonderful book.