Speaker for the Dead - Book for the dead?

Speaker for the Dead is the sequel to Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It continues the story of Ender as he has taken upon himself the title and role of "speaker for the dead" whose job is to discover the complete unbiased truth about someone who has died and eulogizes what he has found out about them. He spends his time on a world called Lusitania with a colony of scientists studying a race of alien called the pequeninos or "piggies". The scientists have moral arguments about the extent to which they should socialize and have contact with the piggies.

Speaker for the Dead was a huge change of pace from Ender's Game. Fans of the original book may be disappointed to find that there is nothing similar between the two books other than the characters who still exist from the first. There is no action filled, clever battle scenes. Just a story about a colony of researchers and the alien race they are observing. I was expecting more action so I was taken a little off guard for this book.

Despite the book being so different I found myself enjoying the story quite a bit. The alien race is interesting to learn more about and the interaction between some of the researchers and the piggies is exciting to read. I found myself cheering for the piggies because I didn't really like many of the humans. I think the reason I ended up liking this book is because of the interesting aspects of the Pequeninos and their existence. Ender is also an endearing character and maintains that throughout this book.