Ender's
Game was a page turner and had a great plot twist at the end that
is perfect for a movie (maybe one day, it will finally be made into a movie)
if they don't mess up the rest of the book. We follow Ender, a rare "third"
(child) who is drafted into military school at age ten and is forced to grow
up quicker than most children, even the other children at the school with him.
The reason why he is under the additional pressure is part of the story twist
at the end. The story is disturbing, but as William
Golding'sLord
of the Flies also showed, children are capable acting like grown-up
and as such they can be more forgiving, but also more viscious, since they still
only see in black and white.
Speaker
for the Dead follows Ender and his family again and revolves in
part around the results of the events of Ender's Game, but is
much more cerebral and less action driven. It is barely a sequel and by no means
the second book in a series. I wasn't expecting the completely different approach
that Card takes in the second book, but once I stopped trying to read the book
as a second Ender's Game, I enjoyed it just as thoroughly for
its own style.
Ender's Game was mostly about Ender and his relationships with
the other children. It was much more personal in focus until near the end. Speaker
for the Dead was more about humanity as a whole and its relationships
and philosophies between societies and is in a way more "grown up." That may
make more sense when you read both books for yourself, which I recommend you
do.
