[All quotes for this entry - Orson Scott Card. "Xenocide"]
Ok, so I’ve read another book of Scott Card – “Xenocide”. Impressed me not as much as the first two, especially Speaker For The Dead [~still my favourite], but I haven’t been disappointed… (not count the ending – it is really a horribly "Card-ishly", as with all his stories, I’ve read so far – too brief, as if he’s not interested to write happyendings and just asks somebody to do them for him)
Anyway...this story is about…Faith…well, mostly…it surprised a bit how much meaning Card puts into religious issues, almost making a storyline based on them…although it is not that he’s saying: “see – those who believe, won in the end”…but it is truly embarrassing image of ppl from Sci-Fi novel with rather advanced technologies and knowledge yet accommodating almost medieval religious rituals…anyway…It is clearly something very personal for the author and I have no problems with that…
”I understand belief
No you desire belief
I desire it enough to act as if I believed. Maybe that's what faith is”
It is also the story about Justice…In terms of “who deserves what” or more exaggerated: “who deserves to die”…And yet again, this time the philosophy didn’t impress me much. Three species have been in constant search for the way to live together, yet two alien ones get all the “thinking over” and the humans – all “researching and experimenting”…(and of course, in the end they become a “saviour of the planet”! Duh!) Justice in the novel is slightly hackneyed: every single character goes through the phase of giving self right to decide on justice matters…gets tiresome by the end…and guess, who's left the real one to decide, when it comes to it? ;-) - Andrew Wiggin, aka Ender, aka Speaker For The Dead, aka many other names from other novells, that I'm yet to read...Surely it was clear from the very begining that he to be the one, why bothered with 500 pages of moral suffering of others?
A little bit of Love in the story, of course…But nothing as important as religion…Love never a happy one. But more reminds of the late “afterlove” – sort of Fall of relationships…or pessimistic memories of the past…or might-have-been dreams…
"Some say: you can only covet what you do not have...or what you cannot have...or what you shouldn't have...you can truly covet only what you will always hunger for..."
So…my verdict would be: readable, yet could be skipped. But although I did wasted few nights on reading, it wasn’t because I couldn’t stop, but more – because I wanted to finish somewhat quicker…
[~ as it’s been rightfully noticed, I love Scott Card enough to want to read more of his novels, but not enough to praise all of his works…]
"There are so many ways of knowing the same things that we 'll never find them all..."