About this title: In this, the fourth Ender Wiggins novel, Ender and Jane, an artificial intelligence who has grown alongside Ender for thousands of years, try to save the three sentient races of Lusitania from being destroyed by using a method of space travel that abolishes the limitations of light-speed.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Tom Doherty & Associates
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780812522396ISBN:0812522397
Description: Grade: C. Catalog: Science Fiction General Synopsis: 370 pages. The planet Lusitania is home ot three sentient species: the Pegueninos; a large colony of humans; and the Hive Queen, brought there by Ende... read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: MASS MARKET PAPERBACK
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
ISBN-13:9780812522396ISBN:0812522397
Description: Very Good. 0812522397 Mass Market Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates, Inc
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780312853952ISBN:0312853955
Description: Grade: C. Catalog: Science Fiction General Synopsis: First Edition. 349 pages. The planet Lusitania is home ot three sentient species: the Pegueninos; a large colony of humans; and the Hive Queen, brough... read more
Binding: MASS MARKET PAPERBACK
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
ISBN-13:9780812522396ISBN:0812522397
Description: Very Good. 0812522397 Mass Market Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light discoloration due to aging and other light wear. read more
"When I finished Card's excellent book Speaker for the Dead, I was looking forward to reading Children of the Mind more than Xenocide. The reason for this, is that Card introduced in Speaker a monastic order called the Children of the Mind of Christ . They intrigued me, and I assumed that Children of the Mind would be about them. It's not. What it is about is all the weird, cheap and stupid ideas introduced at the end of the last book. These ideas are not very interesting, they allow for all kinds of dues ex machina moments and simultaneously create countless plot holes.What is more, these ideas don't really fit in the universe established in the first two books, making the reader feel cheated.
Children of the Mind is far from being the worst book ever, but it's definitely the worst of Card's books I've read. The book was, more than anything else, entirely uninspiring, and oftentimes rather boring. Most of the characters I really cared about were pushed to the side, and the plot drags on in melodramatic concern for an issue you know from the start is going to be resolved. It's also incredibly annoying that one of the two major dilemmas of the book was already resolved in the last one, and Card simply chose to ignore that fact.
The one side plot I found interesting was one involving the search for and interaction with a new alien race. What Card did best in his first two books was making his aliens truly alien and interesting (actually, another one of the problems with Xenocide and Children of the Mind both is that they spend too much time in the minds of the aliens, to the point where they really become less alien and less interesting). Unfortunately, this search is something that he leaves hanging at the end of this book, though he's promised another one to resolve it and I'll probably end up reading it when it comes.
Ultimately, Children of the Mind rather crashes and burns and, combined with Xenocide, makes for a disappointing follow up to two excellent novels. Xenocide might be worth reading for the characters, but there's really no reason to read Children of the Mind. If you take my advice, you'll skip this book."
"Wraps up the series neatly enough . . . until you stop to think about how ridiculous the entire premise is or how annoying it is that everything seems to fit so nicely together.
I suppose I have to recant the part of my Xenocide review where I called the "birth" of Peter and Young Val "unnecessary," that was obviously a crucial episode for what Card had in store for the series conclusion. But I won´t take back the fact that it still annoys me.
Positives: After starting slowly, the plot did pick up around halfway through and was sufficiently interesting to keep me turning pages; there was a scene where the mothertrees started to fruit which was beautiful. . . by far the most emotional part of the book for me; much creativity in the solution to the Jane problem
Negatives: Overall, the book was simply annoying. We were subjected again to far too many pages of the completely useless and unbelievable Quara, the inner turmoil of Miro (this time as he´s deciding between Val and Jane), the completely incredible romance between Peter and Wang-Mu, tedious scenes between Ender and the second-least sympathetic character in the series Novinha (Card, if you´re going to make her this unlikeable, you can´t continue to subject the reader to her), and "recaps" from the previous books that went on for long paragraphs and I ended up just skipping. The chapter intros by Qiang-Jao brought nothing, and if anything had only the effect of reminding me of one of the most annoying characters from the previous book.
The entire concept of Peter and Young Val was inconsistent. They either have free will and are their own people (in which case Ender is like a God, to have enough soul to split in two), or they´re not. If the former, they wouldn´t need Ender anyway to continue living, and if the latter, there´s no way they would ever be able to experience self-pity. There´s no in between.
And did it really have to end with everyone living happily ever after? Sure Ender died, but we were clearly not meant to care for him at all by this stage in the series. Miro gets his Jane and Peter and Wang-Mu get to be soulmates after the least romantic courtship ever. Wang-Mu will remain one of the most underdeveloped main characters ever, with no answer as to what was motivating her to behave the way she did.
Overall, this and Xenocide could have been greatly condensed into one 500-600 page novel and been a masterpiece."
"technically the terminating book in the ender saga, i found it to be a bit of a disappointment. either i'm becoming more familiar with card's writing, or much of this book was simply too predictable. in addition, it seemed that card wanted to include a lot of things simply for the sake of including them. it's clear in the introduction that he has developed a new interest in japanese culture and literature, and so makes japanese influence on starways congress an integral part of the novel, when it doesn't really seem to fit. he makes countless allusions to world war ii, pearl harbor, and the atomic bombs dropped on japan to no real effect. card expresses his own views on center and edge nations through wang-mu, but the words seem unnatural coming from her mouth. more emotion comes out in this novel, but again, it's strange, and seems to be put there, because it's convenient and makes the novel a bit easier to write. Miro's and Val/Jane's love is understandable. Peter's and Wang-mu's is barely that, and Plikt's new outburts of emotion are almost painful to read. I felt little attraction to any of the characters as i had in previous novels, and there was little of the characters' thoughts expressed compared to previous novels in this series. an interesting end to the series, but overall, a bit disappointing."
"I really should have waited to rate these books together. Honestly, I rate books on the staying power of the characters. I doubt the character of Ender Wiggin will ever leave me. I find myself wondering, what would Ender do in this situation? The first two books were stronger than the second two. Well book three did have it's bright lights of brilliancy. But as a whole they were fantastic. I will read the Shadow series, but not for a little while. I need to give Ender, Peter and Valentine a rest for now. I need to go back to books where good and evil are a little more well defined and I don't have to worry if the human race is doing the wrong thing.
Hmmm, I wonder if I'll dream that I'm Jane, master of the universe, tonight. (Another fascinating character in the Ender series)"
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