This is the end, Beautiful friend.
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Children of the Mind, as you will know by now, is the final instalment of the Ender Saga. The first of the books ENDERS GAME was a top notch space opera adventure tale, a rights of passage story about child soldiers of the futures being trained to fight off an alien threat. Good drama pegged on interesting characters, funny and sad with more than a little bit of action weaved in to create an enthralling book.
Then we got SPEAKER OF THE DEAD. The book that Card wanted to write but realised he had to begin at the beginning. A lot has been said about Card's Mormon faith and the fact that he is one of the very few writers of sci-fi who writes about families, the desperate needs and the unconditional love that they come with. The horror and the truly sublime are just different aspects of the same thing. The really interesting aspect of this novel for me was the way that someone with a devout faith chooses a character that, although it would be misleading to call atheist, treats organised religion with suspicion. As something that is perhaps needed by some but is not relevant to him. The main story is centred on a dysfunctional family who are helped by Ender to grieve and move on. A story that has more relevance to Ender himself.
The next book picks up on the fact that XENOCIDE is potentially coming to this new planet and desperate measures are needed. I felt that Card begins to lose his way here and some of the ideas towards the end of this novel are plain and simple bonkers. That's not to say that the book's not worth reading as yet again he managed to create a lump in my throat at some of his trademark emotional moments...I thrilled at as the poitical temperature increased and emotions where sent on a crazy dance as relationships mutate to the bizarre situations that the characters find themselves in.
So yeah, can you feel the 'but' coming? The thing is there wasn't going to be a fourth book. The third was going to end the story but he created too much for one book and decided to split them. The problem with this is that I don't really think he came up with enough for a full fourth book.
CHILDREN OF THE MIND has some funny moments, but not as many as the previous books. It has moments of tension, but not as many as the previous books. It has moments of emotional crisis, but they just don't weigh as heavy or have the same effect on the reader. If you've enjoyed the previous books, it's worth getting to the end of this and as Card is such an experienced writer this is never a chore. It's just not as much of a joy as the others (especially ENDERS GAME) have been.
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Enders Lame
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Summary:- Being all really oh so clever and knowing loads about science, the good guys who really are so nice that they are about as believable as Mary Poppins, become almost omnipotent and thwart the efforts of the clueless Government types who are planning to commit xenoside. Some clever stuff but the characters have about as much depth as a wet rag. The abilities they get from their cleverness become so Ludicrous Harry Potter will seem like a documentary. Now you have read this you can save yourself 7 Quid.
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A real disappointment
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Having waited years for the end of the Ender/Speaker series, this was a let down. I got the impression that Uncle Orson knew he had to finish the series - but didn't really know how to do it. So he throws some completely over the top ideas into the pot and .... If you've read the rest, you probably need to read this for completion - but don't expect to be wildly impressed. When he's hot OSC is the best - but on this occaision he fluffed it.
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Nothing extraordinary
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After reading the first three novels of the Ender Saga, this, as as the finale to the range, was rather dissapointing. Unlike the other books of the series, Ender Wiggin hardly features in this book, apart from the first few chapters. As the back cover explains, Jane--the artificial lifeform--is able to travel "outside" of space-time. At first this was interesting and exciting, but after the Nth time, it merely became annoying. Also, the book has drifted from the philosophical roots of the previous books, and instead this book concentrates more on the "mystical" and spiritual elements which, again, just became tedious. If you feel obliged to read this novel due to the high quality of the other books in the series, think twice, for it's not essential.
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Perfect ending...
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A direct segue from Xenocide and one that sustains the pace from the end of that book. The emphasis is mostly shifted away from the leads in the previous novels and onto Ender's offspring, thus avoiding retreading too much old ground. Intelligent and satisfying (apart from the fact there is one obviously sequel-begging loose end!). Very good indeed.
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