Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card

I just finished listening to Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card. This is the conclusion (so far) of the Ender Saga. The local library finally got the book in on CD so I was able to ‘read’ it.

In the series, Ender’s Game is a fast paced, action-packed novel that keeps your attention to the very end. The second book, Speaker for the Dead, is a slower read, moving from the action of Ender’s Game to dealing with moral and philosophical questions. The third book, Xenocide, explores metaphysics and religion. This last book, Children of the Mind, is actually the second half of the third book. I think the story got too long so he broke it into parts 1 and 2.

Children of the Mind wraps up the loose ends Card left dangling in Xenocide but has little action to keep the reader engaged. It felt much like finishing a board game where you had ‘won’ the game (the outcome was certain) but you still had to go through the motions or wait for the other player to forfeit (put down the book and call it done).

Overall though, I did enjoy the whole story. If the library gets the ‘Shadow’ series of the Ender books in, I am sure I will ‘read’ them too.