Speaker for the Dead

Orson Scott Card

Apr 2004 · The Ender Saga Book 2 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by David Birney and Stefan Rudnicki

About this audiobook

The thrilling sequel to Ender's Game and winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards—this full cast unabridged recording includes an original postscript written and recorded by author Orson Scott Card.

Three thousand years have passed since Ender Wiggin won humanity's war with the Buggers by totally destroying them. Ender remains young, traveling the stars at the speed of relativity, but a hundred years or more might pass on Earth while he experiences a month-long voyage. In three thousand years, Ender's books The Hive Queen and The Hegemon, written under a pseudonym, have become holy writ, while the name of Ender itself has become anathema: he is the Xenocide, the one who killed an entire race of thinking, feeling beings, killed the only other sapient race humankind had found in all the galaxy.

The only ones, that is, until the planet called Lusitania was discovered and colonized. The discovery was seen as a gift to humanity, a chance to redeem the destruction of the Buggers. This time, the Starways Congress vowed, there would be no tragic misunderstanding leading to war. But once again men die, killed by the aliens in a rite no one understands. Ender, now known only as the Speaker for the Dead, comes to Lusitania to speak for those who have died and discovers that in order to tell the truth about them, he must unravel the secrets of Lusitania.

Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in The Ender Saga, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Ratings and reviews

takes a while before it really starts to get good but its definitely a great read and I love Ender Wiggin great character!!!!! Can't wait to start the next book

I enjoyed the book, and yet it was harder for me to identify with the characters in this book compared to Ender's Game. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable read that explores human nature from an interesting perspective.

Good book BUT Chapter 15, 20 Minutes into the chapter, the audio starts jumping like a scratched CD. I deleted my download and re-downloaded thinking it was a currupt copy, but this did not fix the problem. Also attempted to stream on other Google home devices with the same result. This is my first audio book on Google Books and it will be my last.

About the author

Orson Scott Card is best known for his science fiction novel Ender's Game and it's many sequels that expand the Ender Universe into the far future and the near past. Those books are organized into The Ender Saga, the five books that chronicle the life of Ender Wiggin; the Shadow Series, that follows on the novel Ender's Shadow and are set on Earth; and the Formic Wars series, written with co-author Aaron Johnston, that tells of the terrible first contact between humans and the alien "Buggers".

Card has been a working writer since the 1970s. Beginning with dozens of plays and musical comedies produced in the 1960s and 70s, Card's first published fiction appeared in 1977 -- the short story "Gert Fram" in the July issue of The Ensign, and the novelette version of "Ender's Game" in the August issue of Analog.

The novel-length version of Ender's Game, published in 1984 and continuously in print since then, became the basis of the 2013 film, starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin.

Card was born in Washington state, and grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Brazil in the early 1970s. Besides his writing, he runs occasional writers' workshops and directs plays. He frequently teaches writing and literature courses at Southern Virginia University.

He is the author many sf and fantasy novels, including the American frontier fantasy series "The Tales of Alvin Maker" (beginning with Seventh Son), There are also stand-alone science fiction and fantasy novels like Pastwatch and Hart's Hope. He has collaborated with his daughter Emily Card on a manga series, Laddertop. He has also written contemporary thrillers like Empire and historical novels like the monumental Saints and the religious novels Sarah and Rachel and Leah. Card's recent work includes the Mithermages books (Lost Gate, Gate Thief), contemporary magical fantasy for readers both young and old.

Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card. He and Kristine are the parents of five children and several grandchildren.

Stefan Rudnicki was born in Poland and now resides in Studio City, California. He has narrated more than 100 audiobooks, and has participated in more than a thousand as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He is a recipient of multiple Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as a Grammy Award as an audiobook producer. Along with casts of other narrators, Stefan has read a number of Orson Scott Card's best-selling science fiction novels, published by Macmillan Audio. In reviewing the 20th anniversary edition audiobook of Card's Ender's Game, Publishers Weekly stated, "Card's phenomenal emotional depth comes through in the quiet, carefully paced speech of each performer...In particular, Rudnicki, with his lulling, sonorous voice, does a fine job articulating Ender's inner struggle between the kind, peaceful boy he wants to be and the savage, violent actions he is frequently forced to take. This is a wonderful way to experience Card's best-known and most celebrated work, both for longtime fans and for newcomers."

David Birney has read a number of works for Theatreworks, NPR Playhouse and BBC dramatic recordings, including The Diary of Anne Frank, Star Wars, and Julius Caesar. His audiobook credits include narrating several Orson Scott Card books as well as reading for many AudioFile Earphones Award winning titles. Birney is also an award-winning actor and director. He has starred in many television films, among them Love and Betrayal, Long Journey Home, The Deadly Game, High Midnight, and The Champions. His extensive stage credits include starring roles on Broadway and major roles at the American Shakespeare Festival, New York's Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre, the New York Shakespeare Festival, Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum, Washington, D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre and numerous regional theatres.