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Xenocide
- Volume Three of the Ender Saga
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Gabrielle de Cuir, Amanda Karr, John Rubinstein, Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 20 hrs and 10 mins
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Xenocide
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Earth Unaware
- Written by: Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Stephen Hoye, Arthur Morey, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
alaxy. Humanity was slowly making their way out from Earth to the planets and asteroids of the Solar System, exploring and mining and founding colonies. The mining ship El Cavador is far out from Earth, in the deeps of the Kuiper Belt, beyond Pluto. Other mining ships, and the families that live on them, are few and far between this far out. So when El Cavador's telescopes pick up a fast-moving object coming in-system, it's hard to know what to make of it. It's massive and moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light.
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4 out of 5 stars
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earth unaware
- By Kim Ford on 2020-06-18
Written by: Orson Scott Card, and others
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Ender's Shadow
- Written by: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Gabrielle de Cuir, full cast
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 169
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 149
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Story5 out of 5 stars 149
The human race is at War with the "Buggers," an insect-like alien race. As Earth prepares to defend itself from total destruction at the hands of an inscrutable enemy, all focus is on the development of military geniuses who can fight such a war, and win. The long distances of interstellar space have given hope to the defenders of Earth--they have time to train these future commanders up from childhood, forging them into an irresistible force in the high orbital facility called the Battle School.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it.
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-10-28
Written by: Orson Scott Card
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Earth Afire
- Written by: Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye, Arthur Morey, Stefan Rudnicki, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Story5 out of 5 stars 61
One hundred years before Ender's Game, the aliens arrived on Earth with fire and death. Earth Afire by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston is the story of the First Formic War. Victor Delgado beat the alien ship to Earth, but just barely. Not soon enough to convince skeptical governments that there was a threat. They didn't believe that until space stations and ships and colonies went up in sudden flame. And when that happened, only Mazer Rackham and the Mobile Operations Police could move fast enough to meet the threat.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The book is great. The voice acting is not
- By Gavin Frei on 2020-12-14
Written by: Orson Scott Card, and others
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Pathfinder
- Pathfinder, Book 1
- Written by: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Kirby Heyborne, Don Leslie, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Rigg is well trained at keeping secrets. Only his father knows the truth about Rigg’s strange talent for seeing the paths of people’s pasts. But when his father dies, Rigg is stunned to learn just how many secrets Father had kept from him - secrets about Rigg’s own past, his identity, and his destiny. And when Rigg discovers that he has the power not only to see the past, but also to change it, his future suddenly becomes anything but certain.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not for me
- By Alain Desroches on 2020-11-11
Written by: Orson Scott Card
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Children of the Fleet
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- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story4 out of 5 stars 25
Ender Wiggin won the Third Formic war, ending the alien threat to Earth. Afterwards, all the terraformed Formic worlds were open to settlement by humans, and the International Fleet became the arm of the Ministry of Colonization, run by Hirum Graff. MinCol now runs Fleet School on the old Battle School station, and still recruits very smart kids to train as leaders of colony ships, and colonies.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Nice addition to the endervers.
- By spitfire402 on 2020-05-22
Written by: Orson Scott Card
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The Worthing Saga
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1
It was a miracle of science that permitted human beings to live, if not forever then for a long, long time. Some people, anyway. The rich, the powerful, they lived their lives at the rate of one year every 10. Some created two societies: that of people who lived out their normal span and died, and those who slept away the decades, skipping over the intervening years and events. It allowed great plans to be put into motion. It allowed interstellar empires to be built.
Written by: Orson Scott Card
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Earth Unaware
- Written by: Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Stephen Hoye, Arthur Morey, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
alaxy. Humanity was slowly making their way out from Earth to the planets and asteroids of the Solar System, exploring and mining and founding colonies. The mining ship El Cavador is far out from Earth, in the deeps of the Kuiper Belt, beyond Pluto. Other mining ships, and the families that live on them, are few and far between this far out. So when El Cavador's telescopes pick up a fast-moving object coming in-system, it's hard to know what to make of it. It's massive and moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light.
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4 out of 5 stars
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earth unaware
- By Kim Ford on 2020-06-18
Written by: Orson Scott Card, and others
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Ender's Shadow
- Written by: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Gabrielle de Cuir, full cast
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 169
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 149
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Story5 out of 5 stars 149
The human race is at War with the "Buggers," an insect-like alien race. As Earth prepares to defend itself from total destruction at the hands of an inscrutable enemy, all focus is on the development of military geniuses who can fight such a war, and win. The long distances of interstellar space have given hope to the defenders of Earth--they have time to train these future commanders up from childhood, forging them into an irresistible force in the high orbital facility called the Battle School.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it.
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-10-28
Written by: Orson Scott Card
-
Earth Afire
- Written by: Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye, Arthur Morey, Stefan Rudnicki, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 61
One hundred years before Ender's Game, the aliens arrived on Earth with fire and death. Earth Afire by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston is the story of the First Formic War. Victor Delgado beat the alien ship to Earth, but just barely. Not soon enough to convince skeptical governments that there was a threat. They didn't believe that until space stations and ships and colonies went up in sudden flame. And when that happened, only Mazer Rackham and the Mobile Operations Police could move fast enough to meet the threat.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
The book is great. The voice acting is not
- By Gavin Frei on 2020-12-14
Written by: Orson Scott Card, and others
-
Pathfinder
- Pathfinder, Book 1
- Written by: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Kirby Heyborne, Don Leslie, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Rigg is well trained at keeping secrets. Only his father knows the truth about Rigg’s strange talent for seeing the paths of people’s pasts. But when his father dies, Rigg is stunned to learn just how many secrets Father had kept from him - secrets about Rigg’s own past, his identity, and his destiny. And when Rigg discovers that he has the power not only to see the past, but also to change it, his future suddenly becomes anything but certain.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Not for me
- By Alain Desroches on 2020-11-11
Written by: Orson Scott Card
-
Children of the Fleet
- Written by: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 25
Ender Wiggin won the Third Formic war, ending the alien threat to Earth. Afterwards, all the terraformed Formic worlds were open to settlement by humans, and the International Fleet became the arm of the Ministry of Colonization, run by Hirum Graff. MinCol now runs Fleet School on the old Battle School station, and still recruits very smart kids to train as leaders of colony ships, and colonies.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Nice addition to the endervers.
- By spitfire402 on 2020-05-22
Written by: Orson Scott Card
-
The Worthing Saga
- Written by: Orson Scott Card
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 18 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
It was a miracle of science that permitted human beings to live, if not forever then for a long, long time. Some people, anyway. The rich, the powerful, they lived their lives at the rate of one year every 10. Some created two societies: that of people who lived out their normal span and died, and those who slept away the decades, skipping over the intervening years and events. It allowed great plans to be put into motion. It allowed interstellar empires to be built.
Written by: Orson Scott Card
Publisher's Summary
What the critics say
"Thought-provoking, insightful, and powerfully written." (School Library Journal)
"As a storyteller, Card excels in portraying the quiet drama of wars fought not on battlefields but in the hearts and minds of his characters." (Library Journal)
More from the same
What listeners say about Xenocide
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2018-11-13
a let down compared to speaker for the dead.
the first two books in this trilogy are very good, but this one seems confused and covulted. it's made worse by the aweful performances. There are very annoying reverb added to parts of the book, and strange intonation choices and while I understand why they used a Chinese accent for one of the readers it only made the listening experience worse.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kevinbraun9
- 2023-08-24
Family bickering.
I couldn't finish it. The story I enjoyed, but it's nothing but bickering, one long family squabble.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Aidan Costello
- 2023-07-22
I would give it 6 stars if I could
I really liked it, it gets a lot more into gods and politics then the others and the actors did splendid
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Zacharie Bergeron
- 2023-03-14
A worthy sequel to speaker for the dead
The story kept me interested the whole listen.
Great new and old characters. The novel ends in a big way! Really interested to read the sequel.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2022-11-03
Good book
I listened to this book after finishing the speaker for the dead. I enjoyed it. Good story and excellent narration.
My main problem with the story was dealing with the fact that a logical person like Ender believes so deeply in Christianity without questioning anything.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- DenisD.
- 2022-09-22
Great philosophical story
Has much more deep philosophical thought than you'd expect from a sci-fi novel. first I struggled to get through the middle of it because I didn't enjoy where I felt the story was going, but the author didn't fail to surprise me in how much depth he'd put into this book. the VA switching felt arbitrary at times and took me out of it for a bit, and think that they might have slightly overacted with Bugger and Chinese parts with the accent.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Dwayne
- 2022-05-18
Not my favorite
It's a fine book, I enjoyed it, just not like Enders Game or frankly any of the others. If you want to try this BUT haven't finished his other Ender series, don't start here.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Andrew Harpell
- 2022-03-17
too much drama and crap science
I read Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead as a kid. read both books recently and watch the Ender's Game movie this audiobook is just painful. so much religious BS and science BS. pay for it and can't wait for it to end. I'm not one to quit but I'm almost done and I know my verdict. don't read this even if it's free or listen to it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rui Wang
- 2021-08-31
Racist performance of Chinese characters
I suppose this is a vestige of the past but the performance of the Chinese characters is rather racist and doesn't sit well with me. It does not make sense for all the Chinese characters to speak with (faked, by non-Chinese narrators nonetheless) Chinese accents. Consider Han Feizhi and Qingjao: they are educated in Stark from a young age and exposure to offworld media as often as they are, they should not have any hint of an accent whatsoever. (Or does one imagine that Chinese people who are fluent in their mother tongue cannot also speak English without an accent...) It's barely rational for Wangmu to speak with an accent. If they're conducting their lives with their own language why would there be an accent? As a comparison, the Lusos are not performed with an accent, and they are as fluent in both their mother tongue and Stark as the folks on Path. This whole accent ordeal is incredibly racist and while I understand it might've been """""acceptable""""" at the time of publication it would never stand in 2021..... It mars an otherwise great story and performance. (The Hive Queen is performed really well!!!)
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2021-07-03
Not part of the Ender series
Story is shoe-horned into the Ender series and it shows. And it's only half the story.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- David
- 2004-06-13
full of passion
Xenocide is perhaps the most overtly philosophical of the Ender Wiggin series so far. But the philosophy in the book serves a purpose to move the story forward and develop characters more.
In addition to making you think, it also makes you feel. Xenocide is told with the same passion as Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, and it is filled with just as much emotion and understanding. Yet it is also very much its own new and wonderful story, and not at all just a revisit to the same old themes of the first two books.
Note, however, that, as the author himself mentions in a short commentary at the end, this book is actually the first of a two part series (the next book is "Children of the Mind"). The ending of this book ties up some threads of the story, but not all of them. If you think of it as a stand-alone book, you may be disappointed. But if you think of it as the first in a two-part novel, then you'll likely be dying to get your hands on the next part of the story when you finish.
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85 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Auban
- 2008-02-26
If not for the narrator...
I agree that this isn't one of the strongest of the Ender series. Card has written that the final installment of his original series got too long and so was split into two books - Xenocide and Children of the Mind. So, the story arc isn't completed in Xenocide.
What it really comes down to, though, is that these are my comfort books. I can pick up any of the Ender books (or Shadow books) and just start reading and immediately get caught up again.
But, and this is a HUGE but, I find the narration on this and Children of the Mind so horrible at times that I get pulled out of the story. I was just listening last night and had to have my husband listen to my iPod to hear how horrible it was.
I am amazed that only a few other reviewers had problems with the "Chinese" accents of the narrators. I think they are so inauthentic that they just seem comical and degrading. It seems like the narration direction would have preferred to have the Chinese characters speaking pidgin English. Since Card didn't write the dialogue that way, the best they can do is use the "accents." Another reviewer liked the accents in that they helped distinguish different characters and sections of the book. I guess I can appreciate that, but the narration never tried to fake a Portuguese accent (unless the characters were actually speaking Portuguese).
I also found the pequenino and hive queen voices to be distracting, but not as jarring and offensive as the Chinese characters. I guess I was willing to give creative license to those characters.
I'm so disappointed, because the narration has taken these books out of my rotation.
Other listeners should be aware that this same production team does the Shadow books and can get some of the same fake accents going with Han Tzu and Virlomi. Just a warning.
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62 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Shaner
- 2004-08-08
Not great
After enjoying Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, I thought this story was overrated and didn't measure up to its predecessors.
In his afterword, Card mentions that his two concerns about the book are that it is heavily philosphical ("talky") and that it cuts out in the middle of the story arc, but neither of these were really an issue to me. I've read plenty of series that ended leaving the reader hanging and dependent on a following book, and I've read books that were very philosophically idea-heavy. The problem with Xenocide is not that it's too full of ideas that it spends a lot of time considering, it's that it's actually pretty thin on ideas, but it recycles those few in variations and belabors them to an exasperating degree. It is mostly populated by characters who are emotionally static and spend far too much time repeating themselves at each other, and it doesn't take long before that starts becoming tedious. Coming on the heels of Speaker for the Dead (a superior and deeply moving story in which nearly every character realizes significant emotional changes) as this book does, it feels dull and lifeless and long.
On top of that, I thought that one of the major plot developments toward the end of the book that leads into the next one was nothing short of silly and contrived. I don't want to spoil any secrets for people who haven't read it yet, but I think those that have read it will probably know which one I'm talking about.
I am currently torn between what is at this point an admittedly not-huge curiosity of what happens to resolve the story and a real reluctance to take the chance of having to sit through what may turn out to be a similarly tiresome exercise to get there, particularly because I know that it's going to heavily revolve around the aforementioned plot device from this book.
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50 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Daniel McAfee
- 2005-12-08
The Slide Continues
After listening to Ender's Game, which I rated as my all time favorite, and then, "The Speaker for the Dead", which was "OK", but disappointing in comparison, I decided I'd give the trilogy a chance and listen to Xenocide.
Card devotes about 10 times as much ink as he should have to this story. The book devotes 90% of its substance to social psychology instead of a story. It becomes absolutely painful and I found myself hoping it would end soon and put me out of my misery. The book should have been a short novella instead.
The characters are annoying at best, and poorly developed. You find yourself not caring about any of them, except Ender of course.
The female readers are atrocious. The same whiney melodramatic voice reads Val, which is only just tolerable as it was in the first two, but now you have the most annoying voice in the history of readings with the "Hive Queen Voice". I would have rather listened to a thousand fingernails run across a chalkboard than listen to one more word from this readers mouth... unbelievable that they didn't change this after hearing the horrible performance in post production.
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36 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Drew
- 2008-04-04
Stop at Speaker
Please....For your own sake stop at Speaker for the Dead...I loved Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, but this one just dragged on...All I wanted to do was finish the series, but this will be the last one I listen to...The story line is entertaining, but just okay...It's just not at the same caliber as the first two novels...
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29 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- J. L. Keating
- 2005-03-10
Too much
Ender's Game had me riveted. I got so much housework done because I couldn't bear to leave the book (and I listen to books while doing housework.)
With Xenocide, however, the house is a mess. The ironing is piling up. I have to leave the story for long periods just to recover. I'm nearly at the end of the second part download, and the thought of a third just fills me with dread.
Which is a pity. What I've read so far is well written, and the narration is good. But I dislike so many of the characters, the odds against the planet are just too overwhelming. I know there's another book so I assume it all turns out well. I just don't want to hang around to find out.
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26 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- capycruft
- 2012-05-18
The Ender Saga book that should not be
Xenocide is the continuation of Speaker for the dead and yet it's not. While Speaker for the dead was packed with well formulated and fascinating moral and philosophical questions weaved into an exciting and touching story of human destiny; Xenocide turns out to be just tedious and flat. The characters have all been reduced to hobbyist preachers where every opinion or trait is expressed through long passages of existential reasoning but lacking the relevance and cleverness of Speaker for the dead.
Of the four books included in the Ender Saga i strongly recommend reading only the first two; Enders War and Speaker for the dead leaving you with an intact and amazing reading experience.
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25 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- Noah
- 2008-03-25
they were not lying
Everyone who wrote that this book is long-winded and not nearly as good as Ender's Game, they weren't lying. It's not worth the read. I loved Ender's Game, liked Speaker for the Dead and, for the most part, didn't link Xenocide. My advice, go out on a high note and stop at Ender's Game (though I haven't read any of the Shadow series)
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Xuunam
- 2008-07-15
a big disappointment
After reading Ender's Game and the Speaker for the Dead, I was really looking forward to reading this book. Xenocide was a huge disappointment on several levels -- one was the sound recording which introduced each chapter with the gargling voice of an insect or the screeching of a Chinese character. After sticking with the audiobook in spite of this, I found two separate and somewhat disjointed stories and characters whose development in the other two books was not followed through in this one.
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20 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Ryan Grimes
- 2011-02-22
Oh Dear Lord make it stop
I enjoyed Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, but had to stop listening to this 2 hours in. It's bad, the narration is awful, the story is boring and more drawn out than it needs to be. Painful to listen to, there's no continuity between characters at this point, there's too many characters to even keep track of, and the narration is borderline ludicrous.
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18 people found this helpful