Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card

On the other hand, once I start a certain portion of Children of the Mind, I simply cannot put it down until I get to the end of that part.Īs always, Orson Scott Card writes clever dialogue. For instance, I’ve twice put down Speaker for the Dead at bedtime while in the middle of the climax. All of the books make me want to keep reading, but this one just pulls so much more relentlessly.

Of all of the books in the series, Children of the Mind tends to drag me forward with the most strength. I completely sympathize with the desire to make sure readers know about past events, but way it happens in this book makes an important character seem very ignorant despite their reputation for learning quickly and observing carefully.įortunately, once the plot recap finishes up, things move rather quickly and in a very satisfying way. Our plot recap takes the form of a character explaining events that just happened to another character who was actually very aware of the key events now being explained to them. Often this technique feels awkward if you read the books immediately in sequence, but in Children of the Mind, the awkwardness goes to some rather unfortunate extremes. Like many other considerate authors, Orson Scott Card usually includes background information in his sequels, to make sure readers are up to speed on previous events. However, this very continuity is a double-edged sword. After two sequels in a row with large gaps in the interim, I really enjoy starting a sequel without wondering what happened in between. All of the same key characters continue the same important struggles. Unlike Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide, Children of the Mind starts immediately after the events of the previous novel. However, the more I think about the book since, the less I like it. Every time I read Children of the Mind, I enjoy it greatly. I first read it after my first time reading Xenocide as an adult. You can find his other posts on the Ender’s Game series here.Īfter a long journey, the patient reader eventually gets to Children of the Mind, currently the last book chronologically in the Ender series. Editor’s Note: This is the thirteenth in Stephen Olson’s series of posts on Orson Scott Card’s award winning Ender’s Game novels.

Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card