Children of the Mind (Ender Saga, #4)

by Orson Scott Card

The planet Lusitania is home to three sentient species: the Pequeninos; a large colony of humans; and the Hive Queen, brought there by Ender. But once against the human race has grown fearful; the Starways Congress has gathered a fleet to destroy Lusitania.

Jane, the evolved computer intelligence, can save the three sentient races of Lusitania. She has learned how to move ships outside the universe, and then instantly back to a different world, abolishing the light-speed limit. But it takes all the processing power available to her, and the Starways Congress is shutting down the Net, world by world.

Soon Jane will not be able to move the ships. Ender's children must save her if they are to save themselves.

Children of the Mind is the fourth book in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quintet.

THE ENDER UNIVERSE

Ender series
Ender's Game / Ender in Exile / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind

Ender's Shadow series
Ender's Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight

Children of the Fleet

The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens

The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
The Swarm /The Hive

Ender novellas
A War of Gifts /First Meetings

• ISBN13: 9780812522396
• Publish Date: 15 June 1997 (first published 1 August 1996)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 29 September 2010
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Tor Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 370
• Language: English

Reviews

Just meh. I'm glad I finished the series but I would not have read this on its own. Each book made me just wish I had stopped at the previous one but I do enjoy closure.

[adamfortuna]

Never has a book been so good and so bad all at once. After finishing the first two in the Speaker series, I couldn't wait to read the conclusion. Although I did thoroughly enjoy the overall story, the pacing and focus was too spread out for me to enjoy this one in the same way.

[empressbrooke]

The general consensus seems to be that the Ender quartet takes a dip in quality beginning with [book: Xenocide], but I think that [book: Children of the Mind] quickly rebounds and delivers a much more compelling story. While Xenocide got stuck in place with its endless, boring scientific analysis of the descolada virus and philoctic twining, CotM focuses mostly on relationships between characters - especially Young Val/Miro and Peter/Wang Mu.

The quartet comes around full circle very nicely, and Peter even appropriates Ender's classic phrase when the going gets tough.

My only complaint, which leaks back to Xenocide as well, is that Plikt is such a useless, wasted character. She could have been completely removed without altering the story at all, and her absense would not have been felt. I kept expecting her to suddenly matter, and she never did.