Children of the Mind; by Orson Scott Card

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I read Children of the Mind, by Orson Scott Card. This is a very good author of science fiction, because he does not blow your mind with concepts of time travel and other things that are impossible to grasp. It is science fiction only in the fact that that it is set in the future. It also has some slight philosophical concepts.

This book is about a man named Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, or the Speaker. Three-thousand years ago he was trained in Battle School to fight a war against an alien adversary called the Formics, or the Buggers. He destroyed their home planet, but was not allowed to return to Earth. A book written by Ender himself convinced the population of Earth that he destruction of the Buggers was a bad thing; they weren't the enemy, they just couldn't communicate with humankind. He in turn was given the title of Xenocide, killer of a species, and no one would speak his name. With his sister he used relative travel to go among the stars and stay young. Three thousand years later, he came to the colony planet of Lusitania.

On this planet, he found a famil wrought with tragedy and despair. Their father was not really their father. He had a tragic disease that ate away at him, piece by piece, rendering him barren. So the mother, Novinha, reproduced with another man. Both men died, and she was widowed with seven children. Ender took this family under his wing.

Now for this book. This is at the end of his saga. He has been cloned by an effect of faster than light travel. He has a computer entity friend, nicknamed Jane, who found a way to take a ship out of space and time, and put them back in wherever they wanted. But anything that you think about strongly is created in this outside area. Ender's brother and sister, as they were when teenagers, are created with Ender's memories. Anything else said will give away the ending.

I liked this book because this is just a really good author. He knows how to weave all kinds of fiction together into one really good book. It's not too romantic, or too science-y, or too philosophical. It is a book anyone can read, and most will enjoy. I highly recommend it.