Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

These are heavy books. They take a lot of energy to read because they make your brain work. But they are always worth it. "On Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequeninos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. Or so he thought."

Orson Scott Card wrote a book packed with tension and debate on the very meaning of existence. Are computer programs sentient; can a virus talk to one another; does genetically altering something count as xenocide? The planet of Lusitania is faced with answering those questions before Starways Congress comes to visit with a device able to obliterate the entire planet. 

The scientists of Lusitania--who happen to all be in the same family with a lot of pride and trauma--must find a cure for the descolada, which can mutate with incomprehensible evolutionary speed. Not a lot of faith these people can overcome their personal issues in time to save their lives.

Jane must have felt the same way because she enlists the help of the smartest people in the universe. The godspoken of Path. They just happen to be able to hear the voice of the gods in their head, which causes a crippling need for purification.

While the humans are attempting to solve the debate of eliminating the descolada at the price of keeping Lusitania from extinction, the pequeninos and the buggers are attempting to liberate themselves from the planet. The buggers simply do not want to be eliminated by Starways Congress again, but the pequininos want to infect the entire universe with the descolada. 

So many things to love about this story, but the part I loved the most was the depiction of Inside and Outside space. The things that can be done in Outside space! That whole section really got me thinking of the shape of the universe and reality.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few dislikes as well. The overall length of the novel is exhausting with the level of tension that Card presents in nearly every chapter. I found I had to take several reading breaks to relax. Plus, most of the characters got on my nerves because they are just insane. The human flaws are just a little too hyper realized. I get that we all aren't perfect, but the hole was dug a little too deep for most of them.