Speaker for the Dead

Someone once told me that if you like the Battle School stuff from Ender's Game, you won't like the sequel, Speaker for the Dead. I'm not sure that's true -- but if you're looking for more material like the Battle School stuff, you'll be disappointed here. Having said that, this is a work of tremendous imagination -- unexpectedly profound and moving. Apparently Card wrote Ender's Game as a vehicle to move into Speaker for the Dead. Ender is looking for a home for the Formic race, and has to confront the unusual and very alien life cycle of another sentient race on the planet Lusitania, all while a species-destroying plague threatens to wipe out the human race, prompting military action by Earth. Both books won the Hugo and Nebula awards -- no science fiction collection should be without them.