CHILDREN OF THE MIND

Fourth in the series about former child warrior Ender Wiggin (Xenocide, 1991, etc.) and his long search for redemption. Series readers will recall—or perhaps not—that Jane, the computer intelligence born of a multi-planet computer network connected by instantaneous ansible communicators, has discovered how to move ships and people instantly through hyperspace. But now the Starways Congress, unaware of Jane's existence and wary of rogue programs, intends to shut down the net, thus killing Jane. Also, a decision has been taken to blast planet Lusitania, home to Ender Wiggin, a human colony, the piglike alien pequeninos and their sentient trees, and the social insectlike alien hive queens, because Starways fears the deadly endemic DNA-wrecking descolada virus. Just coming on the scene are young, re-created versions of Ender's siblings of 3,000 years ago, Peter and Valentine (don't ask). With young Chinese genius Wang-mu, Peter must unravel and then halt the philosophical impetus behind the decision to destroy Lusitania. Meanwhile, various scientists, together with assorted mystics, tackle the problem of Jane's survival once the computer net goes down. Yet another group of scientists are tracking the descolada virus—an alien artifact, part probe, part message—back to its source planet, where they will find an alien civilization as enigmatic as any yet encountered. A bizarre and poorly planned mixture of dazzling ideas and preachy philosophizing: At present Card simply is juggling too many projects at once, and here he's just overextended himself.