Point of View

The novel is written from a third person, omniscient and retrospective point of view using almost all of the characters as reflector characters at one point or another. This point of view is necessary considering the scope of events Card depicts within the novel, events that span two planets and a good deal of the space in between. Within a single chapter the narration shifts from Path to Lusitania or to several different locations on Lusitania.

Card is adept at capturing the psychology of his different characters by using them as reflector characters. At different times the narrator is able to reveal Ender's empathy, Qing-jao's determination or even conversations between Human and the hive queen just by exposing the inner workings of their minds. He also uses this point of view to include context information from events that occur in the preceding two novels. This point...