Speaker for the Dead doesn't have much sex (see the "Steaminess Rating" section), but it sure has a lot about sex. There's human normal but wrong sex, like Novinha and Libo's adultery, and Miro and Ouanda's almost incest. And then there's alien bizarre but not wrong sex involving worm trees and babies eating their way out of the womb. You could argue that the main difference between humans and piggies, in fact, is that humans have sexual taboos they violate, while piggie don't. That could be because the book doesn't quite treat the piggies as individuals—or it could be because we just don't know the piggies well enough to know what secret things they get up to with their trees.
Questions About Sex
- How is Valentine's relationship with Plikt similar to the Filhes's marriage?
- How do all the speakings Ender is called for—Pipo, Libo, Marcao—involve sex?
- Is Ender's interest in Novinha sexual? What evidence is there in the book to support your answer?