The Fleet is coming to destroy Lusitania — and every species on it. On the planet Path, a girl with OCD discovers her "divine" compulsions are actually genetic manipulation by the government. Card weaves three civilizations' stories into a meditation on genocide, god, and what makes intelligence sacred.
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Moods: Philosophical Political Scientific Complex
Tropes: Alien Genocide OCD as Divinity Scientific Ethics Multiple Species
More divisive — heavier on philosophy, lighter on character.
Central — Qing-jao's story is the most distinctive element.
Card's philotic web theory is inventive fiction, not real physics.