Laddertop 3

Laddertop 3: The Laddertop Series, Book 3 by Emily Janice Card and Orson Scott Card

Laddertop concludes with us discovering that there are "noble colonists" come to inhabit the earth. They are sending a giant colonizing mission that will involve wiping out humans and making earth fit for themselves. A few of the aliens have sympathy for the humans and hatch a plan to preserve them. They planted the laddertops and gave them the technology. The plan was to send a small group of humans off to another planet so that they could continue their society there. This would involve the destruction of the rest of humanity. However, this is better than complete annihilation. Nevertheless, humans are not fond of that. They discover a way to work together and use the technology to wipe out the colonization ship. They also communicate with some of the kind aliens and decide to work together It seems like an interesting parallel to colonial endeavors. What if a few Europeans had helped the Native Americans to use gunpowder to destroy European ships and then worked together to share technology? Well, disease would have still wiped out most of the native population. Fiction has the ability to ignore those messy details.

Laddertop 2

Laddertop 2: The Laddertop Series, Book 2 by Emily Janice Card and Orson Scott Card

The second Laddertop book ramps up the drama. There are "rebels" that are concerned about the unknowns of laddertop. They recruit a few kids and other scientists for their space mission. There is also some more information found about the special symbol. A space object is approaching the earth. Is it benevolent? Or is it bent on destruction? The book ends on a cliffhanger... That was not resolved for a decade. While these were first released as graphic novels, they have recently been moved to audiobooks, with the final book only as audiobook. There was a big cast for this, so some needed to be left off to get under the label limit.

Laddertop, Volume 1

Laddertop by Emily Janice Card and Orson Scott Card

In this world, tweens seek to be admitted to "Laddertop". This is a special academy that trains them to travel up into space station. The technology in the station was given years ago by benevolent aliens and portions can only be accessed by children. The book follows a couple 11 year old girls who are selected to laddertop. Things get a little bit weird. The best children are selected by a technology that only the aliens understand. There are also a few kids that get special marking. Perhaps the aliens are not as benevolent as we thought.