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Topic: Ender's series

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mckason avatar
Subject: Ender's series
Date Posted: 1/20/2009 4:29 PM ET
Member Since: 10/2/2007
Posts: 66
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I am going to start with Enders game, then which one next? I really loved Orson Scott Cards Alvin Maker series I hope this one is just as good.

endoux avatar
Date Posted: 1/20/2009 6:32 PM ET
Member Since: 5/23/2005
Posts: 6,143
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I think you have different options of what you could read next.  You could read Speaker for the Dead, which is the direct sequel to Ender's Game.  You could read Ender's Shadow, which is a parallel novel to Ender's Game.  Or the newest book, Ender in Exile takes place between the events of Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. 

If it were me, I'd read them in the order they were written.  After Ender's Game, go on to read Speaker for the Dead, then Xenocide, then Children of the Mind.  Then read the Shadow series, then Ender in Exile, and there are also a couple of short stories.  But that's just personal preference.

The Ender series is very different from the Alvin Maker series.  I read Ender's Game first, and loved it.  Then I went on to read Seventh Son, expecting it to be similar, and it was completely different, to the point where I didn't like it, because of my expectations.  When I read it again later, I enjoyed it a lot more. 

mattc avatar
Matt C. (mattc) - ,
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Date Posted: 1/20/2009 7:26 PM ET
Member Since: 8/13/2008
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I have read just about everything Orson Scott Card has written.  The stories are quite different in the different series, but you can see similar themes in how people relate to each other, and the writing style remains similar.  The Ender series is:

Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind

And then a parallel series starts, written later, but it follows Ender's Game directly:

Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets
Shadow of the GIant

There are also some short stories in the collection First Meetings and the separate story A War of Gifts.  I haven't read Ender in Exile yet, but I believe it fits in between Ender's Game  and Speaker for the Dead.  But as Brenda said, I think original publication order is the best way to go. 

mckason avatar
Date Posted: 1/21/2009 1:53 PM ET
Member Since: 10/2/2007
Posts: 66
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Thanks alot guys I will read them in the order published.I am looking forward to the series.

Generic Profile avatar
Date Posted: 1/21/2009 2:52 PM ET
Member Since: 11/17/2006
Posts: 182
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These are some of my favorite scfi books.  I would also recommend reading them in publication order.  For me, Ender's Game and Speaker for the dead are the highlights of the original series.  Don't be put off if you don't like Xenocide and Children of the Mind as much - I didn't.  The second "shadow" series is much more consistently good in my opinion.

donnatella avatar
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Date Posted: 1/24/2009 4:54 PM ET
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Ender in Exile both finishes the Shadow series and goes between Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead.  It ties up some loose ends with the Shadow books, so I guess it's ultimately up to you, but publication order would work nicely, or Ender's Game -> Shadow books -> Ender in Exile -> Speaker for the Dead, and so on would work.  Or you could just read them however you feel like reading them -- sometimes I find reading a series in order to be overrated.

(I read Ender's Game, followed by Speaker for the Dead, followed by some of Xenocide, followed by the Shadow books and then Ender in Exile.  I still haven't finished Xenocide -- I started it about five years ago.  I haven't read any of Children of the Mind.)

And actually, Ender in Exile made some of the ending to Ender's Game inaccurate.  Future editions of Ender's Game will have a revised final chapter (my source is the author's note to Ender in Exile).



Last Edited on: 1/24/09 4:55 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
mattc avatar
Matt C. (mattc) - ,
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Date Posted: 1/24/2009 6:37 PM ET
Member Since: 8/13/2008
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I heard about that revised ending...

Actually, I usually go by publication order, but I did read Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, then mostly read the Shadow books as they were published.  By then I was reading every new Card book.  I went back and read Xenocide and Speaker for the Dead later...and it took me a few tries to get through Xenocide, for that matter.  The Shadow books are so completely a separate series it doesn't matter.

Generic Profile avatar
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Date Posted: 8/27/2009 8:25 PM ET
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I loved Enders Game as well and am looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
ravensknight avatar
Date Posted: 8/27/2009 10:07 PM ET
Member Since: 4/9/2009
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I really, really liked Ender's Game. I also liked Ender's Shadow. And I have hated every other book in the Ender series. Weird...

lionrose avatar
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Date Posted: 8/28/2009 11:15 PM ET
Member Since: 6/30/2007
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It's been years since I read the Ender stories, probably when they first came out.  I need to reread them.  The memory that stands out to me is the parts about communication and information dissemination.  It was like the videos and stories that go viral on the web nowadays but long before the web existed in any real scale or form.

Wildhog3 avatar
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Date Posted: 8/28/2009 11:35 PM ET
Member Since: 4/4/2009
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I have been a member of SFBC for many years,30 or so. Not too long ago I pulled out of unread boxes Homecoming Earth. Rarely have I been so turned off by a writer. It was so terribly simplistic. Sort of a reverse misogynism. Totally predictable.

So maybe this was an abberation as Card goes? And the Ender stories are much better?