Book List
2. Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card
Despite my well-documented love of Orson Scott Card's writing, and of the Ender series specifically, I was hesitant to read this new offering. The reviews I read on amazon.com weren't very good, and it sounded like the book was not up to par for the rest of the series. However, with the aforementioned (in my last entry) Borders gift card, Marcus wanted to get this book, so of course, in typical Tara impatience, I ended up reading it before him! I literally JUST finished reading it, less than 5 minutes ago, so my mind is still in "OSC-mode", which makes my writing voice sound more like his and less like my own. It also may mean that some of my opinions haven't had time to fully flesh out yet, so I might come back to edit this entry later if I feel the need to.
This book is intended to be a "direct sequel" to Ender's Game, and to plug the gap between Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. It also ties up some major loose ends from the Shadow series (and apparently, there will be a fifth book in the Shadow series! At least that's what one of the reviewers on amazon mentioned! I'm excited and I hope it's true!), as it takes place more in the timeframe of that series, for obvious reasons.
The book picks up where Ender's Game left off: the war has just ended, and all of the Battle School kids are gradually being returned home to their families on Earth. All except for Ender, who ends up being unable to return to Earth due to various events surrounding the aftermath of the war. Instead, Ender is sent to be governor of the first colony planet, and his sister Valentine decides to join him on the journey. This book covers Ender's journey to the colony world, as well as his first travels after that to other worlds (well, one other world). It's hard to say much more about the plot of the book without giving away anything to those who might want to read it.
My initial reaction in reading the first few chapters was that it took longer than usual (for an OSC book) to suck me into the story. It had a much choppier feel than OSC's usual offerings, and at first it was hard to find a continuous thread to grab onto as my link into the story world. But eventually I did catch onto one, and I did enjoy the book. I will say that it is not as good as the rest of the Ender books have been, and I can understand the disappointment expressed by the reviewers on amazon. The book is SEVERELY lacking in the plot department (with the exception of the last couple of chapters), but this is mostly due to the fact that a large chunk of the story takes place during Ender's space travel to the new colony world, and the majority of the people on the ship with him have elected to go into stasis for the journey, so there aren't very many people for him to interact with, or many places for them to go or things for them to do. However, that intangible quality that permeates all of OSC's writings, that deep and intense understanding of humanity that no one else I've read has been able to express in words the way he does, THAT was definitely present in full force in this book.
Given the confined setting of the story, it makes sense that most of the book is an internal story - what's going on in Ender's mind, body, heart and soul. And even though you wouldn't think it possible, I actually did feel like I came away with an even better understanding of who Ender is than I had before reading this book. I can't say that there's anything specific it addresses in Ender's character that the other books don't, and yet I do feel like I've gained something new.
For those who may want to read this book, here is my humble recommendation.
- If you have read ALL of the Ender books (Ender's Game and its sequels, AND Ender's Shadow and its sequels), I recommend this book because it ties up some loose ends and it does give some more insight into Ender's character. It's not the same caliber as the other books, but it's still an enjoyable read.
- If you have read the Ender's Game series (or just the first book, Ender's Game), but NOT the Ender's Shadow series, I would definitely recommend reading the Shadow series before reading this book. At least one of the main plot lines will not have adequate backstory if you don't. Not to say that you couldn't read this book without reading the Shadow series and still understand it, but it is definitely beneficial to have that background.
- If you have read the Shadow series, but NOT the Ender's Game series (although I don't know anyone that applies to, lol), I would recommend reading Ender's Game before reading this book, but not necessarily the sequels (because they take place after this book). There is an essential introduction to Ender's character that you MUST get from Ender's Game in order to understand this book.
- If you have not read any of the Ender books, I HIGHLY recommend all of them! But I would suggest starting with Ender's Game, and I would definitely say that Ender's Game AND the entire Shadow series (through Shadow of the Giant, which is the latest one out at this point) are pre-requisites to this book, just for purposes of understanding the complete backstory.
Despite my well-documented love of Orson Scott Card's writing, and of the Ender series specifically, I was hesitant to read this new offering. The reviews I read on amazon.com weren't very good, and it sounded like the book was not up to par for the rest of the series. However, with the aforementioned (in my last entry) Borders gift card, Marcus wanted to get this book, so of course, in typical Tara impatience, I ended up reading it before him! I literally JUST finished reading it, less than 5 minutes ago, so my mind is still in "OSC-mode", which makes my writing voice sound more like his and less like my own. It also may mean that some of my opinions haven't had time to fully flesh out yet, so I might come back to edit this entry later if I feel the need to.
This book is intended to be a "direct sequel" to Ender's Game, and to plug the gap between Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. It also ties up some major loose ends from the Shadow series (and apparently, there will be a fifth book in the Shadow series! At least that's what one of the reviewers on amazon mentioned! I'm excited and I hope it's true!), as it takes place more in the timeframe of that series, for obvious reasons.
The book picks up where Ender's Game left off: the war has just ended, and all of the Battle School kids are gradually being returned home to their families on Earth. All except for Ender, who ends up being unable to return to Earth due to various events surrounding the aftermath of the war. Instead, Ender is sent to be governor of the first colony planet, and his sister Valentine decides to join him on the journey. This book covers Ender's journey to the colony world, as well as his first travels after that to other worlds (well, one other world). It's hard to say much more about the plot of the book without giving away anything to those who might want to read it.
My initial reaction in reading the first few chapters was that it took longer than usual (for an OSC book) to suck me into the story. It had a much choppier feel than OSC's usual offerings, and at first it was hard to find a continuous thread to grab onto as my link into the story world. But eventually I did catch onto one, and I did enjoy the book. I will say that it is not as good as the rest of the Ender books have been, and I can understand the disappointment expressed by the reviewers on amazon. The book is SEVERELY lacking in the plot department (with the exception of the last couple of chapters), but this is mostly due to the fact that a large chunk of the story takes place during Ender's space travel to the new colony world, and the majority of the people on the ship with him have elected to go into stasis for the journey, so there aren't very many people for him to interact with, or many places for them to go or things for them to do. However, that intangible quality that permeates all of OSC's writings, that deep and intense understanding of humanity that no one else I've read has been able to express in words the way he does, THAT was definitely present in full force in this book.
Given the confined setting of the story, it makes sense that most of the book is an internal story - what's going on in Ender's mind, body, heart and soul. And even though you wouldn't think it possible, I actually did feel like I came away with an even better understanding of who Ender is than I had before reading this book. I can't say that there's anything specific it addresses in Ender's character that the other books don't, and yet I do feel like I've gained something new.
For those who may want to read this book, here is my humble recommendation.
- If you have read ALL of the Ender books (Ender's Game and its sequels, AND Ender's Shadow and its sequels), I recommend this book because it ties up some loose ends and it does give some more insight into Ender's character. It's not the same caliber as the other books, but it's still an enjoyable read.
- If you have read the Ender's Game series (or just the first book, Ender's Game), but NOT the Ender's Shadow series, I would definitely recommend reading the Shadow series before reading this book. At least one of the main plot lines will not have adequate backstory if you don't. Not to say that you couldn't read this book without reading the Shadow series and still understand it, but it is definitely beneficial to have that background.
- If you have read the Shadow series, but NOT the Ender's Game series (although I don't know anyone that applies to, lol), I would recommend reading Ender's Game before reading this book, but not necessarily the sequels (because they take place after this book). There is an essential introduction to Ender's character that you MUST get from Ender's Game in order to understand this book.
- If you have not read any of the Ender books, I HIGHLY recommend all of them! But I would suggest starting with Ender's Game, and I would definitely say that Ender's Game AND the entire Shadow series (through Shadow of the Giant, which is the latest one out at this point) are pre-requisites to this book, just for purposes of understanding the complete backstory.