So I'm new to OSC books and I just read Ender's Game. Should I read Ender in Exile before Speaker for the Dead? I heard Exile comes first chronologically, but Speaker was the newest published in the series. Thoughts?
[ March 30, 2009, 12:22 PM: Message edited by: NickVicious ]
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Speaker for the Dead.
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
I'm really glad I read them in the order he wrote them. I like the order things came to light and were explained. There were revelations in the Speaker series - even though they came later chronologically - that, when I read their origins in Exile, made me go, "aha!"
That said, "Exile" really did feel like a middle-book. Like the second in a trilogy - it started in the middle and ended in the middle. It was a bit different though, because the first and third books had already been written. We knew where Ender had come from and where he was going to end up. So some of the story (particularly the romance angle) might have had more suspense if we didn't already know how it was going to end.
I still agree with MPH - read them in the order they were written.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by JennaDean: I'm really glad I read them in the order he wrote them. I like the order things came to light and were explained.
Agreed.
Posted by NickVicious (Member # 12010) on :
Wow, it seems like everyone is on the same side in this matter, lol. Guess I know what I'm reading next. Thanks!
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I'd skip Ender in Exile *Carries an umbrella to block the tomatoes* But that's just me. Speaker for the Dead in my opinion is much better.
Posted by lynda (Member # 11730) on :
Agreed, Speaker is MUCH better.
Posted by Steve_G (Member # 10101) on :
Also you want to read through the Shadow Series before Exile, since it Exile will have spoilers.
Posted by CRash (Member # 7754) on :
*Agreeing with most above me*
I recommend reading the Speaker trilogy, then the Shadow books, then any Ender short stories, and finally Ender in Exile. (Though you might want to skip the short stories that are actually reprinted as part of Exile.) So pretty much in the order of publication, like everyone else has said. Posted by Traceria (Member # 11820) on :
quote:Originally posted by CRash: *Agreeing with most above me*
I recommend reading the Speaker trilogy, then the Shadow books, then any Ender short stories, and finally Ender in Exile. (Though you might want to skip the short stories that are actually reprinted as part of Exile.) So pretty much in the order of publication, like everyone else has said.
I concur. In fact, I told my brother to read them in that order on the phone last night. He just finished Children of the Mind, so I told him to go onto Ender's Shadow next but that I'd give him Exile to read after he finishes all four Shadow books.
Posted by umberhulk (Member # 11788) on :
Theres some wonder to Speaker because we havent read anything about the character since Ender's Game, so yeah.
Posted by K_heron (Member # 8893) on :
Definitely read them in the order that they were written.
Posted by Eskari (Member # 11991) on :
I've told the people around me to go read them in the order they were written, yes.
But I've also added the line leaving out Children of the Mind wouldn't do no harm when they were hard-sci-fi fans and some concepts introduced in it would be a way tooo fantastic for their liking. Posted by K_heron (Member # 8893) on :
quote:Originally posted by Eskari: I've told the people around me to go read them in the order they were written, yes.
But I've also added the line leaving out Children of the Mind wouldn't do no harm when they were hard-sci-fi fans and some concepts introduced in it would be a way tooo fantastic for their liking.
Why??
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
If you're going to drop CotM, drop Xenocide as well. Xenocide is not a full novel like Ender's Game and SftD are -- Xenocide and CotM together make a single novel, published in two halves.
Posted by K_heron (Member # 8893) on :
I can see the two books being considered as two halves of the same story, but the question remains: why drop either of them? What makes them "too fantastic?"
Posted by Aris Katsaris (Member # 4596) on :
That part where through the power of imagination they solve ALL their problems at once. Curing a virus? The power of the imagination! Curing Miro's disability? The power of the imagination. Resurrecting the dead, or producing a young body to house Jane in? The power of the imagination! Instantaneous travel across the universe? The power of the imagination!
Because thinking about it makes it happen! Actually JANE thinking about it makes it happen.
I wouldn't call it fantasy though -- even fantasy has its own rules. This was beneath fantasy -- it was merely religious drivel about a new god discovering the awesomeness of her omnipotence, and then incarnating herself. The books themselves speak about whether Jane would be able to eventually imagine and thus create a whole new universe.
Ain't the power of imagination grand?
I wouldn't hate these two books so much if they hadn't served as the sequels of much more grounded and realistic work.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Those books were a LOT more tolerable than the nag fest of the later Ender Books. Enough already. Characters should be people, not puppets an author takes over to lecture people about morality.
Valentine is OSC in drag. I sweat she is. That speech in Children of the Mind was bad enough, but the way she ragged on Ender in Exile. I was like, broad, will you STOP it already? You do not know him. You haven't seen him since he smashed a wasp in front of you. So stop ragging on the lad and let him enjoy his kiss. He knows what he's doing. Durn.
Posted by Steve_G (Member # 10101) on :
I don't think its appropriate to put spoiler information into a thread started by a new OSC reader looking for advice on which OSC book to read next. If Nick has read this far down he's had a whole series spoiled. Also rather than let him decide for himself on how bad the last 2 books in the series are, he gets to see all all the snipes against the books beforehand.
If I were Nick I'd never ask a question here again. There are many threads where this kind of sniping can live. This isn't one of them.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I did try not to be spoilery, but I have been frustrated by the amount of salt drenched into the rather not so bad stew that is the Ender series. Just like how the cayenne pepper in the Anita Blake series is driving me crazy. I want to be like, woman, stop it already. I'm taking the cayenne pepper and I am taking the chili peppers too. Go EASY on them. With the latest Merry book she showed that she could write several pages without suddenly going crazy and dossing everything with a whole bottle of cayenne pepper.
Posted by CreoleBeanFan (Member # 11671) on :
I think Ender in Exile can actually be read before Speaker for the Dead, since chronologically it takes place many years before SFTD.
However, I would recommend finishing the Shadow series before reading Ender in Exile, since part of the book is chronogolically situated after Shadow of the Giant.
Posted by HeatherD (Member # 12058) on :
I read Exile first, and yeah I didn't know how the romance woold turn out. I read Ender's Game as a pre-teen and then stopped because my brother told me the sequels sucked! And then I read the Shadow books each as they were released. I work at a library, so I saw Exile in the Hotpicks section and was like, new Ender book!! So when I read it it actually got me curious about the whole series (I couldn't clearly remember the Shadow events, which are so closely tied to Exile). So just in the past couple of months I read the entire Ender series, then re-read the Shadow series, and just today finished re-reading Exile to top it all off :D
So I read Exile before I read Speaker, but I also read Speaker before I read Exile ;) It was interesting both ways, you can't really go wrong. Like CreoleBeanFan said, it's more important that you read the Shadow books first, otherwise you'll be kind of confused.
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