Sorry for bothering the forum, but I just finished reading Ender's Game, and I wanted to read the next book in the series. However, I'm having trouble figuring out which book is next in the series. Could anyone tell me which book I should read next? Sorry if this is an obvious question, but I'm trying to avoid doing too much research into this and accidently reading a major spoiler.
It appears to me that "Speaker for the Dead" is the next book, but I bought a friend of mine a 3-pack of books which included Ender's Game and two other books, neither of which is "Speaker for the Dead" (the other two are "Ender's Shadow" and "Shadow of the Hegemon"). If it's not too much trouble, could someone please tell me which book to read next? Also, please don't reveal any spoilers.
Thanks a bunch!
Posted by BlueWizard (Member # 9389) on :
Sorry but it is not as simple as that. It really depends on what you mean by 'next'.
Most people read 'Enders Shadow' after 'Enders Game'. It is the same story but told from the perspective of the character Bean.
From that point on the Ender series has three more books that take place 3,000 years later and cover the rest of Ender's life.
The Shadow or Bean series covers Bean's life after the Formic (Bugger) War which was won by Ender. After the war, the world no longer has a common cause to unite them. So, when the buggers are defeated, the world splinters and people start fighting for the power to control the world
Both the continuation of the Ender story and the Shadow/Bean story are excellent reads.
So, here is my suggested order.
1.) Enders Game 2.) Enders Shadow
Now you have to decide if you want to read the continuation of the Ender Story or the Bean Story. They are not really connected, so either one is fine, though the Ender story has been out longer and is therefore more likely to be all in paperback. The last of the Shadow/Bean series was only recently published.
The continuation of the Ender Series -
1.) Speaker for the Dead 2.) Xenocide 3.) Children of the Mind
This continuation is available in a complete boxed set of three.
The continuation of the Shadow/Bean Series -
1.) Shadow of the Hegemon 2.) Shadow Puppets 3.) Shadow of the Giant
(Members, please correct me if I am wrong.)
You can intermix the two series as long as you read them in order. Again, the two series aren't related, so it's your choice.
Steve/BlueWizard
Posted by Catseye1979 (Member # 5560) on :
Everything Blue Wizard said is pretty much how it is, When I first read the books I started with "Ender's Game" and then read "Speaker for the Dead", "Xenocide", and "Children of the Mind". I then read the Shadow series as they all came out....
My brother started with "Ender's Shadow", then the other three Shadow books first, (All my Ender's books dissapeared while I was in Mexico for 2 years) Then he read the the first 4 after I gave up hunting for them and bought new ones.
You can saftly read either set first with out having to worry about Spoilers. (Although for anyone who hasn't read Ender's Game I recomment reading it before Ender's Shadow....then do as BlueWizard advises and pick who's story you want to continue first)
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
I would recommend reading the books in published order, which goes: Ender's Game, Speaker, Xenocide, Children, and THEN the Bean books. This makes more sense to me because the style and focus of the books changes detectably through the published order.
If you read them in any other order, you don't see the evolution and erosion of certain characteristics in Card's writing. For me that's interesting, but I'm sure the books will make sense in virtually any order. I recommend also rereading both series in a different order the second or third time you read them (if you are a re-reader).
Posted by Matt Inlay (Member # 10011) on :
Thanks for all the tips. I have Ender's Shadow with me right now, but not Speaker for the Dead, so I might start reading that first. I started to panic for a second when I saw that the inside cover for Ender's Game listed Ender's Shadow as the 5th book in the series, but now I understand why. I probably could have found that out on the internet, but I'm pretty paranoid about stumbling across spoilers, so I try to read as little as possible about a book before I actually read it, which makes it pretty difficult to get the kind of info that you just gave me.
I really appreciate you all taking the time to help me out. In case you're wondering, my mother had sent me several of these books a couple of years ago, but it wasn't until I saw a South Park episode, whose plot a friend told me sounded a lot like Ender's Game, that I finally decided to read the book. I really enjoyed it, and I can't wait to get into the next book in the series.
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
I thinkt he reading order debate happens every week, it depends on what you like more: Ender series is more philosophical, and Bean series is political intrigue and military strategy (sort of).
Posted by ThePersonMan (Member # 9440) on :
This seems to be a topic that pops up all the time. Is there any way a moderator/admin could pin something to the top that explains the books that follow Ender's game and the different reading orders?
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
When I first read Ender's Game and wanted to know "what came next" I came to this same place (Hatrack) but instead of asking on a forum, I just clicked on the OSC Library link at the top, and under the "books" drop-down, he has them grouped in order.
So that's the order I read them, for the most part.
FG
Posted by Soara (Member # 6729) on :
quote:Originally posted by ThePersonMan: This seems to be a topic that pops up all the time. Is there any way a moderator/admin could pin something to the top that explains the books that follow Ender's game and the different reading orders?
Either that or a paragraph in the front of each book explaining it.
Posted by ThePersonMan (Member # 9440) on :
Maybe an author's foreword or afterword.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
People could just check the wikipedia article as well, or the website, or countless other published sources. Doubtless 99 out of 100 people do that, and the others come here. Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
That's what I did, checked Wikipedia I mean. It is the greatest website ever created.
Posted by Shnabubula (Member # 9834) on :
Songmaster is an amazing read!
Posted by Matt Inlay (Member # 10011) on :
For most questions I have, I'd search through the forums before taking up people's time by asking it myself. However, when I went to a few other websites, I started to sense that a spoiler was coming, so I immediately stopped reading. My fear in searching through this forum was the same. The problem with websites like these is that a new vistor will immediately assume (whether correct or not) that everyone on the forum has already read the series, and so the danger for spoilers is incredibly high.
It's clear to me now that there's not a clear-cut answer to the question of order, which is probably why I couldn't figure it out based on a cursory glance at Amazon and Wikipedia webpostings. I think a note with a label like "for those who haven't yet read the books" clearly visible in the title, with the issue of suggested reading order, will help out newcomers a lot.
I went out and bought Speaker for the Dead yesterday and started it last night. It's very different from Ender's Game, but I'm enjoying it so far.
Thanks again to all who replied, and happy holidays.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Which book comes after Ender's Game?
The correct answer is "Everything else he's written."
Posted by Shnabubula (Member # 9834) on :
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)