I find something a little bit contradicting. I just finished reading Ender in Exile and on page 379 it says "Ender spent only five days writing a slim volume called "The Hegemon." He sent a copy to Peter."
Then in Shadow of the Giant on the second to last page, page 366 it says "They never spoke again. Peter lived for some time after that.... But when he died the book was still unwritten."
Both of the above parts were told from the narrator’s point of view, so there is no reason they should contradict each other.
I know that in Ender In Exile, Ender sends the copy to Peter and tells him to never have it published till he dies, which would make sense of why Petra thought Peter was never able to read it before he died, but the narrator should not of said in one book that Peter reads "The Hegemon" and in the other book say he dies before it ever got finished.
What are some people's thoughts on this? I personally like Peter being able to read it, call me happy ending lover, but it was a nice touch. Do you guys think Scott Card should have followed the old line of thought from Shadow of The Giant or the new one in Ender in Exile?
Posted by Jeff C. (Member # 12496) on :
Well the slim version probably isn't the final draft.
Posted by Aris Katsaris (Member # 4596) on :
As Ender is "Speaker for the Dead" I think it's most appropriate that the books be completed only after the respective death of the people in question...
Posted by Kelly1101 (Member # 12562) on :
In my world, "Ender in Exile" never happened so I don't have to worry about the contradictions in it.
Posted by millernumber1 (Member # 9894) on :
I noticed that as well, but I assume that Ender in Exile was the more accurate version because it said what Card wanted to say about human nature and ethics.
Posted by Marts (Member # 12962) on :
Thank you for your responses. I agree that Ender in Exile has a better ending. I do like that he did put at the end of the book that he knew there were some contradictions, but that the newer book represents the story how he would like to of told it.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by millernumber1: I noticed that as well, but I assume that Ender in Exile was the more accurate version because it said what Card wanted to say about human nature and ethics.
lol.
Posted by Marcoudesept (Member # 12981) on :
I think I remember an interview explaining this. It had something to do with the order that things were written down and all the short stories were compiled together. This was alot of shorts I think going back to the 70's. He didn't just sit down and write it in a linear fashion. If I'm not mistaken, speaker for the dead was the base idea and enders game was a prequel character development made later. But having the battle room and action made it a bigger seller as the "main" story. My memory may be off so dont quote me but if see or hear the interview again I'll try to get it on here.
Posted by Kelly1101 (Member # 12562) on :
Ender's Game was written first. After he thought of Speaker for the Dead, he decided to add in Ender to that book, too, so he re-did the original novella to make it a novel and tacked on the last chapter to link it to Speaker.
Posted by BigDaddy (Member # 12970) on :
Nonlinear seems to be the theme of the whole series as far as being written. We're all waiting for the second and last books to come out shortly after one another. I've given up on re-reading the whole series and decided just to read it all as a whole once all the current "in progress" big pieces are published. Instead I've been skipping around reading my favorites. Started Speaker for the Dead again today.