A year ago, I saw the previews for Enders Game, but left on a trip before the movie arrived. I finally got to see the movie on TV, and watched it twice. A few parts seemed "silly", but overall it was nicely done, and but for when it brought up visions of boot camp, the cadets all marching in step, it was more than enough "realistic" to keep my attention. Some things weren't too clear, and I figured I'd see if there was a book.
Found a bookstore, found a copy of the book, and also another book "Ender in Exile". Having no idea of why there were two books, I bought both, and for a little while each evening, read more and more of the original. I decided the book was much better than the movie, as it had so much more detail, but it made the movie even more enjoyable when I watched it once more after reading the book.
Moved on to book #2 (if that's what it is) and enjoyed that for the past week, finishing it today. Until the end, it was fascinating, interesting, and it all sort of fit together, but the end of the book seemed to not really be an end - like where's the rest of the story? That was frustrating, but by the time I read "Afterword", I realized there were lots more books, and somehow they all fit together to tell the whole story.
This leaves me wondering what next? Is there an order in which the books are supposed to be read? Which leads to, which one do I get next?
Usually when I finish a book, it's "over". If there were no additional books after Ender's Game, they wouldn't be missed, since nothing was expected to follow. That there was a second book was great, but it didn't end the same way - if seems to me that the book stopped when I ran out of new pages to read, but without reading them, something is very much missing.
I should add that I was amazed to find out that there was a forum here, and a whole website, and that the "book" that until today was nothing more than two paperback books on my shelf, with a copy of the video on my DVR (need to copy it to my phone), but now there's this forum, with live discussions, and presumably with Orson Scott Card here as well????
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Read, in this order:
Ender's Game Speaker for the Dead Xenocide Seventh Son Red Prophet Prentice Alvin The Worthing Saga Hart's Hope Maps in a Mirror Wyrms Songmaster
Sadly, Card hasn't posted here in some time, because we're jerks.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Sadly, Card hasn't posted here in some time, because we're jerks.
are you gonna say that to my face what what what you wanna go m8 what what what
Posted by mikemyers (Member # 13189) on :
Hmmm.....
To TomDavidson, where on your list would "Ender in Exile fit in? ....and I guess I'm wondering, are all of these about the same basic story, all adding up to more of the whole, or at some point does a whole new story start up, with a new cast of characters?
To both of you, there must be some kind of inside joke here that a newcomer would know nothing about. With a member ID of only 124, I'm assuming that Tom knows the most of what's been happening in this forum. I guess it's sad that the person who presumably founded the forum no longer comes here, but it's perfectly understandable to me nowadays. Long ago, I would have thought that to be very unlikely.
Posted by tertiaryadjunct (Member # 12989) on :
Tom's list included primarily non-Ender books (I'd put The Worthing Saga at the top, myself). If you're wondering what is a good order to read the Ender books, there is a preexisting thread here: http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=004961 Posted by mikemyers (Member # 13189) on :
Thanks, didn't know that thread already existed, but I'm very new here - almost one day now.
I changed the settings so I now see "all" posts. What seems to be missing, or I don't know where to look, are the original posts that presumably Card would have posted when the forum first started up? Do those still exist, or should I ask if they ever did exist?
Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
Welcome, mike. Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
Mike,
There are some Ender books we like to pretend don't exist. Normally, I'd say this is very rude, but OSC once said Children of the Mind was an awful book at his own book-signing. He told everyone who raised their hand when he asked who actually did get through the book, that they were liars.
I've read it twice, but I'd say I probably didn't read the middle so carefully. Also it's worth pretending it didn't happen in your head, so there's that. :-/
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Welcome Mike, Mr. Card doesn't post much, but he certainly reads the stuff people say to him, and is still known to come out of hiding to answer it.
Posted by CT (Member # 8342) on :
Mike, welcome to Hatrack.
This forum has been around a long time. Drawing from my memory, I think it was around on (?) AOL / Big Mouth Lion (?) bulletin board back in the 90s. Those posts were lost when the forum was migrated into the new platform. There has also been a purge or three of old posts off the server.
OSC went through a couple of stints of posting frequently here, but generally (I think) his attention right now is focused primarily on his professional writing, his family, and his community. There are opinion/review pieces that he writes in an ongoing way at The Rhino Times -- listed here.
At one point in time, this forum was so heavily used by members that one could hardly keep up with threads through the day. That kind of use waxes and wanes. Right now things are slower, but it might pick up again. New people tend to make a difference.
--- PS: BlackBlade is the moderator, and he keeps a pretty close eye on things. He can alert OSC to anything that needs to be on the radar.
Do you know about the other nonsubscription active forum, Discussions About Orson Scott Card? In the past, you have been more likely to see OSC posting there, but the discussions tend to move slower.
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
Welcome, Mike! In addition to what CT and BlackBlade have said, I'll add that the list that Tom gave you probably isn't what you're actually looking for, since only the first three books on it are set in the Ender's Game universe.
Card has written two distinct series set in that universe, with the first being a quartet made up of: Ender's Game Speaker for the Dead Xenocide Children of the Mind
The last three books in that series take place thousands of years after Ender's Game, with an adult Ender as the main character (a result of time dilation; his subjective experience isn't that of having lived for thousands of years).
After finishing the quartet, Card turned his attention to writing another series set in the same universe. It starts a little before the beginning of Ender's Game, and goes on to tell the story of what happens on Earth while Ender is traveling through space. That series is composed of the following: Ender's Shadow Shadow of the Hegemon Shadow Puppets First Meetings (which is s short story collection) Shadow of the Giant A War of Gifts: An Ender Story (a short story that is basically Christmas at the battle school) Ender in Exile Shadows in Flight Earth Unaware Earth Afire
I believe that there may be a third series that he's begun about the first Formic War, but I'm not sure of it. I've kind of stopped paying attention. I felt like the Shadow series went downhill pretty quickly, and I stopped reading it after either Shadow Puppets or Shadow of the Giant. If you go on to explore that series, I hope that you'll like it better than I did.
The other books that Tom listed are all very much worth reading, and are probably my favorite of Card's books (though I'd add Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus to that list. It's flawed, but still quite good). Maps in a Mirror is a short story collection, and is just amazingly good. If you like short stories, be sure to check it out.
You might also be interested in finding the Ender's Game novelette, which Card later expanded into the novel Ender's Game.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
I've been rereading Speaker for the Dead and enjoying it much more this time than last. Definitely worth a read after you finish Ender's Game.
I'll echo Jake in saying I didn't enjoy the Ender's Shadow series nearly as much. I think I got my fill of genius kids in the first 1 1/2 books and didn't forge much further.
I've really enjoyed the First Formic Wars series so far.
Two of my favorite Card works would have to be Treason, which I think is just a fun read all the way through, and the short story The Originist that appeared in the Friends of Foundation book published a while after Isaac Asimov's death.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:I'll add that the list that Tom gave you probably isn't what you're actually looking for...
Damn you all! I gave him the list he needs, not the list he deserves!
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
: laugh : I thought you'd say something like that.
Out of curiosity, why did you leave Pastwatch off of your list?
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
if, tomorrow, i post a list with nothing but Ender's series books on it, nobody panics, because it's all part of the plan. but when i put one little Alvin Saga book on the list, well, then, everyone loses their minds Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
I was curious why you left Enchantment off...
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:Out of curiosity, why did you leave Pastwatch off of your list?
To encourage debate and discussion. Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson:
quote:Out of curiosity, why did you leave Pastwatch off of your list?
To encourage debate and discussion.
Success!
quote:Originally posted by theamazeeaz: I was curious why you left Enchantment off...
I felt like Enchantment was the fist book of Card's where the didacticism was pronounced enough to get in the way of the story. I also found the protagonist's girlfriend to be more of a caricature of a type of person than an actual, believable, fleshed out human being.
Posted by Wendybird (Member # 84) on :
Welcome to the forum Mike! I’m a chronic lurker and have been around since the beginning of time. Well not time itself (though it feels like it some days) but certainly since the beginning of this forum time. I know OSC sometimes reads around here still but he’s a pretty busy guy so I don’t think he really posts much if at all.
I really liked Enchantment. I didn’t feel like the characters had to be believable - its a fairy tale after all. But I’m not a wildly discriminating reader. If the author can hook me emotionally I can forgive minor things.
That said, while Ender’s Game is one of my top favorite books, the rest of that particular quartet doesn’t hook me quite so much. I read them because I had to finish the story but they aren’t one’s I reread. I did enjoy the Ender’s Shadow series though.
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