ender's game by est120

OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

ender's game

POSTED BY: EST120
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 18:34
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VIEWED: 4865
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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 5:04 AM

has anyone read this book by orson scott card? a friend recently lent it to me and i finished it the other night. quite interesting. without revealing any plots for the other books, is the rest of the series worth a look?

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 5:15 AM

DRALIONSOLEIL

Ender's Shadow and Speaker for the Dead i think are definately worth it.

I read the first 3 sequels all at once a few years back but i think i only read xenocide and children of the mind for completeness sake.

i loved ender's shadow, but the rest of the shadow sequels were too political for me.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 6:53 AM

UNCHARTEDOUTLAW

Yes! Ender's Game is an awesome book! I've actually read all the sequels...what is it, like 7? I really want to get Ender's Game added to our department's reading list. Definitely a very very good book.

-Taylor

Uncharted Outlaw!

Haulin' goods from one end of creation to th' other. Keepin' my nose clean 'round the Alliance. See my Firefly Store: http://www.cafepress.com/NorCalRiviera

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 7:03 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I didn't think the others in the sequel had as much depth, although Speaker for the Dead good. He wrote a supernatural mystery thriller, though I can't remember the name, that I thought was awesome.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 7:49 AM

AMNESIACK

Ender's Game is my favorite science fiction book of all time. I've read it 38 times since I bought my first copy at the age of 9. The question "Are the others worth it?" is a tricky one, though. If you want or expect them to be as good as Ender's Game, then, unfortunately, no they're not. Orson Scott Card has never managed to write anything else in his career as good as Ender's Game. However, if you're willing to let the comparison slide and just read them for their own sakes, ignoring the drop in quality, then, yes, they are worth reading.

------------------------------------------------
My backpack's got jets.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 8:43 AM

SHINY

I thought ender's game was great, but the rest of the series and prequels/sequels were just pretty good. Definitely readable but they just don't compare to the genius of the original IMO.

Jayne, your mouth is talkin. Might want to look into that.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 8:59 AM

ZEEK

Agreed. Ender's Game was great. Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and Ender's Shadow are the second tier. They're good but not great. Then Children of the Mind, Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets all fall to the final tier. Readable but just going too far off on a single tangent to be really good.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 9:41 AM

HJERMSTED

I have enjoyed all of the Ender series, but my faves were Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead and Ender's Shadow.

I highly recommend O.S. Card's stand alone novel Treason as well!

mattro

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 10:16 AM

DUG

Just re-read the book last week, and got the wife to read it for the first time as well. I agree that it may well be Card's best work. Which is sad; it is a fleshed out version of his first short story. Peaked early, maybe? Actually no. Read Enchantment and Harts Hope. Both fantastic.

One thing that has always bugged me about Card (who I really like, btw) is his inability to EVER FINISH A FREAKIN' STORY. He writes it. Then he publishes it, changes it, republishes it, etc. Ender's Game is one example, started as a short, then grew to a novel, then I think may have been rewritten a bit to keep on as a series. The Alvin Maker series is a better example. Started as a one page poem. Became a short story. Then a novel. Then was supposed to be a trilogy. Then was supposed to be a NONOLOGY. At some point you just have to let go and be done. Hart's Hope is also a victim of this; originally published as a 90 page short novel and then sold as a full novel. In some ways the short was stronger. Self editing is not Card's strong point. Left to his own devices every book would be 10,000,000 pages long....

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 10:18 AM

DESANGRO

Quote:
Originally posted by est120:
has anyone read this book by orson scott card? a friend recently lent it to me and i finished it the other night. quite interesting. without revealing any plots for the other books, is the rest of the series worth a look?

I read Ender's Game a long, long time ago. I was very impressed with it at the time; it had aliens and a facist military and ultra-violent simulation games-- and real violence. (I did skip over some of the training program/mock combat programs because those parts bored me.)

The next book in the series that I read was Xenocide. I liked it, even though I was not up-to-date on some of the alien cultures in it (Xenocide is the THIRD book in the Ender series, BTW. Reading them in order is probably for the best.

) Then I read Speaker for the Dead and that not only cleared up my confusion, but was a pretty good read, to my memory.

Children of the Mind (the last book in the Ender series, though there are more novels set in that universe) didn't impress me as much. I read it once several years back and I haven't read it since. It seemed anticlimatic, though perhaps if I ever do re-read it, my analysis might be different.

Other than that, I haven't read Scott's other Ender's Game universe books, and I don't think that I've really read alot of the other things he's written. I will say that in the Ender's Game sequels he shows a great talent for creating several different and distinct alien races, and two very unique and interesting human cultures in Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 11:47 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Nothing I can really say that hasn't been, cep't to add my 2 cents.

Enders Game is supreme, yes.

The sequels are acceptable, but definately second rate.

Treason wasn't half bad neither.

But of his work, Enders Game is definately the crown jewel.

-F

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 1:04 PM

SIGMANUNKI

It seems we have a consensus (one I will add to) that Ender's Game is an excellent book. I found Ender's Shadow to be almost as good and very interesting as it was interesting to see the story from a different angle.

The only other one I've read so far is Shadow of the Hegemon. Which I found OK, nothing special, especially compared to the other two.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

----
"Canada being mad at you is like Mr. Rogers throwing a brick through your window." -Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 2:06 PM

STARPILOTGRAINGER

My sig quote is of course from Ender's Game, so one would expect I'm a big fan of it.

As to the sequels? My opinion is:
Speaker for the Dead: Quite good, but not as good.
Xenocide/Children of the Mind, okay, but not really needed and has a bit too many things that I wasn't satisfied with.

Ender's Shadow: Very good, probably the closest to Ender's Game in quality. Still not as good, but nearly there, and I like reading them both regularly as, really, they're two different views on the same events (am annoyed at a couple of the things they changed).

Shadow of the Hegemon/Shadow Puppets: Still pretty cool, I rank them maybe a little worse than Speaker for the Dead. Still, I'm reading the series and will continue when the next one comes out.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/users/newnumber6
http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinions
Today on Unreachable Star: Interview with Tod Wills, creator of the Dracula webcomic (at http://www.vanhelsing.tk )

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 3:17 PM

THRAWN

I liked Ender's Shadow almost as much as Ender's Game, and found the rest to be more or less intolerable.

I would reccomend reading that and Speaker For The Dead, though...Ender's Game is sort of the source, and then each of those books I view as starting its own spinoff storyline. If you don't enjoy either, all of the sequels to that particular storyline aren't going to be good either.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 3:31 PM

ANOTHERFIREFLYFAN

Children of the Mind is really just one long conclusion to Xenocide. It's really *part* of that story.

I recommend the series, but agree. Things get much more complicated later on. There were parts of Xenocide (the Chinese girl side-story anyone?) that outright bored me and were a drag to read through.

~AFf

Keep flying

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 5:46 PM

DESANGRO

Quote:
Originally posted by AnotherFireflyfan:
There were parts of Xenocide (the Chinese girl side-story anyone?) that outright bored me and were a drag to read through.

~AFf

Keep flying

See, I thought that that subplot was really cool... but that's just me.

Wang-mu was neat.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 6:08 PM

DINGOACTION

I adored Ender's Game, and thought Ender's Shadow was fun to read--the whole alternate POV idea hooked me; I've always wanted to read a book like that. I haven't gotten around to the others yet, they seemed a bit more political than I usually like.

I did enjoy Card's writing enough to pick up Enchantment, though, which I throughly enjoyed. Has anyone read Pastwatch? Opinions?

----
There'll be my side and your side! My side your side!

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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 6:34 PM

ANOTHERFIREFLYFAN

The sub-plot improved, it was fun when it finally joined the story. But it was a lot of work reading through all of it just to lead up to that. Kinda disturbed the pace. *shrug*

But I loved the series, and eventually plan to read more of Card's books.

Keep flying

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