In What Order Should I read the Ender Series?

[Amused]

Any idea?

 

[Crono]

I would read them by publication date. I haven't read anything past Shadow of the Giant, though.

1. Ender's Game - Nebula Award winner, 1985;[1] Hugo Award winner, 1986;[1] Locus Award nominee, 1986[1]
2. Speaker for the Dead - Nebula Award winner, 1986;[1] Hugo & Locus Awards winner, 1987;[1] Campbell Award nominee, 1987[1]
3. Xenocide - Hugo and Locus Awards nominee, 1992[6]
4. Children of the Mind
5. Ender's Shadow - Shortlisted for a Locus Award, 2000[7]
6. Shadow of the Hegemon - Shortlisted for a Locus Award, 2002[8]
7. Shadow Puppets
8. Shadow of the Giant
9. First Meetings
10. A War of Gifts: An Ender Story
11. Ender in Exile

Taken from Wikipedia

 

[a123456]

Publication date as mentioned above is good but honestly not all of them are that great.

Alternatively, read #1, skip #2-4 since they are a lot weaker than #1, then read #5 which retells #1 from another character's point of view and doesn't really reference anything from #2-4. After that, I feel he goes downhill again so maybe read #6. If you still like the series by #6-7, then maybe go back and read the whole thing (#2-4, #6-11). Otherwise, having read #1,#5,#6 is good enough since those are what I feel are the best ones.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: a123456
Publication date as mentioned above is good but honestly not all of them are that great.

Alternatively, read #1, skip #2-4 since they are a lot weaker than #1, then read #5 which retells #1 from another character's point of view and doesn't really reference anything from #2-4. After that, I feel he goes downhill again so maybe read #6. If you still like the series by #6-7, then maybe go back and read the whole thing (#2-4, #6-11). Otherwise, having read #1,#5,#6 is good enough since those are what I feel are the best ones.

The real question is... is 2-4 really bad by themselves or are they just worse than #1? The reason I'm asking is that #1 was so damn good that most things in comparison aren't great, so they may not be that bad but seem a lot worse following such a great book.

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: a123456
Otherwise, having read #1,#5,#6 is good enough since those are what I feel are the best ones.

I'd agree with this. I read 2,3,4 shortly after reading Ender's game, and I was disappointed. Really jumps the shark, in my opinion, from the Ender's Game and Bean novels.

 

[bobsmith1492]

I loved 'em all but the above order is proper (I've never read 9-11 though... hm).

You can skip to Ender's Shadow directly; it is a separate storyline.

Another way to group them would be:

Ender's Game -> Speaker for the Dead -> Xenocide -> Children of the Mind

Ender's Shadow -> Shadow of the Hegemon -> Shadow Puppets -> Shadow of the Giant

The Ender's Game series is more philosophical with some interesting sci-fi/philosophical aspects thrown in (philotes, etc). The Shadow series (based on Bean) are more political in nature, so take your pick of which interests you more. They are all very good IMO.

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: a123456
Otherwise, having read #1,#5,#6 is good enough since those are what I feel are the best ones.

I'd agree with this. I read 2,3,4 shortly after reading Ender's game, and I was disappointed. Really jumps the shark, in my opinion, from the Ender's Game and the Bean novels.

I'd also agree with that.

2,3,4 were disappointing after 1.

Overall I found the Shadow series to be the best.

 

[Amused]

Well I picked up 1,2 and 5 at a garage sale. So I guess I'll just read those.

Thanks guys.

 

[Amused]

dp

 

[Crono]

On a related note, I always wanted a PC spacefighter sim (a la Freespace) + FPS/RPG (a la Halo, Fallout 3, etc) based on Ender's Game. Start with Ender plot from Earth to Battle School and Command School, fight as a marine in separate storyline or by in-game simulations, engage in space battles (with fellow pilots/kids like Bean and Petra under your command, of course) and fire up the Dr. Device. Would love to see Giant's Drink subgame.

Most game companies would probably screw such a game up, but if it was done right it would be awesome.

EDIT: Apparently Chair Entertainment has rights and is developing game
http://www.chairentertainment....rights_for_enders_game

 

[lupi]

Read the first couple and loved them, had no idea the series was that deep by now.

 

[waffleironhead]

I vote for ignoring 2-4. just jump to 5-11. Then if you are bored, go back and read 2-4. The story picks up at book 2 after book 11 iirc.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: Amused
Any idea?

read enders game and enders shadow.
then stop.

/thread.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

i guess i'm the only one that thought speaker for the dead was better than ender's game. haven't read any of the other ones tho. i need to get a copy of xenocide at some point.

 

[masterpookie]

[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Helvetica]What order should I read the Ender's Game series in? I will tell you.
Read the Ender's Game series in this order.

This order is not the release date but the story from begging to end.

The first 5 are pre Ender's Game:

1. THE POLISH BOY
2. TEACHERS PEST
3. MAZER IN PRISON
4. CHEATER
5. PRETTY BOY
-----------
6. ENDER'S GAME
-----------
The next 3 take place during Ender's Game:

7. ENDER'S STOCKING
8. A WAR OF GIFTS: AN ENDER STORY
9. ENDER'S SHADOW
----------
The next next 2 books take place right after Ender's Game:

10. ENDER'S HOME COMING
11. A YOUNG MAN WITH PROSPECTS
----------
The next 3 books, because of "time dilation" should be read next:

12. SHADOW OF THE HEGEMON
13. SHADOW OF PUPPETS
14. SHADOW OF THE GIANT
----------
The next 3 books, because of "time dilation" take place simultaneously during the previous 3 books:

15: ENDER IN FLIGHT
16. ENDER IN EXILE
17. THE GOLD BUG
----------
The next 4 books should be read last and will take you far into the future:

18. INVESTMENT COUNSELOR
19. SPEAKER OF THE DEAD
20. XENOCIDE
21. CHILDREN OF THE MIND
----------
As of this post, these are all of the books that have been published in the Enderverse. If you read them in the order I just laid out for you, you will notice some over lap in the story. I'm sorry to say, it can't be helped.

The soon to be published book "SHADOWS IN FLIGHT" will fit in somewhere...
YOU'RE WELCOME

 

[BrokenVisage]

Do as the name suggests, read from end to beginning.

Wow 2 necro bumps and the last one dude made an account just to bump.. hard core Ender up in here!

 

[jman19]

read enders game and enders shadow.
then stop.

/thread.

This is exactly what I did. I tried to get through the second book, but didn't find it very interesting.

 

[Kev]

I thought the 2nd book was actually pretty good. I've heard others say avoid #2 and 4 though.

 

[JTsyo]

yea, I was ok with all the books. Most aren't on par with Ender's game but that's a high standard to hold them to.

 

[moshquerade]

necro thread

here i thought Amused was back.

 

[smartpatrol]

Ender's Game was definitely the best.

I still greatly enjoyed Speaker for the Dead though. Xenocide wasn't bad either. Then I started Children of the Mind. . . that shit was so awful I couldn't finish it.

Is the Ender's Shadow series really that great? I kind of lost all hope for him as a writer after Children of the Mind.

 

[Kadarin]

Orson Scott Card has produced some brilliance with Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, but a lot of what he writes is dreck. Other than those two, somehow I made it though Speaker for the Dead, but I just couldn't get through anything else he's written.

 

[jman19]

necro thread

here i thought Amused was back.

Huh, didn't even realize this was a necro...

Amused, why have you forsaken us? :'(

 

[nageov3t]

Orson Scott Card has produced some brilliance with Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, but a lot of what he writes is dreck. Other than those two, somehow I made it though Speaker for the Dead, but I just couldn't get through anything else he's written.

:thumbsup:

the original series is worth reading even in light of the fact that Orson Scott Card is a batshit insane bigot.

the "Shadow" series is terrible, though. Bean has got to be the biggest literary Mary Sue this side of Elminster.

alternatively, just read the 3 Hunger Games books... thematically, they remind me a lot of Ender's Game but better.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I just stuck with Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. Loved Game and thought Shadow was okay.