Even years after writing the original book, this was a fabulous addition to the story and nicely fills in some of the gap between the end of Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. As with all of Card's books I couldn't put it down. I hope to be able to finish off the entire series at some point.

Specifically the audio versions of these books are wonderful as the cast of voices suits the quality of the material and truly brings Card's characters to a rich life. ( )

(3.85 Stars)

I forgot how much I loved this series!

OSC is a great writer, and this is such an interesting story. This book fills in a gap between other major works and really grows Ender/Andrew as a character.

I don't know if I just never noticed it in other books or if OSC has inserted his religious beliefs in this book more than his others (keep in mind it has been several years since I last read an OSC book). It isn't to the point where I feel like it is being shoved down my throat, but it is there, and unnecessarily so... in most cases.
( )

Set immediately after the events of Ender's Game, this sequel narrates Ender's life following the end of the Bugger War. The story deals primarily with the guilt that Ender feels as a result of having killed two boys while at Battle School, and the unknowing xenocide of an entire species.

Ender sacrifices his reputation by revealing the deaths of Bonzo and Stilson to the court martial, even though he is unable to understand why the buggers "let him win." He travels out into the colonies to find an answer, and eventually lets himself be beaten up, partly to punish himself.


Orson Scott Card provides some further great lore on the wars during Peter's ascent to the Hegemony. I enjoyed the following up of many characters from Ender's Game, as well as the power the jeesh had on the new Earth. Insight into the way the colonies were created was also welcome.

I think this book falls down on the necessity of sticking with the previous timeline at the end of Ender's Game. Card's afterword notes that he is prone to making errors in continuity. The book suffers from spending a lot of time dealing with how Ender sees his parents and sister on his way to Shakespeare, and much less with his own redemption until the very end. Various plotlines on the ship appeared gratuitous to me - enjoyable to read, but not apparently necessary and diminishing from the "point" of the book.

Looking forward to exploring more of Ender's universe. ( )

Looks like I accidentally read this after Shadows in Flight, though not too sure whether a made a distinct difference. Anyway, I generally enjoyed the book, but like Ender's Game the ending sucks outright. ( )

Filler. That's my overall opinion of this book. It was easy to read and kept moving, but ultimately it didn't get anywhere. If this were a television series, this would be one of the episodes that you made sure to watch, in order to remain up-to-date on the universe, but then promptly forgot because it was so mundane. I expected at least a surprise or two, but that didn't happen. In the midst of it, I enjoyed Ender's ability to think ten moves ahead of almost everyone. In the end, I have to say that I don't really buy a 15-year-old's ability to understand human nature that well, no matter what kind of genius he's supposed to be. Semi-recommended only for Ender completists. ( )