[Anarchy965]

I read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card straight through from start to finish a few days ago. I loved the book all the way through. Great characters and an awesome storyline. The only criticism I had with the book was the very ending (the latter half of the last chapter (beginning on page 316 of the author's definitive edition)) felt really forced and didn't seem to fit well with the rest of the book.

Are any of the other books in this series nearly as good as this one? And does anyone have any other recommendations for what else I should read next? I like any genre of book (except romance and the like) as long as it's well written and has a decent storyline.

 

[hembergler]

Ender's Shadow is a very interesting read, the rest of the series kinda... sucked.

I read them all in 5th grade, and it took me quite some time to get through Xenocide, Children of the Mind, etc. I didn't really understand what was going on in them--being younger at the time--so perhaps I'd like them more now. Anyway, I'd recommend Ender's Shadow.

 

[slwiser]

The whole series is a great read. I enjoyed them all. Just a teaser, Ender's time travel is interesting in the later books.

One large series that I started reading back in the 80s that is very good in my opinion is Raymond Feist's The Magician. Yes same name as the young lady singer doing her 1234 thing, but not relation as far as I know. I think there are at least a dozen books it in now. He is now doing another series and is into the third book of this one coming out in May 08.

 

[BradJudy]

If you liked Orson Scott Card's writing, you might try Enchantment. It's a different type of story, but he said it was his favorite of what he has written and I liked it.

 

[asebastian0]

Speaker for the Dead (book 2) is my favorite but its a big change from book 1. You are the second person I have heard who did not like the ending... I always thought the ending was the best part and one of the greatest endings of all time. A subtle but poignant twist you have been expecting all along. Speaker for the Dead pretty much exploded my entire mind but it is a very different book with the introduction of tons of new ideas to grapple with. Xenocide continues this learning curve exponentially and then there is a kind of plateau into book 4 which is a mixed bag imo. The rest I don't know if its just an overall malaise on my part or the are really mediocre but I could never get into the Shadow series. Looking forward to Ender in Exile big time and I refuse to read "A War of Gifts"

Definitely read the first 3 in the Ender series, they are all great in their own way.

 

[Cry Havoc]

Ender's Game is my favorite book, period. It should also be noted that after EG/ES, it branches out into the lives of Ender and Bean.

Ender goes through the Speaker for the Dead > Xenocide > Children route, while Bean's books go as follows: Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Shadow of the Giant.

They are all great reads, although none as good as EG, in my opinion, although Ender's Shadow comes close. It's beautiful to see Ender work through another's eyes.

 

[appophylite]

I loved the entire series and definitely likes Bean's four books more than the last three Ender Books, though they were just as good.

Enchantment and Empire are also two rather nice books written by Orson Scott Card; the former is a much stronger book IMO than the latter though.

 

[Jon L]

What I don't understand is why there hasn't been a movie made from Ender's Game yet!

Anyway, I liked Xenocide much more than Ender's Game, and the Bean Books are good, too, esp. Shadow Puppets..

 

[DSlayerZX]

I like Ender's Shadow more than the Ender's game

but if you really wan to read D&D style fantasy, I recommend
Dragon Raja
it is has a good story structure and interesting character development
not sure if it has fully released in English though
(its originally written by a Korean author, I read the Chinese translation)

 

[Aevum]

will give you something to think about next time you play a RTS game....

 

[YamiTenshi]

I suggest reading Ender's Shadow next. It's basically a retelling of Ender's Game through a different perspective. It also gave me a different, more sympathetic impression of Ender and Bean.

I've read all the way through the Shadow Saga (Bean's story) and really liked it, though I've read mixed reviews about the rest of Ender's Saga. Maybe during winter break I'll look through them.

 

[uzziah]

great!

i've read them all

i'd say that the sequel "speaker for the dead" is even better; totally different, but wonderful

xenocide and children of the mind are pretty so-so, but if you love the universe.....

ender's shadow is great; shadow of the hegemon is pretty good


i love this series


the enemy's gate is DOWN baby!

 

[uzziah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slwiser /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ender's time travel is interesting in the later books

so many cool ideas; the characters get a little muddy and boring, but so many neat-o sci-fi ideas

the whole thing with the descolada and what it does to lusitania
the idea of "outside"
jane


the plot of the books with starways congress, path, and the somoan world definitely was a bit of a downer though, but i dug the universe so much i liked it

the deal with qing-jao and her religous fervence was really compelling to me in the final reveal in xenocide because i've gone down the religous road myself, and i do think biology had a lot to do with it

and the best of all is the idea of what the ansible comes from, that we are actually connected, intertwined with each other, i LOVE that, very zen; all about love and friendship and thus connection


now you're teased! go read the best one in the series, SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD!

 

[erasmus]

for more hard scifi:


STARSHIP TROOPERS - Robert Heinlein

this is penultimate military scifi in my mind
replaces the psychological themes of Ender's Game with political and societal ones (mostly)

and to follow it, The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
as political/societal counterpoint to starship troopers, with really interesting time dilation/relativistic elements --> future shock

for detailed, realistic starship combat, try the Honor Harrington series
it's very much Tom Clancy in space, with really simplified good guy bad guy factions, but o-so-sweet depictions of combat between starships traveling at relativistic speeds, using weapons which operate at relativistic speeds

 

[n00bler]

plug for Dan Simmons Hyperion


"The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?" lulz deloreans