Ender in Exile
posted on Mon, 05/04/2009 - 13:02 by
theshadow
Before I begin this review I wanted to make sure and note that although I do enjoy some of Orson Scott Card's (OSC) work I don't necessarily believe in his personal beliefs and/or opinions. Personally I believe if you can just ignore him when he starts getting preachy in his work you can enjoy the book with less bias and issue. Now without further ado.
About once a year I go and make a huge purchase of books. Usually about five or six to hold me over for a few months. Though I do like to read I'm not a voracious reader like some of my friends. This time around seeing as I have already read all the books in the Enderverse I should read this one as well.
This book is a mid-qual. Taking up just after the events inEnder's Game and overlapping most of the events in the Ender's Shadow series but just before Speaker for the Dead. It takes the time to fill in most of the hanging questions fans have had over the years such as: what happened to Bean's son, what happened on Shakespeare while Ender was governor and so forth.
To review this book some people have approached this from several angles and in deed you will find some mixed reviews on many site (namely Amazon). To be plainly honest if you enjoyed Ender's Game and the Ender's Shadow series you will enjoy this book. Its more of a story of political intrigue and self discovery in a sci-fi setting than just a sci-fi book which isn't all that bad if you're open to either.
Personally I felt the story was well written for the most part. He took the time to dive deeper into the Ender and his sister. Nothing drastically new surfaced but as they say its always the little things that matter. For those of us who wanted a deeper understanding of why Ender punishes himself and takes the weight of the universe onto his shoulders this will provide some more insight. We also start to see the planted seeds that grow into the distance between Ender and his sister in later books.
At some points as I've previously mentioned Card can become a bit preachy, but if you can gloss over those parts (if that isn't your cup of tea) I believe overall the book is enjoyable. Providing more perspective about the characters and closing up plot holes from before.
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