Ender in Exile

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.

Not the greatest of books dealing with Ender Wiggin and those he's influenced. It is not a bad read and there is something to be said about reading it for three straight days to finish it but it just did not seem to be as captivating and eye opening as previous novels (especially those from the original four). There are moments when you come to a realization that seemed spectacular but it just didn't seem the same. There are interesting characters and moments but the greatest moments seemed to be when the narrative touched back to the original novel (Ender's Game) and saw those moments from a different perspective. If this book was meant to get one to wish to pick up that novel again then it did a great job at it. Now to find where I left my copy.

PS. What is this in the afterwood about altering a few things in the final chapters of “Ender's Game” to have it coincide more accurately with all other books and short stories. Even if it is just a name change on one page of a random colony, please, Mr. Card, don't begin to alter you books into “Special Editions” (a la Star Wars). Yes I am aware that revisions in novels have occurred since they were first invented. I just feel conflicted.

Whilst this is in the mainline Ender series, and contains a significant development for that storyline, on the whole this book is oddly placed. It feels like an epilogue to the first four books/ quadrilogy of the Shadow series, yet also spends a lot of time with characters who are only relevent for parts of this novella (Allesandra and her mother, starfleet captains and colony xenobiologists). This somewhat drags the reading excitement, although there is a clear throughline about Ender's emotional distance (from his family, friends, humanity) and suffering as he carries the weight of his actions from Ender's Game, and some solid world-building. A decent and almost fast read, I'm just not sure how to feel about Ender in Exile overall.

I seem to remember the beginning of this book and either I never finished it or I'd forgotten the rest. I'm glad I'm rereading it because it's answered alot of the questions I had while reading [b:Speaker for the Dead 7967 Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2) Orson Scott Card https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1295660894l/7967.SY75.jpg 2327777] which I seem to remember more of.

Short Review: Set between the last two chapters of Ender's Game, Ender in Exile feels more like a collection of shorts stories than a coherent novel. But it is a good collection of stories. This is not an action oriented Ender story but an idea oriented Ender story. And it is very heavily oriented toward Card's obsession with having children and passing on genes and creating meaning in life through family. On the whole it is a good, but not great read.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/ender-in-exile/