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A review by francisicus_rex
Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card
4.0
I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this more than I expected. I think I might have been worried about Enderveree fatigue, but actually this was the right decision to read after “Shadow of the Giant” as the Shadow series was where my weariness had started to set in. Returning back to Ender now felt like coming home, and was a nice breath of fresh air to see this character again in a more substantial way.
I know the criticisms of this book for “rewriting” the final chapter of “Ender’s Game”, but I found it to be honestly the right move as the Ender universe has expanded so much in the many years since EG first came out. Also, some talk about the religious views of the author getting in the way, specifically about marriage and having babies, but I found this one to be more tame and natural than the way it was forced so heavily into “Shadow Puppets”. Maybe Graff’s one email towards the end of this novel got a bit sentimental about having vs not having kids, but it felt real to the character.
My only complaint is it felt almost like three different novels in that there was kind of three major conflicts that all had a full introduction, raising stakes, climax and resolution. But in the end, it was all held together by the common thread of telling the story of how Ender got from the end of EG to the place we find him in “Speaker for the Dead” (well, kinda, it’s ending at the start of the planet hopping journey he took but the years between the start and the end are described enough in Speaker).
The in red only short novella “Shadows in Flight” is next, and then only “The Last Shadow” to tie everything up in the main two series of the Enderverse.
I know the criticisms of this book for “rewriting” the final chapter of “Ender’s Game”, but I found it to be honestly the right move as the Ender universe has expanded so much in the many years since EG first came out. Also, some talk about the religious views of the author getting in the way, specifically about marriage and having babies, but I found this one to be more tame and natural than the way it was forced so heavily into “Shadow Puppets”. Maybe Graff’s one email towards the end of this novel got a bit sentimental about having vs not having kids, but it felt real to the character.
My only complaint is it felt almost like three different novels in that there was kind of three major conflicts that all had a full introduction, raising stakes, climax and resolution. But in the end, it was all held together by the common thread of telling the story of how Ender got from the end of EG to the place we find him in “Speaker for the Dead” (well, kinda, it’s ending at the start of the planet hopping journey he took but the years between the start and the end are described enough in Speaker).
The in red only short novella “Shadows in Flight” is next, and then only “The Last Shadow” to tie everything up in the main two series of the Enderverse.