#14 - Ender's Game Over

I think Mandi has the right idea.....

I loved Enders Game.

I didn't like Speaker For The Dead as much. It was a better story, but suffered from too much needless writing (although I've actually gone through it all in audiobook format!) I found I was switching off to it at work for upto 10 minutes at a time...and still not missing anything essential for the story to make sense.

I liked Xenocide even less. This one seemed to drag out even longer than Speaker. I actually switched off mentally for upto 20 minutes and missed nothing vital!

Today I finished Children Of The Mind. On the Xenocide audiobook, Orson talks at the end about how Xenocide and Children were going to be one story which just got too long. And was thus split into two seperate books. I contest that this is actually all one book that should have been edited down by a lot. Just too much unnecessary written word. I really struggled to keep my mind focused on the story...and found the end quite predictable.....well, predictable with still 3 hours of audiobook to go!


I now have the Shadow series to get through....but feel that I need to delve into something else first. Give my mind a rest from Mr Orson Scott Card!

The Shadow series (it's just two books, right?) is fun and light. Well, sort of. I liked it.

Shadow Series started....and I'm loving it. I think I'm happier back in the time of the war with the Buggers and all the Earth politics going on rather than the time period of Xenocide and Speaker Of The Dead.

Enders Shadow was a fantastic book and I loved Beans whole story and involvement. It was nice to revisit the Enders Game story, but to see it from the perspective of others...I am left wondering how much depth Orson Scott Card had gone into Beans character whilst writing Enders Game because it just seems to tie in so well with the original story

Shadow Of The Hegemon. Another one that I have really enjoyed. The side characters of the original Enders Game story seem to really appeal to me. The brilliance of all the children from battle school, not just Ender, makes for fantastic reading...especially when thier story is shaping the politics of Earth. Loved it!

I have also listened to a short story (About 45 minutes from beginning to end) called Cheater. This is set during the time of the search for the Battle School children and follows another brilliant child who, at aged 5, proves himself to be worthy. There is no great revelation with this, it is just an entertaining story that probably only appeals to people already familiar with the Enders universe.

I am currently listening to First Meetings which has skipped back to a generation before Ender. The book looks at Enders origins. Enders parents and background. How they meet and how Captain (he is not a Commander yet!) Mazer Rackham influences Enders parents and leads to the birth of Ender himself....very interesting!

First Meetings? Hadn't heard of that one. Jesus, that guy milks an idea. I wonder if he's related to Lucas or Rodenberry somewhere down the line.

I see what you mean. I had the same thought myself, but I'm quite enjoying the majority of what I'm listening to...but the only other stuff I've listened to lately is Star Wars EU novels....***shrugs*** I blame you anyways. I'd never heard of Orson Scott Card till this episode went out! Talk about clearing a Nerd Hurdle!

I have got all the HitchHikers to listen to. I've not heard all of them yet....

I've also got Robert J Sawyer's FlashForward novel downloading. I was getting impatient with the TV show. Thougfht you may be interested with Sawyer being a fellow Canadian.....or is it only Kennedy that has the Canadian pride?

Most things Canadian I have a Nerd Hurdle towards. I'm a self-loathing Canuck I guess.

Halfway through First Meetings and it has suddenly abandoned the parents of Ender and seems top be focusing on Ender and his sister. Looks like it is going to enter the story of Jane and Ender's introduction to each other. Quite interesting, but only as an accompaniment to the previous books. I don't think it would stand alone as a book.