Ender in Exile

Ender in Exile
by Orson Scott Card

Ender in Exile
List Price: $25.95
Our Price: $3.50
You Save: $22.45 (87%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.78 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Orson Scott Card
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-11-11
ISBN: 0765304961
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Tor Books

Book Reviews of Ender in Exile

Book Review: A fond farewell to Ender Wiggin
Summary: 5 Stars

(Spoilers abound: I feel that the only way to review this book--and indeed, this whole series--is to discuss its details, so be warned!)

For me, there has always been a large and conspicuous gap between Ender Wiggin of Ender's Game and Andrew Wiggin, Speaker of the Dead, in the following trilogy that starts with "Speaker for the Dead". By "gap", I don't mean the 3000 years that have passed between the end of the Formic War and events of the trilogy ... I mean the gap in the soul and personality of Ender and Andrew, ostensibly one and the same person. But Andrew is not the same Ender that the reader came to know and love in Ender's Game. And his quest is not the one he is left with in Ender's Game. Oh, yes, he still has the hive queen in tow and eventually finds a home for her. But Card's heart is clearly elsewhere, and he uses Ender and the increasingly hollow characters around him as his mouthpiece for his rather idiosyncratic worldview, which is an odd mash of views regarding religion, biology, culture, politics, and of course an incredible preoccupation with procreation. Ender is a rather uninteresting shell of his former self, and when he meets his bizarre end at the end of the trilogy, no one seems to notice. I would argue that Card uses Ender as brutally--but not as compassionately or effectively--as Graff does to accomplish his objectives!

Ender in Exile is in some ways a re-write of Chapter 15 in Ender's Game. But it's more than that. One reviewer states that it is more a sequel to the Shadow series than Ender's Game, but I'd disagree strongly. That might have been Card's intent originally ... but clearly the influence of Ender's Game is stronger than the loose ends tied up from the Shadow series, and they only come into play tangentially at the end of this book. No, instead, Ender in Exile is the maturation and self-awakening of the bent-and-almost-broken Ender we left at Battle School in Ender's Game. Ender faces a series of external challenges (ranging from scheming admirals, manipulative vixens, and an angry man-child) that seem trivial compared to both his previous trials and tribulations as well as the internal anguish and isolation he is suffering from. Along the way, he says goodbye to nearly everyone who knows and loves him. I found this maturation to be particularly engrossing and poignant, although the introspective nature of most of this book might turn off some.

I've always enjoyed Card's epilogues, because they affirm my sneaking suspicion that he doesn't always "get it" with regard to the Ender's Game series. He fancies himself a philosopher, and thus is eager to rush into the confused existential musings that eventually sank the Speaker of the Dead trilogy. Reading between the lines, I always get the feeling that he wonders why Ender's Game gets all the love and attention, even though it's "only" a precursor to the "deep" trilogy he considers his masterpiece. But what Card doesn't understand is that his strength isn't his heavy-handed *philosophy*, but rather it is the deep and nuanced *psychology* in his works that shines through. With the situations and the conversations in Ender's Game and Ender in Exile, Card allows the reader to think for him or herself about the many deeper philosophic currents that run through these works--on education, power, love, politics, humanity, etc. If Ender's Game was only about a bunch of boys playing war games, it would not be the beloved classic that it is. In Ender, he has created one of the most exceptional and yet universal characters in the history of the genre. By that, I mean we all have a little bit of Ender--and Valentine, and Peter, and yes ... even Achilles--in us. Ender is on his own level, and yet he's someone we all can sympathize and empathize with. Card loses sight of this in the Speaker for the Dead trilogy, as he attempts to pound the reader over the head with his own musings on existence instead of letting the story be the muse for the reader's own existential thoughts.

Thus it is with bittersweet emotions that I say farewell to Ender at the end of Ender in Exile. Card is probably not done with the Enderverse, but now that he has filled the gap between Ender the boy solider and Andrew speaker for the dead, he is running out of opportunities for dealing with Ender himself. Card still has some loose ends he could tie up ... but with regard to Ender himself, I believe the picture is largely complete. I know there are still some 3000 years between the end of Ender in Exile and the start of the Speaker for the Dead series, so there are infinite possibilities for more "midquels" ... but even for Card I'd like to think that it's about time to let Ender rest in peace. He feasibly could have Ender and Bean meet up again, but for what purpose? For me, this book did a perfect job in filling the gap between Ender's Game and the Speaker trilogy ... any more would seem to be overkill. Ender's said his goodbyes, time for us to as well.

For me, Ender's Game will always hold the highest position in my heart in this series. It is here that Ender becomes both the Savior of one race and the Xenocide of another, with all of the trials and tribulations that came both before and after that. Ender's Shadow will always be fond to me as well, for providing a photonegative to Ender's Game. But for me at least, Ender in Exile stands with these two works to complete my own personal "Ender trilogy" that I will always think back to when I think of this series. The pain and triumph of Ender--so strong and yet so fragile--will always remain in my mind and my bookshelf as examples of this genre at its best: stories that captured my heart, my mind, and my imagination. Ender is one of those tortured souls that you would never want to *be*, but you enjoy *being with*. I am just happy I could be Ender's companion on the journey, through thick and thin. I thank you, the fellow reader, for reading this long review, which I hope you will humor as my own fond, personal farewell to Ender Wiggin and his adventures.

Summary of Ender in Exile

After twenty-three years, Orson Scott Card returns to his acclaimed best-selling series with the first true, direct sequel to the classic Ender's Game.

In Ender?s Game, the world?s most gifted children were taken from their families and sent to an elite training school. At Battle School, they learned combat, strategy, and secret intelligence to fight a dangerous war on behalf of those left on Earth. But they also learned some important and less definable lessons about life.

After the life-changing events of those years, these children?now teenagers?must leave the school and readapt to life in the outside world.

Having not seen their families or interacted with other people for years?where do they go now? What can they do?

Ender fought for humanity, but he is now reviled as a ruthless assassin. No longer allowed to live on Earth, he enters into exile. With his sister Valentine, he chooses to leave the only home he?s ever known to begin a relativistic?and revelatory?journey beyond the stars. 

What happened during the years between Ender?s Game and Speaker for the Dead? What did Ender go through from the ages of 12 through 35? The story of those years has never been told. Taking place 3000 years before Ender finally receives his chance at redemption in Speaker for the Dead, this is the long-lost story of Ender.

For twenty-three years, millions of readers have wondered and now they will receive the answers. Ender in Exile is Orson Scott Card?s moving return to all the action and the adventure, the profound exploration of war and society, and the characters one never forgot.

On one of these ships, there is a baby that just may share the same special gifts as Ender?s old friend Bean?

Literature & Fiction Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Literature & Fiction Books
Little Women ImageLittle Women
by Louisa May Alcott
Scribner; Published: 1986-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops: $5.00
The Killing Ground ImageThe Killing Ground
by JACK HIGGINS
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD; Published: 2007; Hardcover; Book
Saving Fish from Drowning ImageSaving Fish from Drowning
by Amy Tan
4th Estate; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Life Expectancy ImageLife Expectancy
by Dean Koontz
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Constant Princess ImageConstant Princess
by Philippa Gregory
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005; Hardcover; Book
Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1) ImageWolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1)
by Conn Iggulden
Harper; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Sahara ImageSahara
by Clive Cussler
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2005-03-21; Paperback; Book
Perelandra (Cosmic Trilogy) ImagePerelandra (Cosmic Trilogy)
by C. S. Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.89
Price in other shops: $10.50
The Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towers ImageThe Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towers
by J. R. R. Tolkien
Harper Collins Publishers; Published: 2001; Paperback; Book
Red Mars ImageRed Mars
by Kim Stanley Robinson
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Similar Books and other products
A War of Gifts: An Ender Story (Ender Wiggin Saga) ImageA War of Gifts: An Ender Story (Ender Wiggin Saga)
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Science Fiction; Published: 2009-09-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.70
Price in other shops: $5.99
Children of the Mind (Ender, Book 4) ImageChildren of the Mind (Ender, Book 4)
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Science Fiction; Published: 1997-06-15; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.12
Price in other shops: $7.99
Shadow of the Hegemon (Ender, Book 6) ImageShadow of the Hegemon (Ender, Book 6)
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Books; Published: 2001-12-09; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.94
Price in other shops: $7.99
Shadow Puppets (Ender, Book 7) ImageShadow Puppets (Ender, Book 7)
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Science Fiction; Published: 2003-06; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.35
Price in other shops: $7.99
Shadow of the Giant (Ender, Book 8) (Ender's Shadow) ImageShadow of the Giant (Ender, Book 8) (Ender's Shadow)
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Science Fiction; Published: 2006-03-07; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.31
Price in other shops: $7.99
First Meetings in Ender's Universe ImageFirst Meetings in Ender's Universe
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Teen; Published: 2004-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.24
Price in other shops: $6.99
A War of Gifts: An Ender Story ImageA War of Gifts: An Ender Story
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Books; Published: 2007-10-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.41
Price in other shops: $12.95
The Ender's Shadow Series Box Set: Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant ImageThe Ender's Shadow Series Box Set: Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Science Fiction; Published: 2008-11-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.77
Price in other shops: $32.96
The Ender Quartet Box Set: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind ImageThe Ender Quartet Box Set: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Science Fiction; Published: 2008-11-04; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.75
Price in other shops: $30.96
Shadows in Flight (The Shadow Series) ImageShadows in Flight (The Shadow Series)
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Books; Published: 2012-01-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops: $21.99
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories