I think the moral issues in Speaker for the Dead are deeper and better written but it lacks the freshness of ideas of Ender. The combination of strategy, computer games and fantasy is bound to appeal to many of the folk here, isnt it?
Ender's Game?
- Thread starter Sultan Bhargash
- Start date
Yes its well worth reading - the novel expands on the short story considerably and adds a whole subplot with Locke and Demosthenes. It is one of the unusual cases where a short story has gained by being expanded.
Constantine
at least it isnt the sens
Ive read the first one: Enders Game, Enders Shadow. Shadow of the hegemon and im going to buy the newest one as soon as i get around to it , These were some of my favorite book.
anonymous4401
Prince
So, uh, are we discussing something or just lavishing praises on OSC?
anonymous4401
Prince
Just seems to be the latter.
onejayhawk
Afflicted with reason
Have you read the latest three about Bean? Watching Ender's brother take over the world is educational. Peter Wiggen is a much better drawn character than Andrew ever was. Ender is like a childs drawing of a really interesting scene, in this case the Battle School. Ender's Shadowetc is not as well set, but it is more adult in its approach.
The series I want to see more of is the Alvin Maker saga. There are a dozen side stories that would make great telling.
J
The series I want to see more of is the Alvin Maker saga. There are a dozen side stories that would make great telling.
J
Zamphyr
Master of the Pan Flute
Totally agree with whats been said. Read Ender's Game first as a short story, then went on to read all the novels. First one is still the best, by far.
AFAIK, OSC is in the process of writing the next one (The Crystal City, coming this November) but this little Ender's Game movie keeps getting in the way
http://www.hatrack.com/
AFAIK, OSC is in the process of writing the next one (The Crystal City, coming this November) but this little Ender's Game movie keeps getting in the way
http://www.hatrack.com/
Sultan Bhargash
Trickster Reincarnated
I made the mistake of buying the books in order before investigating the series, so I'm stuck reading Speaker and Xenocide before I get back to the much more interesting Earth based storyline.
I learned a lot from Card's writing style: like the first Star Trek show, which cleverly gave us a bunch of flashing lights in place of a more outmode-able technology, Card leaves a lot of the technological landscape vague or blank, meaning there are few irritating anachronisms. I'm curious as to whether "The Second Warsaw Pact" is a post-1990 revision of original wording after the Warsaw pact washed out- anyone with an old version of the story or novel want to fill me in?
I learned a lot from Card's writing style: like the first Star Trek show, which cleverly gave us a bunch of flashing lights in place of a more outmode-able technology, Card leaves a lot of the technological landscape vague or blank, meaning there are few irritating anachronisms. I'm curious as to whether "The Second Warsaw Pact" is a post-1990 revision of original wording after the Warsaw pact washed out- anyone with an old version of the story or novel want to fill me in?
Thadlerian
Dreamin' of a RED X-mas!
Are they goig to make a movie of this story? 
Somehow I can't really imagine it.
I think I remember reading Card's itroduction in Speaker, stating that Ender's Game was written as a prelude to Speaker. I might remember wrong, though.
Anyway, I find the Speaker branch far more interesting than Shadow. It's deeper, more about ethics, tolerance and philosophy, less direct violence. I find it hard to combine the war and violence theme of the Shadow branch to the fact that the characters are just kids.
Somehow I can't really imagine it.
I think I remember reading Card's itroduction in Speaker, stating that Ender's Game was written as a prelude to Speaker. I might remember wrong, though.
Anyway, I find the Speaker branch far more interesting than Shadow. It's deeper, more about ethics, tolerance and philosophy, less direct violence. I find it hard to combine the war and violence theme of the Shadow branch to the fact that the characters are just kids.
Sultan Bhargash
Trickster Reincarnated
That's what makes it so interesting. From chapter one of Ender's Game, when he must fight off the bully and decides to "overreact to protect himself", I was fascinated with the book. How much is Ender's reaction to that first bully, then Bonzo, then ultimately the Buggers, similar to, for example, the United States government's reaction to terrorism?
Combined with the moralism of the later books/added chapters, it is fascinating to muse - did anyone in Al Qaeda think later, like the Hive Queen, "The Humans have not forgiven us. We are doomed." And in these live and let die times, the more ways this theme is examined in popular vehicles like films, the healthier our own society has the opportunity to become.
Combined with the moralism of the later books/added chapters, it is fascinating to muse - did anyone in Al Qaeda think later, like the Hive Queen, "The Humans have not forgiven us. We are doomed." And in these live and let die times, the more ways this theme is examined in popular vehicles like films, the healthier our own society has the opportunity to become.
Most of Cards novels have a more complex than usual approach to right and wrong - reflecting his religious beliefs in many but by no means all cases. Ender's Game is about whether we are justified in wiping out an entire species that may threaten us, whether we are justified in using children as soldiers, whether we are justified in reacting to extreme violence with extreme violence? How is Ender (good) different from Peter (bad)?
All of these issues are of contemporary importance in the world we all live in. He wraps this within a science fiction framework with clever elements of technology but at its heart this is a novel about morality and can be read and enjoyed on many levels.
All of these issues are of contemporary importance in the world we all live in. He wraps this within a science fiction framework with clever elements of technology but at its heart this is a novel about morality and can be read and enjoyed on many levels.
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