Philotic Web

Originally, I had read Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide, along with Ender's Shadow, all years ago. Of the four Speaker for the Dead was my favorite.

During my re-read of Ender's Game, I can remember why I didn't like it as much as Speaker. All of the abuse and torment that Ender goes through in the course of becoming the great military commander was very depressing. The influence gained by a pair of what would be considered today as online forum trolls was hard to swallow.

I remember thinking that once puberty hits these three kids, all of their lofty ambitions for world domination or saving the human race is going to evaporate.

Speaker was more my style, it was written with a mystery. Why had the Piggies reacted that way to Pipu? With Ender's Game, I really wasn't guessing at anything, except maybe wondering what the fantasy game was about. I knew that humans would triumph in the end, and I wasn't disappointed. Though I'm glad I got started on the series (and from what I hear of Children of the Mind, glad I stopped at Xenocide).

The influence gained by a pair of what would be considered today as online forum trolls was hard to swallow.

The comparison to bloggers is more often made, and some bloggers are quite influential -- though not "rule the world" influential. Valentine actually mentions that in EG when Peter is trying to convince her to help, saying something like "That's quite a jump. Such a big jump, in fact, that no one's ever made it before."

With Ender's Game, I really wasn't guessing at anything, except maybe wondering what the fantasy game was about. I knew that humans would triumph in the end, and I wasn't disappointed.

I was pretty surprised when I found that I hated how the humans won. I assumed I'd be cheering them along, like the crowd in the room after Ender takes off his headset. It may not have been written as a mystery, but didn't the ending still surprise you?

Though I'm glad I got started on the series (and from what I hear of Children of the Mind, glad I stopped at Xenocide).

Have you never read Children of the Mind? I don't know what you've heard but it is essential to read that book. It does leave a lot of loose ends but it also give answers and insight into everything that has been going on in the 3 previous books. Even if you are wary about reading it, I highly recommend that you do.

The comparison to bloggers is more often made, and some bloggers are quite influential -- though not "rule the world" influential. Valentine actually mentions that in EG when Peter is trying to convince her to help, saying something like "That's quite a jump. Such a big jump, in fact, that no one's ever made it before."

Not to mention that OSC wrote EG in 1985. The internet/blogging really took off mid 1990's. In a way, the accuracy of his predictions was pretty scary (in the case of how a network of computers might be structured).

There's also a XKCD comic on this idea, underlining how Peter's attempt at taking over the world might look today:

http://xkcd.com/635/

I don't much like xkcd's depiction of Locke's chances, either. Locke and Demosthenes establish credibility on existing blogsites first until they're asked to write columns for them. It's plausible that someone could do that, perhaps Demosthenes writing for Hot Air and Locke being asked to write a rebuttal for the Huffington Post. That's not so far out of reality, and those are two of the top three political blogs.

There was a political blogger in Singapore (Gayle Goh of i-speak) that made sufficiently insightful points to a sufficiently large audience that she was reportedly offered a job in the government at age 19 (2007). She turned down the offer to go to Cambridge University, and reportedly her twitter feed is being archived by the Library of Congress.

It's a stretch, sure. But it's not impossible for some Peter Wiggin figure to turn blogging into a political career sometime during the next hundred years or so (the approximate chronological beginning of the books).

I have just read Ender's Game for the first time. Being recently new to science fiction, I really enjoyed this book (more than some others I have read). I loved that it had a hint of mystery in it and that even though Ender destroyed the entire Bugger race, he was so kind hearted and really wanted to make a difference.

I agree with another blogger that not all great books need to be made into film. One of the most exciting things about reading a great book is the fact that you can make up all of your own visuals in your head and create it to somewhat how you want it to be.

Can anyone tell me any leading details about the other books in this series? Also, possibly which one was your favorite and how do they compare to Ender's Game?

Me neither. I'd like to think that given Peter's mastery at manipulation, he could easily succeed in this atmosphere, despite the fact that others discuss ideas similar in form.

And welcome to Pweb, Karii! Although I'm not usually the one to greet newcomers.

I think most would agree that the best book in the series that follows is Speaker for the Dead. (Some contend that it is even better than Ender's Game). However, other people have posted threads about how they would suggest newcomers to go through the EG universe. Here's one such example:

http://www.philoticweb.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1608

and also:

http://www.philoticweb.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1965