What's your favourite Ender Saga book?

Discuss all things pertaining to the EnderVerse milieu.

Favourite?

Ender's Game
41
30%
Speaker for the Dead
36
26%
Xenocide
8
6%
Children of the Mind
16
12%
Ender's Shadow
16
12%
Shadow of the Hegemon
5
4%
Shadow Puppets
3
2%
Shadow of the Giant
11
8%
 
Total votes: 136

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Postby Black_Dahlia » Mon Dec 01, 2008 2:12 pm

What, no A War of Gifts?

Just kidding. However, my favorite book in the Ender's Saga series is not a book at all, but the original short story/novella version of Ender's Game.

While the novel is a better work of literature, I found the story of Ender's time in battle school much more compelling when it was presented without back story, padding, or epilogue (well, there was a tiny bit of epilogue.) Plus, the ending was all the more surprising not only because of Mazer Rackham's set up (~"one day you'll play me and you will lose"..."today's game is different because I will be your opponent") but because the book's jacket didn't nearly spoil the twist (~"This isn't just a game") nor did communications between Colonel Graff and Rackham hint at it.


In any case, here's how I rank all the Enderverse works I have read:

1 ) Ender's Game (short story as published in First Meetings in the Enderverse) (1)
2 ) Ender's Game (10)
3 ) Ender's Shadow (6)
4 ) Shadow of the Giant (9)
5 ) Children of the Mind (4)
6 ) Shadow of the Hegemon (7)
7 ) Shadow Puppets (8)
8 ) Speaker for the Dead (2)
9 ) Ender in Exile (11)
10 ) Xenocide (3)
11 ) A War of Gifts (5)
12 ) First Meetings in the Enderverse (the other three stories) (1)

The second number following the title is the order I read them in, which probably has some bearing on my ranking.

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Postby lyons24000 » Mon Dec 01, 2008 3:30 pm

SftD is eight while CotM is five? That seems utterly wrong to me.
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Postby Hector.Victorious » Mon Dec 01, 2008 4:52 pm

Ender's Game the Novella over Ender's Game the book?

What was wrong with the book? I thought it was better than the Novella because it went into more detail and developed the characters better.
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Postby neo-dragon » Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:45 pm

Yeah, the novella's a little flat in my opinion. At least compared to the novel.
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Postby Astrum » Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:15 pm

I thought that Speaker for the Dead was better than Ender's Game--but only slightly.
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Postby 3rd » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:44 am

Ender's Game is my number one, but Ender's Shadow is a close second.

(read them both at the same time, switching back and forth. its pretty interesting.)

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Postby VelvetElvis » Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:14 am

I've been wondering lately if my favorite would change if I reread them now.
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Postby Eddie Pinz » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:09 pm

I used to be one of those freaks that liked Xenocide the best. Now, I just don't know. The one thing I always thought was that CotM was firmly entrenched as my fourth favorite. Because I like it so much more that the shadow series and I can't put it ahead of EG and SftD, can I? But last time I reread the series, I noticed a lot of different things in all of the books. (which is pretty much the case every time I reread them). As far as emotional reactions go, this is how they ranked this time:
1)CotM
2)EG
3)SftD
4)Xenocide

Is CotM now my favorite? Did Xenocide go from 1 to 4? I'm not really sure. I always had SftD ranked higher than EG as well. I just reread them about a month ago too. I might have to reread them again before I can figure out what my favorite really is. I always thought that Xenocide could fall out of my top spot because that SftD and EG were always neck and neck. But I never really thought CotM would get out of the 4 spot. It is really a shame that the other forums crashed because I know I had a detailed post about my book rankings. I would love to be able to look at that now.

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Postby Quack » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:53 pm

Argh.. It's a toss up between Speaker and Xenocide, por moi. The enjoyment I got from Xenocide was fundamentally rooted in Speaker, and moreover Speaker can stand alone IMO. A monolith. Xenocide was a friggin' good time, tho. :D
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Favorie Enders Saga Book

Postby Jimi Storie » Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:42 am

I have to go with Speaker. As OSC said he had to write Enders Game as a front to Speaker for the Dead. I Think the EG is the best written of the books. But I like speaker for seeing Enders Strength and Humanity.
Enders Shadow comes in second for OSCs writing ability.
But after ES the rest of that saga is weak. Even when Bean kills AF their is little fan fair. This series could have been written so much better.
Xenocide would have been great if OSC had just left out the whole 'Path" thing.
I am reading OSC's "Empire" right now. Once again it is written very very poorly. The book has some great ideas, but there is now wit or adventure like in EG and ES.
Has anyone read "Ender in Exile" ???
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Postby ^Peter » Sun Apr 12, 2009 10:05 pm

You can't go wrong with Ender's Game. And then Ender's Shadow completes it. While I loved the character developement of Peter, Bean, Petra, and all, the Speaker quartet had stronger moral themes in it... The conclusions to both quartets were amazing, really climactic... And then First Meetings properly introduced characters... Really, how can you put one book on top of another? I'm rambling now...

I guess it really would have to be EG, for me.
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Postby Jeesh_girl15 » Sat May 09, 2009 9:05 pm

Well, when I first read EG, I was reading it in Ender's War, so SFtD was right after it. I tried reading it, but got bored with Pippo (there was no Ender for a chapter or two!) So I switched to ES, and finished the Speaker series. I liked them fine. Why do people always down on them?! After I finished the Shadow series, I toughed through the first chapter in SFtD (boring!) and got hooked again. The Ender Saga never ceases to amaze me over and over again.

I loved both series, but I think CotM was my favorite. (I liked the relationship between Peter and Wang mu. Always bickering with each other.) (I still love EG, but ES was second after CotM. Bean was my favorite character.)
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favorite?

Postby buckshot » Tue May 12, 2009 2:20 pm

My fav now is cotm,at least thats the part of saga i'm most interested in. 8)

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Postby Jeesh_girl15 » Tue May 12, 2009 3:10 pm

CotM is the book next to my bedside right now. I normally have a book that I just read over and over again til I get bored with it. CotM has probably been there the longest.
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Postby Crazy Tom: C Toon » Sat Jan 09, 2010 8:01 pm

*<cough>*ILikeEnder'sShadowMost*<cough>*

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Postby Jeesh_girl15 » Sun Jan 10, 2010 1:48 pm

I logged on, saw the multitude of posts you just posted, looked at a thread, then freaked out cause you have a scary clown as your avatar. In other words, welcome to PWeb.
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Postby perspicacious.emperor » Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:21 pm

ENDER'S SHADOW! BEEEAAAAN ;O;

CotM is the close second. I love Peter II... when he was that obnoxious arrogant bastard, but my loyalties belong to Bean.

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Postby megxers » Sun Jan 17, 2010 11:18 pm

Speaker, without a doubt. I used to prefer Ender's Game, but I read it twice this past summer (As my bff suggested when I was telling him I was bored and without reading material, "re-read your favorite book," and I was like, yeah, done that twice) and after finally re-reading Speaker for the Dead, I realized how much I now prefer it. When I first read Ender's Game, I hadn't read much sci-fi at all, but now most of the sci-fi that I like is more in the vein of Speaker.
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Postby Crazy Tom: C Toon » Sun Jan 17, 2010 11:30 pm

Ya, speaker is good. all the plot twists and such. 2nd place to Ender's Shadow just because I like parallel novels like that. It was cool learning more about what used to be a minor character in EG.
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Postby megxers » Mon Jan 18, 2010 1:10 pm

Hmm, I do like parallel novels enough, but something about the rest of the Shadow series fell flat to me. I never really learned to care for a lot of the characters that became mid-level main characters in ES series in EG, and I spent the entire series wanting to know how it re-connects to EG and the one time I've re-read the ES series, I have honestly skipped to the parts that include one of like 3 core characters.
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shadow series is better

Postby ptr.arkanian » Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:44 pm

[b]why do people favor the ender series over the shadow series? in my opinion, the ender series is very good and full of science fiction ideas that i honestly pray will come true. but if you look at the way the world is going right now, the shadow series is extremely accurate. plus the characters are more emotional, namely Petra, who is in my opinion the best character ever written into a book ever. she is a genius which is shown all throughout the shadow series but i believe Petra shows the most guts in Shadow of the Hegemon which is why, although i also love Shadow of the Giant, i chose this as my favorite book.[/b]
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Postby Rodaka » Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:57 pm

I favor Speaker for the Dead over all the others.

As it is, this series is the first to ever bring me to an emotional normality. Tears actually came to my eyes the first time I read Children of the Mind, and on my second read through, starting with Speaker for the Dead as I didn't really feel like reading Ender's Game through again(though, I should have), I even had tears in my eyes for several parts in Speaker for the Dead.

Ender's Game just didn't seem quite as .. real to me. I'm not sure why.

The entire Ender's Shadow series didn't really appeal to me. Ender's Shadow was an interesting book in of itself, but it just got to be too much of something. I can't quite explain what was too much, but whatever it was, it was the wrong flavor for my tongue.
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Postby dalekchris » Sun Jun 13, 2010 5:24 pm

Has to be SftD. Its got that mystery thing going on. Trying to work out the Piggies society was like Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes, but then it had everything great aobut Enders Game as well. Unbeatable.
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Postby spanish_rockette » Mon Aug 30, 2010 7:10 pm

[quote="neo-dragon"]You forgot Shadow of the Giant. Ah well, I'm voting for EG anyway.[/quote]

i was torn but EG waz better!
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Postby Kill Devil Hill » Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:11 pm

I know I keep being the only person replying to these threads in the past few hours, but I had to answer this one.

I voted Ender's Game without a shadow of a doubt. My order:

1. Ender's Game
2. Speaker for the Dead
3. Shadow of the Giant
4. Ender in Exile
5. Shadow of the Hegemon
6. Xenocide
7. Ender's Shadow
8. First Meetings
9. Shadow Puppets
10. A War of Gifts
11. Children of the Mind

The people that picked ES probably just love Bean more than Ender. I will say that I liked the first few chapters of ES more than the first few chapters of EG. I loved learning about life on the streets of Rotterdam with Bean barely staying alive.

For me, EG was head over shoulders better than ANY of the other books in the Enderverse. SftD was better than SotG by a hair. I loved both books and spent very little time progressing through them. SftD just had a slower beginning than the other two.

EG forced the reader to grow up with Ender. With the other books, Ender's reputation is placed before Ender himself (like The Great Gatsby, but not executed as well), but in EG, we learn about the man behind these incredible actions. And this "man" is a lovable young boy with his innocence thrust out from under him. His empathetic point of view is easily relatable, as is his personality. I feel like everybody has a bit of Ender in him/her, but Ender's qualities are simply stronger. Ender himself makes EG the best. On the other hand, I would say the whole storyline and the manner in which it is told has a beauty about it. Every word evokes an emotion out of the reader. When I think back to EG, there's an air of divination about it. Its one flaw is the rushed ending, but once you get through the entire Enderverse, the ending isn't so bad (as all of our questions are answered and little details are elaborated upon).

SftD has a far better ending than EG, and the whole book has a beauty in it as well (albeit a duller beauty). The reader is able to make a connection with each character. But there were more flaws in this book than in EG. Ender's character was not as prominent as in EG. And I hated that Ender turned off Jane and never really got her back. On the other hand, the storyline was more intricate, the dilemmas more sincere, the problems more resolved. One of the greatest moments in the Enderverse is that whole treaty scene. Just thinking about it makes me want to read it again! SftD was great, but it's simply missing that air of divination that EG has. I think EG was just better written, or I preferred Ender as a person from when he was young.

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Postby waffleman » Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:20 pm

You forgot Shadow of the Giant.
I wouldn't be surprised if that were intentional. Stupid Shadow series...
:O

I understand that the new amazing Bean destroyed Ender for some. But to me Bean was an amazing character. Ender's Shadow was the most exciting and interesting. Simply because after reading EG and finding out all about the training center we would not want to get re-introduced from Bean's view. Bean's view does not introduce us as much as brings a whole new angle to the story of Ender and his biggest moment in life.
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Postby Gravity Defier » Sat Feb 19, 2011 6:24 pm

Bean's view does not introduce us as much as brings a whole new angle to the story of Ender and his biggest moment in life.
No. It completely retcons the entire character of Ender, making him into some helpless idiot who gets by on Bean's behind the scenes intelligence. More or less.
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Postby Kill Devil Hill » Sat Feb 19, 2011 6:29 pm

Bean's view does not introduce us as much as brings a whole new angle to the story of Ender and his biggest moment in life.
No. It completely retcons the entire character of Ender, making him into some helpless idiot who gets by on Bean's behind the scenes intelligence. More or less.
Which is partly the reason I rank ES so low in my standings. Most of Ender's huge accomplishments were, apparently, only because of some action Bean takes.

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Postby Toon E » Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:49 pm

I chose Ender's Shadow because it was the book that introduced me to the sequels.
Until I found Ender's Shadow in my schools library, I had only known about Ender's game(which I had already read at least 5 times).

Would have liked to have seen Ender in Exile on the list though.
Might have voted for it instead.

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Postby Kill Devil Hill » Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:59 pm

Would have liked to have seen Ender in Exile on the list though.
Might have voted for it instead.
I thought I was in the minority in terms of loving that book. The gold bugs were quite riveting, and the seemingly boring storyline of Ender's stay on the colony ship was peppered with great moments that prevented it from dragging on. Not to mention Ender's interaction with Abra.
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Postby waffleman » Sun Feb 20, 2011 10:39 am

Ive never quite thought of Ender as a genius. Just a leader. Bean would never be able to lead with ought some tricky plan to do so. Ender would come out as a leader anywhere.

In all Bean's genius I feel like he cant understand a certain concept. I don't know what it is but something seems like it is missing.
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Postby Jebus » Tue Feb 22, 2011 7:11 pm

Bean's view does not introduce us as much as brings a whole new angle to the story of Ender and his biggest moment in life.
No. It completely retcons the entire character of Ender, making him into some helpless idiot who gets by on Bean's behind the scenes intelligence. More or less.
Which is partly the reason I rank ES so low in my standings. Most of Ender's huge accomplishments were, apparently, only because of some action Bean takes.
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Postby Kill Devil Hill » Tue Feb 22, 2011 7:25 pm

Bean's view does not introduce us as much as brings a whole new angle to the story of Ender and his biggest moment in life.
No. It completely retcons the entire character of Ender, making him into some helpless idiot who gets by on Bean's behind the scenes intelligence. More or less.
Which is partly the reason I rank ES so low in my standings. Most of Ender's huge accomplishments were, apparently, only because of some action Bean takes.
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Postby waffleman » Tue Feb 22, 2011 8:01 pm

Guess i wont. :) I respect bean. But my favourite book is speaker for the dead.
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Re: shadow series is better

Postby Deep_Thought42 » Thu Apr 14, 2011 4:28 pm

why do people favor the ender series over the shadow series? in my opinion, the ender series is very good and full of science fiction ideas that i honestly pray will come true. but if you look at the way the world is going right now, the shadow series is extremely accurate. plus the characters are more emotional, namely Petra, who is in my opinion the best character ever written into a book ever. she is a genius which is shown all throughout the shadow series but i believe Petra shows the most guts in Shadow of the Hegemon which is why, although i also love Shadow of the Giant, i chose this as my favorite book.
See, for me, it's the Ender Saga hands down for the sole reason that is so science-fictiony. The Shadow Saga reads like a war novel, and, though I enjoy learning more about the characters in Ender's game, it's just not my cup of tea. Plus, when I read a book, I want to be taken away from my world, not just transported to the world in the future.


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