What's your LEAST favorite Ender/Speaker Book?

Discuss all things pertaining to the EnderVerse milieu.

Least Favorite of the First Four

Ender's Game
1
1%
Speaker for the Dead
4
5%
Xenocide
17
23%
Children of the Mind
11
15%
Ender's Shadow
3
4%
Shadow of the Hegemon
12
16%
Shadow Puppets
21
28%
Shadow of the Giant
5
7%
 
Total votes: 74

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What's your LEAST favorite Ender/Speaker Book?

Postby starlooker » Thu Sep 28, 2006 11:19 pm

I know. You love them all. OSC is divinely inspired, every word of the sagas is a gem, etc. Fine. I understand. Moving on from there...

Which is the book that, if you had to read them all over again except for one, you'd skip (NOT because you have it practically memorized. If there's a particular book you love so much you'd skip it because you've read it so much, pretend you have amnesia)?

For me, it's Shadow Puppets. Actually, I could live without either SP or SotG. Of the first four, it would be CotM. That book feels for me like the point where the series took a turn for the... different. The writing style is different, the story less compelling.
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Postby anonshadow » Thu Sep 28, 2006 11:43 pm

I'd have to say Shadow of the Hegemon. I can't remember why--all I know is that when I go back through and read the Shadow books, that one always just gets brushed over...



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Postby neo-dragon » Thu Sep 28, 2006 11:50 pm

Why does it say "least favourite of the first 4" but it has all eight?

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Postby Hegemon » Thu Sep 28, 2006 11:56 pm

Shadow Puppets all the way

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Xenocide

Postby Bevis » Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:44 am

I don't have the attention span to read more than a few pages a sitting from Xenocide. I can see how thoroughness is necessary to believably turn philosiphy into science. But, and even OSC admits this, that is one talky freakin' book.

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Postby mr_thebrain » Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:05 am

definately shadow puppets. i don't really care for the shadow series to begin with, but that one stands out the most.

heh, it took me awhile to get through xenocide too. it really IS talky... but it's a damned good book anyway.
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Postby starlooker » Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:17 am

Because I was originally going to do first four and then figured I'd go ahead and do all eight and forgot to change the poll title.
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Postby Jebus » Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:10 am

heh, it took me awhile to get through xenocide too. it really IS talky... but it's a damned good book anyway.
A good book but with such a terrible ending I'm tempted to say it's my least favourite.

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Postby zeroguy » Fri Sep 29, 2006 1:31 pm

heh, it took me awhile to get through xenocide too. it really IS talky... but it's a damned good book anyway.
Am I the only one who thinks it is good because of the talking, not in spite of it?
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Postby canvasch » Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:16 pm

i didn't care for xenocide too much..... yawn......

and i loved shadow puppets :P

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Postby wizzard » Fri Sep 29, 2006 3:14 pm

It's really hard for me to choose just one. Mostly because the Shadow series just runs together in one big, disgusting blob in my mind.
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Postby Hegemon » Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:40 pm

heh, it took me awhile to get through xenocide too. it really IS talky... but it's a damned good book anyway.
Am I the only one who thinks it is good because of the talking, not in spite of it?
Yes... Us manly men like to settle our disputes by bashing each other with clubs. Talking is for sissies :stoned:

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Postby Peter Wiggin » Fri Sep 29, 2006 8:04 pm

The shadow series was still amazing, even though it doesn't come close to speaker. Peter+Bean = still awesome

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Postby LilBee91 » Fri Sep 29, 2006 8:16 pm

My favourites/least favourites change everytime a reread them, so my decision shall be postponed until after my next rereading before the end of the year.

And I know I'm the underdog, but I really liked Shadow Puppets. I suppose it is because I'm a hopeless romantic...or something.
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Postby Blitz » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:43 pm

I'm going to agree with some others and say that my least favorite is Xenocide. I like all the books (why else would I be here) but I read the others more than this one. I suppose it's because of the ideas; right now I haven't experienced enough of life to make them too interesting to me. Maybe in a decade or two I can relate to them more.
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Postby Bevis » Sat Sep 30, 2006 9:59 pm

heh, it took me awhile to get through xenocide too. it really IS talky... but it's a damned good book anyway.
Am I the only one who thinks it is good because of the talking, not in spite of it?

As I said, the lengthy conversations were necessary. I also tended to find the various conclusions satisfying. But it seemed like so many ideas were being put forth in several pages of continuous dialog that by the time I reached the end of one rap session I'd have forgotten where it started. I haven't read Xenocide since last summer so I can't recall specifics. I just remember warning a friend about this before they got into the Speaker books.

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Postby lyons24000 » Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:33 pm

I hated the Shadow series, too. Except since Peter is my favorite character then I like how he was a main character in them. Out of all four, I couldn't decide between SotH or SP. In the end, I chose SotH.
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Postby wigginboy » Sun Oct 01, 2006 2:05 pm

While I enjoyed the Speaker Series thoroughly, I have to say that Xenocide was way too my head could explode because the amount of information that was thrust at was overwealming. Not to say it wasn't a good book but I found somethings a bit much. Also I didn't like the character of Han Qing-Jao. She pissed me off. As well, the attitudes af Quara and Novinha pissed me off. Especially the attitude of Novinha during Ender's sickness and after his death in CotM. Its like she didn't even care. To be quite honest, I didn't like the way Plikt developed in the series etiehr. She went from being loyal disciple of Andrew Wiggin, to being vindictive bitch toward both Novinha, Andrew's wife, and Val, his sister. It just really bugged me.

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Postby KennEnder » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:10 pm

I know I'm going to receive flak for this, but it's been so long since I read either series (a couple years), that I can't remember where one book ends and the next begins... except for the two Battle School books, of course. So, using my "impulse response" I went with CotM...

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Postby zeroguy » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:28 pm

If this helps....

****SPOILERS****

Xenocide ends with that summary of what happens to Qing-jao for the rest of her life. (Basically, it ends with the whole thing regarding Path.) CotM starts with Wang-Mu and Peter in the ship that Jane moves around.
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Postby Qing_Jao » Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:24 pm

SP made me angry because of its ending, and it seemed like forever for the next book to come out. All the others I had read in a fairly short span of time, or they didn't have such heartwrenching endings for a mother. (that's all I'll say, just in case).

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Postby pooka » Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:29 pm

I still haven't voted. There isn't a one of these books that didn't change my life, except maybe SotG which I only read the one time at top speed.

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Postby Craig » Sun Oct 08, 2006 7:32 pm

Xenocide is difficult to get into, but I think it's very rewarding when you finish it. I loved it. Children of the Mind is different (much in the same vein as Xenocide though) but it concludes the Ender series (or at least it always will in my mind) and the ending is amazing. I loved it too, even more than Xenocide.

Shadow of the Hegemon got my vote. I really disliked it for being incredibly far fetched. For me the Shadow series delved too far into politics and less on characters. And the politics in Shadow of the Hegemon were just ridiculous.

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Postby ImperialSelf%HotSoup » Sun Oct 15, 2006 11:30 am

Shadow Puppets rocks because:

A.) Bean is such a badass in the showdown with Achilles.

B.) It was worth it just to see Achilles get shot through the eye(poetic justice!).
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Postby puppets » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:06 pm

least favorite, i voted children of the mind. i love children of the mind, but it is my leats favorite out of them all.

hands down though, xenocide is my second favorite, followed by enders shadow, i love the science of it all.

kinda reminds me how michael chricton, in his books, took facts and twisted them a little to make a genuine philosophical science out of everything.
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Postby Seiryu » Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:42 pm

Shadow of the Hegemon--It took me so long to get through that book because all of the politic talk was boring.
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Postby Bender22 » Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:36 pm

i loved xenocide because it had lots of talking, i dont have a least favorite their good books to me.
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Postby Tome » Fri Dec 08, 2006 7:56 pm

That's a toss up between Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets. I didn't really care for either.

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Postby Andorbal » Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:21 am

I was actually not looking forward to reading Xenocide because of all the negative reviews on Amazon and various other sites. After I finally did read it, however, I couldn't understand why it seems to be regarded as the worst in the series. But I guess each person has their own tastes.

I didn't pick a choice because, in fairness, I haven't finished all the books (I'm about 80 pages away from finishing SotG, so I'm close). Even though I'm not done, I don't know if I could pick a book as the worst because I liked them all so much.

I will say that I liked the Ender series much more than I'm liking the Shadow series. I'm really like the Shadow series, but the 3 Ender sequels were just beautiful. I've never had books bring me to tears as many times as they did.

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Postby Ender91 » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:18 pm

The shadow series entirely didn't really appeal to me, but its alright. Xenocide, which is one of the least popular, is one of my favourites. It's second to Speaker for the Dead.

Anyway, my least favourite is Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets. I like Ender's Shadow because it's like Ender's Game through another's eyes. Shadow of the Giant is just a cool ending, in that it leaves alot of imagination for the reader.

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Postby SuriyawongsARMY » Wed Feb 07, 2007 2:00 pm

I would have to say shadow of the hegemon. I still haven't reall all of the ender books but i have read all the bean books.
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Postby Primus Pilum » Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:01 am

intially I posted Xenocide. Not that it's not a good book but looking back it's the only one I ever asked myself how much more of this is there to read though now that I think about it some more I have to say what ever margin divides these books it changes on my mood and is so small its impossible for me to pick a favorite or least favorite.

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Postby Darth Petra » Sun Nov 18, 2007 1:10 pm

I'd have to say Xenocide...It was good, but a bit dry.
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Postby BonitoDeMadrid » Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:57 pm

For me, it's CoTM...I could barely get through the first chapter, not to mention reading the entire book. Drove me crazy.
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Postby PhanaticEnder.Reader » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:36 pm

I cant understand people who dont love the science and intricacies of Xenocide. Its probably my favourite out of them all (but i havnt read SotG yet, but i will soon). But my least favourite would have to be speaker for the dead. The way the reader was introduced to jane, i thought she was part of some comitee or something, and the whole book just seemed to take so long (longer than xenocide which is massive) to finish.


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