Reviews

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card

jake_powell's review against another edition

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4.0

Was basically a more detailed retelling of the last chapter from “Ender’s Game”, but a needed retelling. The detail added a lot of clarity to the future books, and that portion of the story had previously felt pretty cramped. Was good to feel that progression given the time it needed.

professorfate's review against another edition

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3.0

This book continues the adventures of Ender Wiggin from the novel "Ender's Game." Ender has won the war (even though he didn't know he was actually fighting--he thought it was just a war game on a computer), and now the troops that he commanded are all headed home. However, his return is problematic. Some people want to see him tried as a war criminal, some argue that if he returns home to America that America would then become too powerful. So he decides to exile himself to one of the new colonies that are being established on the formic worlds (the worlds formerly occupied by the beings that Ender wiped out in the previous war).

This is the third novel of Card's that I've read, and I'm finding that, while his stories are interesting, there is something in his prose that makes the journey through the book like a ride in a car with a badly-knocking engine. Sometimes, it is that he just keeps hammering on a point long after this reader has gotten it. Sometimes, it seems as though he is moving along nicely and all of the sudden, the novel stalls out. This is how it feels to me, anyway.

jimmacsyr's review against another edition

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3.0

Enjoyed it. Read through books on tape. This was my second book in this series, so it seemed a natural progression

fbeemcee's review against another edition

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3.0

I give this a weak three stars. It was hard for me to push through because I just wasn't that interested in any of the events of the story. I absolutely loved Ender's Game, and this is just mediocre in comparison.

margyly's review against another edition

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3.0

Another Ender’s Game sequel. It feels as though Card is losing steam.

brendalovesbooks's review against another edition

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3.0

There were some good moments in this book, but I think the author that I loved who wrote Ender's Game doesn't exist anymore. It's almost like there's another author trying to fill in. Maybe it's time to put the Ender universe to rest, and I say this as a fan; Ender's Game is my very favorite book.

cinnamonwhirl's review against another edition

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3.0

I have mixed feelings towards this book. Not as good as Speaker which in turn was not as good as EG but certainly bridges the gap well between the two and shows us how Ender matured and became more the man we meet in Speaker.
Having only read EG and Speaker I do feel most of the second half of the book was lost on me and I regret not reading the rest of the books first. Now I shall have to find and read them all then re-read Exile over again (or at least the second half!).

To those who complain that Ender is too so-calledly perfect throughout these books it's worth remembering that was the whole point set out in EG. He was effectively bred that way and of course that makes him harder to relate to that's why as a character he is held apart from everyone be it self inflicted or no.

However what I did not enjoy was the removal at least at the beginning of any choice that female colonists should have had by right to abstain from being made into baby factories. certain aspects of the novel such as this coupled with characterisation of most female characters made what should be a forward thinking sci-fi futuristic novel into a kind of 1700s prairies-in-space kind of feel complete with ideology. also no thought seemed to have been given in the slightest that while the gender statistics were equal (which are scientifically never 50/50!) that not all of the population are heterosexual anyway? I understand that it's a work of fiction but for someone to make such oversights and assumptions in this day and age leaves me astounded and quite disappointed in an otherwise talented author. That said speaker was not much different on that front either.

mxmlln's review against another edition

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3.0

Looks like I accidentally read this after Shadows in Flight, though not too sure whether a made a distinct difference. Anyway, I generally enjoyed the book, but like Ender's Game the ending sucks outright.

perilous1's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5 Stars

Ender's Game is still, hands down, Card's best work. But this one came much closer in emotional impact and scope (short of Ender's Shadow) than most works in the Enderverse.

I read this one right after Shadow of the Giant, and I'm glad I did, given how much overlap there was--and how much this one tied up loose ends. (I enjoyed this one more, as it had a lot less global politics and maneuvering.) I'd read Speaker for the Dead years ago, but had always wondered what happened to Ender and his sister in their travel time in between. This book filled in a lot of gaps, and in largely satisfying and engaging ways.

Ender plays a much longer game as he and Valentine stay awake on the 2-year voyage to the former Formic world where a human colony has spent difficult decades already establishing itself. Ender has been offered Governorship of the colony, but knows it will be difficult for him to hold much sway given he will be seen as the 15-year-old he technically is. (Though he'll still be a known war hero, most of the military personnel he unwittingly commanded will be advanced in years. The colony-born humans will only have second-hand knowledge of him.) And then there's the fact that the ship's captain seems under the impression that he will be taking over leadership of the colony, leaving Ender as a puppet governor in name only. And thanks to time dilation, in the background he's processing the rapid aging of both his parents and brother Peter back on Earth--coming to terms with those relationships while running from his past.

The point where this book was bumped from a 4 to a 5-star for me came with the resolution of the main shipboard plot, and the dynamic between Ender's semi-forced love interest Alessandra and her mother came to a head. Here Card did an incredible job with character development, and displaying the complexities of an emotionally abusive parent regarding the child they are attempting to control.

The very last 10% of the book felt a little bit like a short story that had been tacked onto the end. Not that I'm complaining, as it brought us resolution for the missing child of Petra and Bean--who had been kidnapped as an embryo in Shadow of the Giant.

adamrshields's review against another edition

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4.0

Short Review: Set between the last two chapters of Ender's Game, Ender in Exile feels more like a collection of shorts stories than a coherent novel. But it is a good collection of stories. This is not an action oriented Ender story but an idea oriented Ender story. And it is very heavily oriented toward Card's obsession with having children and passing on genes and creating meaning in life through family. On the whole it is a good, but not great read.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/ender-in-exile/