Reviews

Ender: L'exil by Orson Scott Card

khetti's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

protoman21's review against another edition

4.0

I, like many others, am a huge Ender fan and eat up any book that ties into his story. It's been a long time since I've read a full length Ender book so this was indeed a pleasure. One thing I love most about Card's Ender books is that every word of dialog matters. It's not just fluff where characters are talking just to establish a "connection." Each conversation has a purpose and usually has a winner and a loser. Card has said that relationships are very important in his novels and that he considers carefully each character and their relationship to every other character. I believe this is one reason why Card does such a fantastic job in a genre that isn't well known for being character driven.

Ender in Exile is another quality book in the Ender series. The book lacks a clear direction, so although I enjoyed reading each chapter, I didn't feel a drive to read on after each chapter was finished until Ender traveled to Ganges and faced a real physical threat. Having read the other Ender books that come after this chronologically and knowing several key plot points before they happened probably didn't help with the dramatic effect of some of the story, but it didn't hurt too much since there was a lot of new material and new characters who we didn't already know their fate.

brendalovesbooks's review against another edition

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.

eestellar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Parts of this book were interesting, I enjoyed the parts in the beginning and after they got to the colony, but not a lot of the middle. I also didn't like that this is advertised as part of Ender's Saga when it's a sequel for 2 separate series - I felt lost a lot of the time. I also think it should've gone in chronological order, it's been so long since I've read Enders game I was often confused 

alex_watkins's review against another edition

3.0

I'll be honest I expected this book to suck. I mean come on another ender book. There were even blurbs on the back of the book being like it's another ender book BUT it doesn't suck. But honestly that's usually all lies. But out of the need for completeness I checked it out and read it (misguided completeness because apparently there are a bunch of short stories). However it was actually good, like the other ender books you just want to read it and it goes by fast and good. Better that the shadow series mostly because it has ender in it, and the ender story line is much better with my favorite stuff like time dilation and aliens. It only gets slightly bogged down by the shadow series stuff and it has a kinda weird construction with more like 2 climaxes. This review has a few too many that's what she said worthy lines for my liking. Also it sucks that Orson Scott Card is a giant dick but at least you can't tell in his writing.

roseleaf24's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this return to Ender's Game! This book covers the beginning of the time between the end of the second to the last chapter of Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, rewriting and filling out the events of the last chapter and the beginning of Ender and Valentine's time traveling around the universe. It was also a return to the writing style of that original book, more YA appropriate and less philosophical that the rest of Ender's saga.

I want a huge fan of Ender and Valentine's relationship here. Card seems limited in his scope of womanhood.

awingard's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

2000rebecca2000's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

callmecat's review against another edition

3.0

It was so short! That was kind of a bummer. I waited a really long time to get to this part of the story! I had to read all those others to get to this part! Card has written so many, does he intend to write any more? I feel greedy asking for more but I hope for them because I still want to know what else Ender did, traveling with Valentine. But I don't care about that as much as I care about BEAN and his family. I HAVE to know what happened to them. So I really hope that gets covered in another book. I hope there are plans for that.

I expected the part with Bean's son to be really epic and scary because it was set up so well. If only Randy wasn't so crazy her hold on him might've been stronger. But wrapping it up quickly was alright too, I guess.

lizmart88's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Liked this book in the Ender series, but it's not my favorite. Since it was written after so many of the others and fills in a gap in Ender's life, I found it to lack dramatic tension. I already knew how everything was going to turn out, for the most part! While it was interesting, I felt a little disconnected overall.