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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.
kamkanga's review against another edition
3.0
If you're reading the series, read this one as well. It isn't the epitome of awesomeness or anything, but it does add to the story and to your understanding of Ender.
bjonassen10's review against another edition
3.5
Weird, slow pacing. Feel like it could’ve been 100-150 pages shorter and still could’ve been fine. Also wish he wouldn’t have turned valentine into someone who doesn’t understand ender at all when in the first book she was the only person who truly did. Otherwise it was a good in between sequel for stuff that was glazed over and from other series
blamy's review against another edition
3.0
[book: Ender in Exile] is a direct sequel to [book: Ender's Game], which begins, essentially at the end of Chapter 14 and incorporates the information laid out in Chapter 15 of [book: Ender's Game]. [book: Ender in Exile] doesn't run directly into [book: Speaker for the Dead] but it definitely lays the groundwork for it.
Initially, I was shitting all over this book like a newborn with diarrhea. I had major major MAJOR (clearly) issues with Ender's existential crisis at the beginning of the novel. Near the end of [book: Ender's Game], prior to Ender's beginning of training with Mazer, Ender discusses with Graff why humans went to war with the Buggers and it is revealed that it is, essentially, because we couldn't talk to one another, because the Buggers were a hive mind with the consciousness located inside the queen and the drone males were, for lack of a better description, merely her fingers and toes. While we sent messages to them, they tried to think at us, blah blah blah. I mention this because for a substantial part of the beginning of [book: Ender in Exile] Ender bemoans the fact that the Queens never tried to communicate, that the Buggers just sat there and waited for Ender to kill them. It bothered me that he didn't recall this information and process it. It would have made, in my oh-so-humble opinion, more sense to have had him bemoan the fact that we couldn't communicate, that our technology wasn't as advanced as theirs or that with all of the Bugger's brain power, couldn't create a piece of equipment capable of communicating with us. It was upsetting that OSC pushed aside what I thought to be a major point of the story - that diplomacy failed because of assumptions on both sides that everyone in the universe thinks and acts like we/the buggers do. That humans and buggers alike were defeated by our own hubris, only the Buggers suffered far more greatly.
Aside from Ender "forgetting" the communication talk this book was totally awesome. OSC tied up a bunch of "loose" ends and left me satisfied with Ender's in between years. I say "loose" ends because [book: Ender in Exile] didn't answer any questions I really had about the series (both the Ender and Bean series) but it fit in rather well with the overall narrative of the books and brought the parallel series back together with a moderately intertwined storyline (I won't go into too many details, but one of the kidnapped embryos shows up and Ender gets updates on what happens under Peter's Hegemony).
I give this book only 3 stars because of my initial frustration with the novel but if I could give it 3.5, I would. I just can't bring myself to give it 4 when OSC admitted to not having read any of the Ender/Bean books before sitting down to write this one.
Initially, I was shitting all over this book like a newborn with diarrhea. I had major major MAJOR (clearly) issues with Ender's existential crisis at the beginning of the novel. Near the end of [book: Ender's Game], prior to Ender's beginning of training with Mazer, Ender discusses with Graff why humans went to war with the Buggers and it is revealed that it is, essentially, because we couldn't talk to one another, because the Buggers were a hive mind with the consciousness located inside the queen and the drone males were, for lack of a better description, merely her fingers and toes. While we sent messages to them, they tried to think at us, blah blah blah. I mention this because for a substantial part of the beginning of [book: Ender in Exile] Ender bemoans the fact that the Queens never tried to communicate, that the Buggers just sat there and waited for Ender to kill them. It bothered me that he didn't recall this information and process it. It would have made, in my oh-so-humble opinion, more sense to have had him bemoan the fact that we couldn't communicate, that our technology wasn't as advanced as theirs or that with all of the Bugger's brain power, couldn't create a piece of equipment capable of communicating with us. It was upsetting that OSC pushed aside what I thought to be a major point of the story - that diplomacy failed because of assumptions on both sides that everyone in the universe thinks and acts like we/the buggers do. That humans and buggers alike were defeated by our own hubris, only the Buggers suffered far more greatly.
Aside from Ender "forgetting" the communication talk this book was totally awesome. OSC tied up a bunch of "loose" ends and left me satisfied with Ender's in between years. I say "loose" ends because [book: Ender in Exile] didn't answer any questions I really had about the series (both the Ender and Bean series) but it fit in rather well with the overall narrative of the books and brought the parallel series back together with a moderately intertwined storyline (I won't go into too many details, but one of the kidnapped embryos shows up and Ender gets updates on what happens under Peter's Hegemony).
I give this book only 3 stars because of my initial frustration with the novel but if I could give it 3.5, I would. I just can't bring myself to give it 4 when OSC admitted to not having read any of the Ender/Bean books before sitting down to write this one.
spikeanderson1's review against another edition
3.0
Really good, until Card gets to the final plot which frankly , the book did not need and it only took away from the overall.
sarahanne8382's review against another edition
4.0
Orson Scott Card is going to put Ender fanfic writers out of business. He's also never going to miss an opportunity to cash in on an Ender story. The events in Card's current midquel, take place primarily between chapters 14 and 15 of Ender's Game. Several of the events that take place were already covered in previous writings about Ender, and this book essentially serves as way to tie up all the practical loose ends between Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead as well as the entire Shadow series about Bean and Peter and the other Battle Schoool students, in one book.
So essentially, this is a non-essential book. I devoured it, because I'm a crazy addict like that, yet I'm sure anyone who's just not that into the whole series will find this book completely unneccesary. It's still Card writing what's in the mind of his infinitely interesting characters, yet there's not really a great novel length story to tell, just a lot of details of Ender's exile period that didn't necessarily need to be explained.
The only other major development that fans of the Ender series should know about is that while writing this book, Card realized that he needed to rewrite chapter 15 of Ender's Game, because he discovered that while the spirit of the chapter is right, a lot of the practical details just didn't make sense when he was writing Ender in Exile and started thinking in detail about how the founding of the colonies would play out. I can't blame him, but this also means that he will be producing a new edition of Ender's Game with his revised version of the final chapter. Oh wait, was that a cash register I heard ringing ...
So essentially, this is a non-essential book. I devoured it, because I'm a crazy addict like that, yet I'm sure anyone who's just not that into the whole series will find this book completely unneccesary. It's still Card writing what's in the mind of his infinitely interesting characters, yet there's not really a great novel length story to tell, just a lot of details of Ender's exile period that didn't necessarily need to be explained.
The only other major development that fans of the Ender series should know about is that while writing this book, Card realized that he needed to rewrite chapter 15 of Ender's Game, because he discovered that while the spirit of the chapter is right, a lot of the practical details just didn't make sense when he was writing Ender in Exile and started thinking in detail about how the founding of the colonies would play out. I can't blame him, but this also means that he will be producing a new edition of Ender's Game with his revised version of the final chapter. Oh wait, was that a cash register I heard ringing ...
majavink's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
slow-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
3.75
souponthebarby's review against another edition
3.0
This book is quite enjoyable, and actually a great direct sequel to Ender's Game. Does this mean it is as good as "Speaker for the Dead"? Absolutely not. I still hold the opinion that "Speaker" is Card's strongest book, and it hasn't changed after reading "Exile." Exile still earns the chance to be read and deserves to have a spot in the ever expanding Ender Universe. The middle of the book plays quite enjoyably, and actually had me excited. The beginning and the end I felt had pacing problems, which lead me to the three and not four star rating. There isn't enough of the secondary story mentioned to really make it a worthwhile ending. It could have ended without the last three chapters, which could have been an in universe short story on their own. This is still absolutely worth your time, just make sure you commit to it so you get past the opening part of the book.
gg1213's review against another edition
4.0
Watch my review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mfOY7R2CLQ
jake_powell's review against another edition
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.