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The Ender Quintet: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, and Ender in Exile
This set contains Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, and Ender in Exile.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
2012 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 17, 2013
758 people are currently reading
858 people want to read
About the author
Orson Scott Card
891 books20.7k followersOrson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
March 21, 2014
Very interesting book, kind of slow though. I don't want to give to much away in this review, but I think the fact that I have kids that are around the age of Ender through the majority of the book made it seem hard to believe how Ender acted in certain parts. But it's Scifi so I let it slide ;-).
I think my favorite part of this book is how alien the aliens thought and acted. You don't see that very much in scifi books, usually aliens act like humans only slightly different.
I would certainly recommend this book!
I think my favorite part of this book is how alien the aliens thought and acted. You don't see that very much in scifi books, usually aliens act like humans only slightly different.
I would certainly recommend this book!
February 11, 2020
Ender Quintet Review
Ender’s Game is the first book in the Ender Quintet (Ender’s Game, Ender in Exile, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind), also the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award and the 1986 Hugo award, its sequel, Speaker for the Dead, also won the 1986 Nebula Award and the 1987 Hugo Award. By doing so, Orson Scott Card became the first person to win the two awards two years in a row.
But while Speaker for the Dead focuses more on psychology and philosophy, human’s altitude toward other sentient species and the way Ender united the three species (piggies, buggers, and humans). Ender’s Game is more scientific, although there are some opinions about space war and communication between species expressed by Ender and the other characters. Card showed astonishing imagination and scientific knowledge through his descriptions of space shuttles, for instance, Philotic Parallax Instantaneous Communicator, interstellar travel, the words xenobiology, and space schools. He also displayed an impressive understanding of the minds of children (although I think Ender was a bit too mature). Ender’s Game is the unmistakably the most popular book in the Ender Quintet, but I prefer Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide because of the philosophical reasoning they contained, and their revelation of the human mind.
Part One-Ender’s Game
I’m not going to talk about the plot, because I think most people have already read the book or watched the movie. In this review, I am going to talk about my opinions on some of the characters and some sentences that remind me of other books. My favorite character is Peter Wiggin, Ender’s elder brother. Some people may argue that he hurt Ender and that he is ruthless, but I think Peter isn’t as bad as most people imagined. He is entirely capable of love and understanding. He truly loved Ender, we can see that from the last paragraphs of Chapter two. He may be ambitious, but people are not evil just because they are ambitious, and later in the series, Peter’s revealed to be kind to Wangmu, a Chinese girl from the planet Path. Peter was jealous of Ender for being more compassionate than him, for being considered of greater importance than him. But he was wrong, Ender was the genius commander, Peter was the natural hegemon.
In Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card focused on describing Ender’s feelings, not the battles, which is one of the reasons that some people don't like the movie. The movie can not express the children’s feelings, instead, they focused on the battle scenes.
Part two-Ender’s Promise
After Ender found out the truth about his victory, that he completely destroyed the buggers, he started a mission to restore the buggers. During his three months on Earth, Ender realized that when he truly understands his enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment he also love him. To make up for his mistake, he became the Speaker for the Dead, he wrote The Hive Queen and the Hegemon (which proves Ender forgave Peter), he went on a quest to revive the Hive Queen. And he did, he united the piggies, the buggers, and humans. In the end, he ‘s the only one who understands the piggies and the buggers. The buggers had been trying to communicate with Ender since he was in battle school, they reached him through the mind game.
Part Three-Starways Congress
The last two books in the Quintet focused on the planet Lusitania's struggles with the Starways Congress. In Xenocide, Orson Scott Card introduced a new planet named path. A Chinese colony that was famous for its ’God spoken’ geniuses. Later, it turns out that the God-Spoken are just people with OCD, geniuses that are controlled by the Starways Congress through their minds. They hear the voice of God and obey the government because they have the Mandate of Heaven. In the end, nearly all the God-Spoken renounced the Starways Congress and are healed. But the main character, Han Qingzhao, still believed the voice of God and became obsessed. She died at the end of the book. Orson Scott Card said in the appendix that he wrote too much, and decided to split it in two, Xenocide and Children of the Mind, ending Xenocide with the death of Qingzhao, meaning gloriously bright, and starting the story of Peter and Wangmu. I think Xenocide is part sci-fi, part dystopian novel because it revealed the things Starways Congress did to the people of Path.
Ender’s Game is the first book in the Ender Quintet (Ender’s Game, Ender in Exile, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind), also the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award and the 1986 Hugo award, its sequel, Speaker for the Dead, also won the 1986 Nebula Award and the 1987 Hugo Award. By doing so, Orson Scott Card became the first person to win the two awards two years in a row.
But while Speaker for the Dead focuses more on psychology and philosophy, human’s altitude toward other sentient species and the way Ender united the three species (piggies, buggers, and humans). Ender’s Game is more scientific, although there are some opinions about space war and communication between species expressed by Ender and the other characters. Card showed astonishing imagination and scientific knowledge through his descriptions of space shuttles, for instance, Philotic Parallax Instantaneous Communicator, interstellar travel, the words xenobiology, and space schools. He also displayed an impressive understanding of the minds of children (although I think Ender was a bit too mature). Ender’s Game is the unmistakably the most popular book in the Ender Quintet, but I prefer Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide because of the philosophical reasoning they contained, and their revelation of the human mind.
Part One-Ender’s Game
I’m not going to talk about the plot, because I think most people have already read the book or watched the movie. In this review, I am going to talk about my opinions on some of the characters and some sentences that remind me of other books. My favorite character is Peter Wiggin, Ender’s elder brother. Some people may argue that he hurt Ender and that he is ruthless, but I think Peter isn’t as bad as most people imagined. He is entirely capable of love and understanding. He truly loved Ender, we can see that from the last paragraphs of Chapter two. He may be ambitious, but people are not evil just because they are ambitious, and later in the series, Peter’s revealed to be kind to Wangmu, a Chinese girl from the planet Path. Peter was jealous of Ender for being more compassionate than him, for being considered of greater importance than him. But he was wrong, Ender was the genius commander, Peter was the natural hegemon.
In Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card focused on describing Ender’s feelings, not the battles, which is one of the reasons that some people don't like the movie. The movie can not express the children’s feelings, instead, they focused on the battle scenes.
Part two-Ender’s Promise
After Ender found out the truth about his victory, that he completely destroyed the buggers, he started a mission to restore the buggers. During his three months on Earth, Ender realized that when he truly understands his enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment he also love him. To make up for his mistake, he became the Speaker for the Dead, he wrote The Hive Queen and the Hegemon (which proves Ender forgave Peter), he went on a quest to revive the Hive Queen. And he did, he united the piggies, the buggers, and humans. In the end, he ‘s the only one who understands the piggies and the buggers. The buggers had been trying to communicate with Ender since he was in battle school, they reached him through the mind game.
Part Three-Starways Congress
The last two books in the Quintet focused on the planet Lusitania's struggles with the Starways Congress. In Xenocide, Orson Scott Card introduced a new planet named path. A Chinese colony that was famous for its ’God spoken’ geniuses. Later, it turns out that the God-Spoken are just people with OCD, geniuses that are controlled by the Starways Congress through their minds. They hear the voice of God and obey the government because they have the Mandate of Heaven. In the end, nearly all the God-Spoken renounced the Starways Congress and are healed. But the main character, Han Qingzhao, still believed the voice of God and became obsessed. She died at the end of the book. Orson Scott Card said in the appendix that he wrote too much, and decided to split it in two, Xenocide and Children of the Mind, ending Xenocide with the death of Qingzhao, meaning gloriously bright, and starting the story of Peter and Wangmu. I think Xenocide is part sci-fi, part dystopian novel because it revealed the things Starways Congress did to the people of Path.
December 5, 2019
I wanted to read Ender's Game for a long time, but although it is one of the SF classics I avoided it because of the fact that the main characters are kids (I know... it's a really stupid reason, but some of the recent movies/series killed the theme for me).
But I was wrong. Terribly wrong. Ender's game is a wonderful book, one of those rare ones that make you read while walking or keep you awake at night to find out what happens next. It tells the story of Ender, whose tormented childhood ends the day when he becomes the last hope of humanity in the battle with an alien race.
The book does a brilliant job of keeping just the right pace while exploring varied themes like morality, friendship or space combat tactics. It paints a believable world without going into too much details that would otherwise distract the reader from the main story of Ender. And to the author's credit Ender is not a kid with an adult mind, just a kid who finds himself in an adult role, tasked to save the world.
Overall Ender's Game has all the right incredients and is a must-read for any SF lover.
But I was wrong. Terribly wrong. Ender's game is a wonderful book, one of those rare ones that make you read while walking or keep you awake at night to find out what happens next. It tells the story of Ender, whose tormented childhood ends the day when he becomes the last hope of humanity in the battle with an alien race.
The book does a brilliant job of keeping just the right pace while exploring varied themes like morality, friendship or space combat tactics. It paints a believable world without going into too much details that would otherwise distract the reader from the main story of Ender. And to the author's credit Ender is not a kid with an adult mind, just a kid who finds himself in an adult role, tasked to save the world.
Overall Ender's Game has all the right incredients and is a must-read for any SF lover.
April 12, 2021
I cannot find the exact edition I read, probably because its out of print. But it was a managable, single edition of the complete story. Suffice it to say the story I read was compelling and made me wonder many times if J.K. Rowling read it and just changed "battle school" to "magic school." Ender is special, saving the universe special. Also, Ender grows to tire of his identification with saving everything. He's a small boy with a big weight on his shoulders, being pushed around by "teachers" who supposedly know what it takes to get what they need from him. The usual hardships are presented in the path of Ender and the rest of his family is talented too, but in intellectual and political arenas. This improbable, smart, sensible boy is literally sent to save the world and winds up saving two worlds. I found the story to be immersive and complete and am genuinely disturbed to find its been split into FOUR VOLUMES when it made one nice read. So I cannot speak for the edition.
August 11, 2017
Great books, and this was a great value when I bought it. There is a pervasive amount of boilerplate copy included where we are repeatedly told what we have been told before, but it is doesn't feel like filler the way Robert Jourdan's wheel of time used it. More like a distracted speaker who forgets what he has already said. My biggest reservation to giving higher marks or praise is the price points for continued reading, in deed had I been required to pay the current list price, for the "Ender Quintet" this would still be on my want to read list. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these stories, and were I less price conscious, would read more from this author.
March 7, 2019
My thoughts about this amazing book was that the book "The Ender Quintet" quite jumbled up that at sometimes i couldn't exactly understand what was happening but it was pretty surprising that a Six year old Andrew was playing a really intense game that he thought was just a regular computer game but in fact this can lead to the end of the human existence. This story can connect to the real world actually considering you have to watch what your doing out there because one little click of the button and you can ruin no only your future but many others as well. I recommend this book to all readers who not only adore Scifi books but who like solving there way through books as well.
August 18, 2023
I liked the first three books. Interesting story arc, nice developments. Then book four, I skipped lots of pages due to some middle school philosophic discussions and musings which did not add much to the storyline and were not interesting or profound either.
Then book five started at Ender’s childhood and I gave up.
Then book five started at Ender’s childhood and I gave up.
February 1, 2024
I was expecting that other books will follow the quality of Ender's Game, but Speaker for the dead, Xenocide and Children of the Mind are quite far from Ender Game. Here are ratings book by book:
Ender's Game 4.2
Speaker for the dead 2.8
Xenocide 2.8
Children of the mind 3.2
Ender in Exile, 3.4
Ender's Game 4.2
Speaker for the dead 2.8
Xenocide 2.8
Children of the mind 3.2
Ender in Exile, 3.4
April 20, 2023
Cinque stelle solo per il primo libro che è bellissimo, il secondo è comunque bello, ma gli altri tre sono pieni di gente super intelligente che fa cose straordinarie e risolve tutto con la loro super intelligenza. Abbastanza noiosi.
April 6, 2025
When I read the first book in this series, I had no idea that Orson Scott Card was one of the premier science fiction writers. The plots are always interesting, and there's plenty of suspense. Orson Scott Card really got me interested in reading science fiction novels.
April 23, 2019
excellent series and i cant wait to read the other books in the enderverse series
September 23, 2021
Fun science fiction - along the same lines as some of my other favorites - Hunger Games, Divergent Series.
June 6, 2022
Reread after 30 years.
It was much better this time, because I read more carefully. It is still a great collection of novels. Now I want to read all the Bean stories again.
It was much better this time, because I read more carefully. It is still a great collection of novels. Now I want to read all the Bean stories again.
July 31, 2022
The best sci fi storie of all time
July 11, 2023
I love these books! I've read them many times and just listened to them all on audio book.
July 13, 2024
I'd give it a 5- star review if not for the disappointing conclusion from #5.
March 13, 2025
overall solid sci fi series
December 17, 2025
Terrific collection
June 11, 2015
Finally, it's done, all five books read. It's taken me almost nine months, broken by reading other stories in between these volumes. I'd always wanted to read Ender's Game and then they made it into a movie so after watching that, it moved the reading up the agenda and I dived in with this, five-volume monster.
Ender's Game the book transferred to film very well although they filtered out a lot of the stuff involving his siblings, which did make the book a bit more of a stodgy read but it was good nevertheless.
Anyway, to the story - Earth is under attack by an alien species and we're losing. Andrew Wiggin, called Ender, is a "third", an extra child born under special license beyond the normal two-child limit as his parents and siblings were deemed to be extremely intelligent and necessary to the war effort. Ender and other young hopefuls are sent to Battle School to train for war against the aliens where they hope their great intellects will help develop winning strategies in the fight. There are a few twists and turns in the tale which comes to a suitably cataclysmic conclusion.
In Speaker For The Dead, the war is long over and Ender Wiggin is almost forgotten but his deeds live on as Ender the Xenocide. Now called Speaker for the Dead, he was sent for to read the death of a man on the planet Lusitania, a world with the only other known alien species so far discovered, the Pequeninos or "piggies". When they're seen as responsible for more human deaths, only Andrew can get to the root of the mystery.
In Xenocide, we're still on Lusitania, where resides an almost indestructible and always fatal virus called the Descolada. When a faction of the aliens decides it wants to leave Lusitania and spread out, Starways Congress so fears the virus escaping with them that they've ordered the destruction of the planet. The Fleet is on its way and a second xenocide seems inevitable. Unless of course Ender, the Lusianians, the aliens and Hive Queen can find a solution before they get there.
In Children of the Mind, the 3000-year long tale of Ender Wiggin comes to a conclusion as Lusitania is threatened by the same planet-destroying weapon that he himself used so many years before on the Bugger home world. Only with the aid of the computer intelligence Jane and a world called Path can they save the three sentient races of Lusitania.
Ender in Exile takes place after Ender's Game and attempts to fill in some of the detail of Ender and Valentine's travels and the rise of his brother Peter to Hegemon. It sees him write the Hive Queen and The Hegemon and embark on his calling as Speaker for the Dead.
Okay, that's the summary but as for the stories I found Ender's Game a great read. Speaker for the Dead was completely different and took me much longer to get into but once there, it was also very enjoyable. Xenocide followed on from the second book and was also a good read. Children of the Mind was excellent. Ender in Exile seemed a bit of a filler in to help explain some of the previous events after the Formic war but again, I enjoyed it. It's been a long ride but worth staying the course. There are other tales in this milieu from Mr. Card so I'll probably hunt them down and add them to the reading list.
Ender's Game the book transferred to film very well although they filtered out a lot of the stuff involving his siblings, which did make the book a bit more of a stodgy read but it was good nevertheless.
Anyway, to the story - Earth is under attack by an alien species and we're losing. Andrew Wiggin, called Ender, is a "third", an extra child born under special license beyond the normal two-child limit as his parents and siblings were deemed to be extremely intelligent and necessary to the war effort. Ender and other young hopefuls are sent to Battle School to train for war against the aliens where they hope their great intellects will help develop winning strategies in the fight. There are a few twists and turns in the tale which comes to a suitably cataclysmic conclusion.
In Speaker For The Dead, the war is long over and Ender Wiggin is almost forgotten but his deeds live on as Ender the Xenocide. Now called Speaker for the Dead, he was sent for to read the death of a man on the planet Lusitania, a world with the only other known alien species so far discovered, the Pequeninos or "piggies". When they're seen as responsible for more human deaths, only Andrew can get to the root of the mystery.
In Xenocide, we're still on Lusitania, where resides an almost indestructible and always fatal virus called the Descolada. When a faction of the aliens decides it wants to leave Lusitania and spread out, Starways Congress so fears the virus escaping with them that they've ordered the destruction of the planet. The Fleet is on its way and a second xenocide seems inevitable. Unless of course Ender, the Lusianians, the aliens and Hive Queen can find a solution before they get there.
In Children of the Mind, the 3000-year long tale of Ender Wiggin comes to a conclusion as Lusitania is threatened by the same planet-destroying weapon that he himself used so many years before on the Bugger home world. Only with the aid of the computer intelligence Jane and a world called Path can they save the three sentient races of Lusitania.
Ender in Exile takes place after Ender's Game and attempts to fill in some of the detail of Ender and Valentine's travels and the rise of his brother Peter to Hegemon. It sees him write the Hive Queen and The Hegemon and embark on his calling as Speaker for the Dead.
Okay, that's the summary but as for the stories I found Ender's Game a great read. Speaker for the Dead was completely different and took me much longer to get into but once there, it was also very enjoyable. Xenocide followed on from the second book and was also a good read. Children of the Mind was excellent. Ender in Exile seemed a bit of a filler in to help explain some of the previous events after the Formic war but again, I enjoyed it. It's been a long ride but worth staying the course. There are other tales in this milieu from Mr. Card so I'll probably hunt them down and add them to the reading list.
February 18, 2015
I finished Ender's Game and for the most part, I liked it. I did not like the subplot involving Valentine and Peter-- I didn't see the sense in it, but I enjoyed the storyline about Ender. An interesting take on a military so intent on winning that it loses all sense of boundaries and what is and isn't appropriate. In some ways it reminded me of Starship Troopers.
I'm about halfway through Speaker for the Dead and am not enjoying it as much. It's slower than Ender's Game. I'll be interested to see how he wraps it up.
I finished reading Speaker for the Dead and ended up really enjoying the last half. I still think the beginning was too slow, but I guess it had to be as the story is complex. It just doesn't seem to fit with Ender's Game.
Finished! There were times when I was reading this, particularly during Children of the Mind, when I was in awe at the writing, when I stopped and pumped my fist in the air and said, "Yes! This is what turns science fiction into great literature! In Children of the Mind, I finally saw true emotion that had been missing before. Ender worked so hard to keep his feelings hidden that it wasn't until he split into the Val and Peter personalities that I had a real sense of the emotion behind the character.
I didn't really care for Ender in Exile. It was the book I thought Speaker for the Dead was going to be, and I probably would have liked it more if I had read it directly after Ender's Game.
Some things I particularly liked about the Quintet:
I liked the concept of a Speaker for the Dead. Wouldn't we all like to have someone explain the truth about our lives, about our motivations, disappointments and joys?
I loved the alien life form of the piggies. Their life cycle is one of the few unique life cycles Ive seen in science fiction.
I loved the Ender character, his external calm hiding his internal turmoil.
Jane as a sentient being.
Some things I didn't really like:
The Hive Queen concept. Why are insectoid aliens so often depicted as gestalt beings in science fiction?
The concept of souls fluttering around in mindspace waiting for a body.
The instantaneous transfer via Jane's mind. It smacked too much of deux ex machina.
The Demosthenes and Locke storyline. I didn't see that it added anything.
I would recommend this quintet for anybody who enjoys good science fiction. I would even say that it is a must read for any science fiction fan. I'm surprised that I have not read it before; a happenstance I attribute to the fact that I did not like Card's Alvin Maker series.
Will it become one of my favorites of science fiction? I doubt it. I might read Ender's Game again, but I doubt I would read any of the other books in the series again. They made me think a lot, but I also had to work to read them. It wasn't effortless reading. However, I am glad I read them and strongly recommend them to others.
I'm about halfway through Speaker for the Dead and am not enjoying it as much. It's slower than Ender's Game. I'll be interested to see how he wraps it up.
I finished reading Speaker for the Dead and ended up really enjoying the last half. I still think the beginning was too slow, but I guess it had to be as the story is complex. It just doesn't seem to fit with Ender's Game.
Finished! There were times when I was reading this, particularly during Children of the Mind, when I was in awe at the writing, when I stopped and pumped my fist in the air and said, "Yes! This is what turns science fiction into great literature! In Children of the Mind, I finally saw true emotion that had been missing before. Ender worked so hard to keep his feelings hidden that it wasn't until he split into the Val and Peter personalities that I had a real sense of the emotion behind the character.
I didn't really care for Ender in Exile. It was the book I thought Speaker for the Dead was going to be, and I probably would have liked it more if I had read it directly after Ender's Game.
Some things I particularly liked about the Quintet:
I liked the concept of a Speaker for the Dead. Wouldn't we all like to have someone explain the truth about our lives, about our motivations, disappointments and joys?
I loved the alien life form of the piggies. Their life cycle is one of the few unique life cycles Ive seen in science fiction.
I loved the Ender character, his external calm hiding his internal turmoil.
Jane as a sentient being.
Some things I didn't really like:
The Hive Queen concept. Why are insectoid aliens so often depicted as gestalt beings in science fiction?
The concept of souls fluttering around in mindspace waiting for a body.
The instantaneous transfer via Jane's mind. It smacked too much of deux ex machina.
The Demosthenes and Locke storyline. I didn't see that it added anything.
I would recommend this quintet for anybody who enjoys good science fiction. I would even say that it is a must read for any science fiction fan. I'm surprised that I have not read it before; a happenstance I attribute to the fact that I did not like Card's Alvin Maker series.
Will it become one of my favorites of science fiction? I doubt it. I might read Ender's Game again, but I doubt I would read any of the other books in the series again. They made me think a lot, but I also had to work to read them. It wasn't effortless reading. However, I am glad I read them and strongly recommend them to others.
February 20, 2015
Wow. After many, many years, I finally got around to reading this series, and now all I can think is: how could I have waited so long? Beginning with Ender's Game, we are introduced to the Wiggins family, whose three children are all gifted prodigies of genetic selection and strict environmental controls. Ender, the youngest, is tapped to be the savior of mankind to lead the fight against the alien "Buggers" who have invaded Earth space.
From the very beginning, I adored Ender as a character. He is highly intelligent, with a mental toughness unusual in a child, and also has a strong will to survive that cannot be crushed, even by overwhelming odds. Yet conversely, he also has great capacity for empathy and compassion. A difficult and complex personality, but the author portrays Ender beautifully. The differences between Ender and his siblings, Valentine and Peter, make sense, are believable, and give shape and context to the events in future books.
Following Ender as he travels the galaxy through Speaker of the Mind, Xenocide, and finally, Children of the Mind was a great pleasure. I appreciated the additional story, Ender in Exile, which takes place directly after Ender's Game, but which was not originally included in the series. (It is actually placed at the end of the Quintet, but if I were rereading the series, I would recommend reading it right after Ender's Game, before Speaker of the Dead, since that's where it falls in the timeline of events.) I cannot recommend this series highly enough for lovers of science fiction. Five stars.
From the very beginning, I adored Ender as a character. He is highly intelligent, with a mental toughness unusual in a child, and also has a strong will to survive that cannot be crushed, even by overwhelming odds. Yet conversely, he also has great capacity for empathy and compassion. A difficult and complex personality, but the author portrays Ender beautifully. The differences between Ender and his siblings, Valentine and Peter, make sense, are believable, and give shape and context to the events in future books.
Following Ender as he travels the galaxy through Speaker of the Mind, Xenocide, and finally, Children of the Mind was a great pleasure. I appreciated the additional story, Ender in Exile, which takes place directly after Ender's Game, but which was not originally included in the series. (It is actually placed at the end of the Quintet, but if I were rereading the series, I would recommend reading it right after Ender's Game, before Speaker of the Dead, since that's where it falls in the timeline of events.) I cannot recommend this series highly enough for lovers of science fiction. Five stars.
January 3, 2015
Ender's Game - Excellent.
Speaker of the Dead - Also good, but I could have done without the romance between Ender and the mother, which mostly annoyed me.
Xenocide - It occasionally got too philosophical for my tastes, but there were moments when I couldn't put it down.
Children of the Mind - By far my least favorite book, and if I hadn't gone this far already that might be the end of it for me. It was just too neatly wrapped up and too happily ever after with no real cost for it. If it keeps going like this, it will wind up being a two-star series despite the first book being a solid four-star.
Ender in Exile - It was okay. Part of me wishes I would have read this right after Ender's Game so I could have remembered the characters better. It did seem to be written as an afterthought rather than a planned story, as though the writer wanted to make more money with his most popular series rather than telling a must-be-told story. I really enjoyed the parts with Ender's parents though.
Overall, Ender is a great character, but some of the supporting cast are annoying at best. Xenocide and Children of the Mind should have been one book (if you ditch half the philosophic ramblings and the romance it would be easy enough to do). This is definitely a series where the value goes down as it goes on.
Speaker of the Dead - Also good, but I could have done without the romance between Ender and the mother, which mostly annoyed me.
Xenocide - It occasionally got too philosophical for my tastes, but there were moments when I couldn't put it down.
Children of the Mind - By far my least favorite book, and if I hadn't gone this far already that might be the end of it for me. It was just too neatly wrapped up and too happily ever after with no real cost for it. If it keeps going like this, it will wind up being a two-star series despite the first book being a solid four-star.
Ender in Exile - It was okay. Part of me wishes I would have read this right after Ender's Game so I could have remembered the characters better. It did seem to be written as an afterthought rather than a planned story, as though the writer wanted to make more money with his most popular series rather than telling a must-be-told story. I really enjoyed the parts with Ender's parents though.
Overall, Ender is a great character, but some of the supporting cast are annoying at best. Xenocide and Children of the Mind should have been one book (if you ditch half the philosophic ramblings and the romance it would be easy enough to do). This is definitely a series where the value goes down as it goes on.
April 6, 2014
Well as a Quintet this is a real-mash. Any story that focuses on Andrew Wiggin, like Ender's Game, Ender's Exile, and Speaker for the Dead, those are by far the most interesting stories. We care about Ender, we know him, and root for him. He is brave, courageous, kind, careful, and fair minded. But the books about Enders' adopted family are just too much. There are too many characters, and none of them is someone we can relate to all that much. There are way too many side stories to keep track of.
There are too many places to visit, too many cultures to keep track of or care about. Way too many "scientific" theories to even begin to understand. The Buggers and Piggies are not characters we really love. It is nice that Card is trying to get us all to be more universal, understanding, and ecumenical. But this is just too much.
The other really, really interesting person is Jane, the spirit in the ansibil. She is much more interesting than any other character. She was interesting in the "internet" and in the trees, but not so much as a semi-human, part Ender person. Peter gets more interesting as Ender.
Why not just stick with Ender. I would not recommend getting the Quintet but just he Ender books.
There are too many places to visit, too many cultures to keep track of or care about. Way too many "scientific" theories to even begin to understand. The Buggers and Piggies are not characters we really love. It is nice that Card is trying to get us all to be more universal, understanding, and ecumenical. But this is just too much.
The other really, really interesting person is Jane, the spirit in the ansibil. She is much more interesting than any other character. She was interesting in the "internet" and in the trees, but not so much as a semi-human, part Ender person. Peter gets more interesting as Ender.
Why not just stick with Ender. I would not recommend getting the Quintet but just he Ender books.
March 5, 2015
Best Reads Ever
Orson Scott Card is unlike any writer I have ever read before. In The Ender Quintet he creates an amazing futuristic universe that is comprehensible to, and loved by, readers of any level. What sets OSC apart from other writers is his ability to dive into the psychoanalysis of his characters and the ethical decisions they must face. He drives deep into the reasoning of his characters and why they make the choices they make. He is a historian and a cultural anthropologist in his own right. I absolutely love these books and that is all owed to his magnificent writing style!
Orson Scott Card is unlike any writer I have ever read before. In The Ender Quintet he creates an amazing futuristic universe that is comprehensible to, and loved by, readers of any level. What sets OSC apart from other writers is his ability to dive into the psychoanalysis of his characters and the ethical decisions they must face. He drives deep into the reasoning of his characters and why they make the choices they make. He is a historian and a cultural anthropologist in his own right. I absolutely love these books and that is all owed to his magnificent writing style!
April 27, 2017
It took awhile to get into the first book because of the dialog but I really enjoyed the story for it. Book 2 - 4 had an interesting story and I really enjoyed book 4 and how everything all came together. I wasn't really fond of book 5 though. I think book 1 ended well enough on it's own and while the idea for book 5 was interesting, I just couldn't feel it. The first 4, especially book 1, I will likely read again eventually though. It's nice to read something with a unique story line that hasn't been done so many times before.
August 21, 2014
More like 3.5 stars.
Finally got to read all of the quintet. Some of the characters and storylines are very well written and well thought, but some of them are just a bunch of cliches. Especially some of the aspects of Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese cultures are full of stereotypes and feel even lazy.
The author's politics are also always present and to a much more annoying degree than with the original Ender's Game. All in all, it was quite disappointing as a whole quintet and it took me so long to finish just because I had to almost force myself to continue.
Finally got to read all of the quintet. Some of the characters and storylines are very well written and well thought, but some of them are just a bunch of cliches. Especially some of the aspects of Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese cultures are full of stereotypes and feel even lazy.
The author's politics are also always present and to a much more annoying degree than with the original Ender's Game. All in all, it was quite disappointing as a whole quintet and it took me so long to finish just because I had to almost force myself to continue.
January 3, 2016
This is one of the most fascinating sci-fi sagas I've ever read, and it was a total surprise. Ender's Game might be the most popular part of the series, but it pales in comparison with the whole story. A very thorough and at the same time a mystical exploration of accepting and embracing radically different life forms and cultures.
June 19, 2024
BEST BOOK SERIES EVER! IM NOT EVEN KIDDING! (if you are someone who needs someone to rant to about books, then start early. these books get really complex and trying to rant to someone about one thing in book four will have you explaining things about the whole book series and by that point you dont have the energy to rant. ): )
September 16, 2014
Not just for kids.
I was skeptical when I first opened this series, but I shouldn't have been. t
The subject matter discussed in each book was interesting and deep. I couldn't put it down and I cried over and over at the beauty of it. sooooooo good!!
I was skeptical when I first opened this series, but I shouldn't have been. t
The subject matter discussed in each book was interesting and deep. I couldn't put it down and I cried over and over at the beauty of it. sooooooo good!!
December 10, 2014
Ender's Game - *****
Speaker for the Dead - ****
Xenocide - ***
Children of the Mind - ****
Ender in Exile - *****
I had read the first 4 books previously but Ender in Exile was a new story for me. Wow! Great book. This quintet is truly a must read.
Speaker for the Dead - ****
Xenocide - ***
Children of the Mind - ****
Ender in Exile - *****
I had read the first 4 books previously but Ender in Exile was a new story for me. Wow! Great book. This quintet is truly a must read.
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