Ender's Game (series)

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The Ender's Game series (often referred to as the Enderverse or the Ender saga) is a series of science fiction books by Orson Scott Card. The series started with the novelette "Ender's Game", which was later expanded into the novel Ender's Game. It currently consists of twelve novels, twelve short stories, and 47 comic issues. The first two novels in the series, Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, each won both the Hugo[1][2] and Nebula[1][3] Awards, and were among the most influential science fiction novels of the 1980s.

The series is set in a future where mankind is facing annihilation by an aggressive alien society, an insect-like race known colloquially as "Buggers" but more formally as "Formics". The central character, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, is one of the child soldiers trained at Battle School (and eventually Command School) to be the future leaders of the protection of Earth.

Contents

Ender series [edit]

Card first wrote Ender's Game as a novelette, but went back and expanded it into a novel so he could use Ender as a main character in another novel, Speaker for the Dead. That novel takes place three thousand years after Ender's Game, although due to relativistic space travel, Ender himself (now using his full name, Andrew) is only 36, making him only 25 years older than he was at the end of the Formic Wars.

While the first novel concerned itself with armies and space warfare, Speaker for the Dead and its two sequels Xenocide and Children of the Mind are more philosophical in nature. They deal with the difficult relationship between the humans and the "Piggies" (or "Pequeninos"), and Andrew's (Ender's) attempts to stop another xenocide from happening (after the one he unwittingly committed in the Ender's Game).

A War of Gifts: An Ender Story was released in October 2007.[4] It is set during Ender's first year in Battle School.

A prequel to Speaker for the Dead named Ender in Exile was released in November 2008. It involves Ender's journey to the first colony, as well as his meeting a character from the Shadow saga, effectively wrapping up the final plotline of the parallel series.

Shadow saga [edit]

Starting with Ender's Shadow, four more novels have been released which tell the story of the people whom Ender left behind – this has been dubbed the Shadow saga (also known as the "Bean Quartet"). Ender's Shadow is a parallel novel to Ender's Game, telling many of the same events from the perspective of Bean, a mostly peripheral character in Ender's Game, while Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Giant tell the story of the struggle for world dominance after the Bugger War, in which the Battle School children, as well as Ender's brother, Peter Wiggin, are involved.

A sequel novel to Shadow of the Giant named Shadows in Flight further introduces Bean's children.

Shadows Alive, a future sequel, takes place after both Children of the Mind and Shadows in Flight, tying up the two series, and explaining some unanswered questions.

The First Formic War [edit]

Card and Aaron Johnston have planned a trilogy to cover events in the First Formic War. Earth Unaware, a prequel to the entire Ender series, was released on July 17, 2012. Earth Afire, is scheduled to be released on June 4, 2013,[5] followed by Earth Awakens.[6]

Novels in the series [edit]

To date, there are six novels in the Ender's Game series and five novels in the Shadow series. According to Card, there is no strictly preferred order of reading them, except that Xenocide should be read right before Children of the Mind.[7] The books can be read in the order in which they were originally written or in chronological order.

Chronology chart [edit]

Publication date [edit]

  1. Ender's Game (1985) – Nebula Award winner, 1985;[1] Hugo Award winner, 1986;[1] Locus Award nominee, 1986[1]
  2. Speaker for the Dead (1986) – Nebula Award winner, 1986;[1] Hugo & Locus Awards winner, 1987;[1] Campbell Award nominee, 1987[1]
  3. Xenocide (1991) – Hugo and Locus Awards nominee, 1992[8]
  4. Children of the Mind (1996)
  5. Ender's Shadow (1999) – Shortlisted for a Locus Award, 2000[9]
  6. Shadow of the Hegemon (2001) – Shortlisted for a Locus Award, 2002[10]
  7. Shadow Puppets (2002)
  8. First Meetings (2002) – short story collection
  9. Shadow of the Giant (2005)
  10. A War of Gifts: An Ender Story (2007)
  11. Ender in Exile (2008)
  12. Shadows in Flight (2012)
  13. Earth Unaware (2012)
  14. Earth Afire (2013) – Scheduled for Release June 4, 2013 [11]
  15. Shadows Alive (forthcoming, originally planned as part of "Shadows in Flight")

Chronological order [edit]

  1. Earth Unaware
  2. Earth Afire
  3. Earth Awakens
  4. First Meetings
  5. Ender's Game
  6. Ender's Shadow (Note: The events of Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow take place in roughly the same time period.)
  7. A War of Gifts (Note: This takes place during Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow.)
  8. Shadow of the Hegemon
  9. Shadow Puppets
  10. Shadow of the Giant
  11. Ender in Exile (Note: This takes place during Shadow of the Hegemon and through Shadow of the Giant)
  12. Shadows in Flight
  13. Speaker for the Dead
  14. Xenocide
  15. Children of the Mind
  16. Shadows Alive

Short stories in the series [edit]

Main article: List of Ender's Game series short stories

Comic books in the series [edit]

Main article: Ender's Game (comics)

Comic books in the Ender Universe are currently being published by Marvel Comics.

Ender's Game film [edit]

Main article: Ender's Game (film)

The movie Ender's Game is set to release in November 2013. It is based on two installments of the Ender series, "Ender's Game" and "Ender's Shadow," telling the story from both Ender's point of view and that of Bean. The cast includes Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin, Ben Kingsley, and Asa Butterfield as Ender Wiggin. The film will be directed by Gavin Hood.[12][13]

The Authorized Ender Companion [edit]

Written by Jake Black, The Authorized Ender Companion is "the indispensable guide to the universe of Ender's Game."[14] Sections in this book include: The Ender Encyclopedia, Ender's Timeline, Ender's Family Tree by Andrew Lindsay, Getting Ender Right: A Look at the Ender's Game Sceenplay Development by Aaron Johnston, and The Technology of Ender's Game by Stephen Sywak. The majority of the book consists of encyclopedia references to the events, characters, locations, and technology found in the Ender's Game series up to the publication of Ender in Exile.

The book is notable for having new and behind the scenes information on certain topics such as Battle School Slang, The Look of the Formics, The History of Hyrum Graff, Ender and Valentine's Travels, and Mazer Rackham's Spaceship.

Ender's World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender's Game [edit]

Ender's World contains 14 essays from Science Fiction and Young Adult writers, as well as military strategists and others about various aspects of Ender’s Game. The book includes an introduction[15] by Orson Scott Card, who edited Ender's World and answers from many fan-submitted Enderverse questions from the Smart Pop Books Website.[16] The following essays are included in the compilation:
"How It Should Have Ended" by Eric James Stone[17]
"The Monster's Heart" by John Brown[18]
"The Cost of Breaking the Rules" by Mary Robinette Kowal[19]
"Winning and Losing in Ender’s Game" by Hilari Bell[20]
"Parallax Regained" by David Lubar, Alison S. Myers[21]
"Mirror, Mirror" by Alethea Kontis[22]
"Size Matters" by Janis Ian[23]
"Rethinking the Child Hero" by Aaron Johnston[24]
"A Teenless World" by Mette Ivie Harrison[25]
"Ender on Leadership" by Colonel Tom Ruby[26]
"Ender Wiggin, USMC" by John F. Schmitt[27]
"The Price of Our Inheritance" by Neal Shusterman[28]
"If the Formics Love Their Children Too" by Ken Scholes[29]
"Ender's Game: A Guide to Life" by Matt Nix[30]

See also [edit]

Portal icon Novels portal

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "1986 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  2. ^ "1987 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  3. ^ "1985 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  4. ^ Orson Scott Card at Fantastic Fiction
  5. ^ EARTH AFIRE, the sequel to EARTH UNAWARE by me and @orsonscottcard will be released on June 4, 2013. Aaron Johnston on Twitter. October 30, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
  6. ^ Title for book 3 of First Formic Trilogy will be EARTH AWAKENS Aaron Johnston on Twitter. March 15, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
  7. ^ Card, Orson Scott. "Question: What's the 'preferred' order of reading the Ender series?". Frequently Asked Questions. Hatrack.com. Retrieved 2007-05-15. 
  8. ^ "1992 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  9. ^ "2000 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  10. ^ "2002 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  11. ^ "Earth Afire". Ender's Ansible. Retrieved 2013-02-12. 
  12. ^ "Ender's Game". Retrieved 2013-01-22. 
  13. ^ Ender's Shadow Audiobook, author's epilogue
  14. ^ Black, Jake (2009). The Authorized Ender Companion. Tor Books. ISBN 978-0-7653-2063-6. 
  15. ^ Introduction: Ender's World
  16. ^ Ask Orson Scott Card a question about Ender’s Game!
  17. ^ "How It Should Have Ended" by Eric James Stone
  18. ^ "The Monster's Heart" by John Brown
  19. ^ "The Cost of Breaking the Rules" by Mary Robinette
  20. ^ "Winning and Losing in Ender’s Game" by Hilari Bell
  21. ^ "Parallax Regained" by David Lubar, Alison S. Myers
  22. ^ "Mirror, Mirror" by Alethea Kontis
  23. ^ "Size Matters" by Janis Ian
  24. ^ "Rethinking the Child Hero" by Aaron Johnston
  25. ^ "A Teenless World" by Mette Ivie Harrison
  26. ^ "Ender on Leadership" by Colonel Tom Ruby
  27. ^ "Ender Wiggin, USMC" by John F. Schmitt
  28. ^ "The Price of Our Inheritance" by Neal Shusterman
  29. ^ "If the Formics Love Their Children Too" by Ken Scholes
  30. ^ "Ender's Game: A Guide to Life" by Matt Nix

External links [edit]

List of series by Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series
Ender's Game series
Books
Short stories
Original short story
First Meetings (2002)
InterGalactic Medicine Show
Comics
Film
Video game
Characters
Ender's family
Battle School
Other
Concepts
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