First Meetings

In the Enderverse

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Gabrielle De Cuir, Amanda Karr, Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

First Meetings is a collection of three novellas (plus the original "Ender's Game") that journey into the origins and the destiny of one Ender Wiggin.

"The Polish Boy", a novella written especially for this collection, begins in the years between the first two Bugger Wars when the Hegemony is desperate to recruit brilliant military commanders to repel the alien invasion. In John Paul Wiggin, the future father of Ender, they believe they may have found their man. Or boy.

In "Teacher's Pest", also written especially for this collection, a brilliant but insufferably arrogant John Paul Wiggin, now an American university student, matches wits with an equally brilliant graduate student named Theresa Brown.

It is many years since the end of the Bugger Wars in "The Investment Counselor". Ender's reputation as a hero and savior has suffered a horrible reversal. Banished from Earth and slandered as a mass murderer, 20-year-old Ender Wiggin wanders incognito form planet to planet as a fugitive, until a blackmailing tax inspector compromises his identity and threatens to expose Ender the Xenocide.

Also here is the original landmark "Ender's Game", which first appeared in 1977.

First Meetings is Orson Scott Card at the height of his considerable powers, featuring his most compelling character.

©2003 Orson Scott Card (P)2003, 2004 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

"Character, setting, plot: Card does them all right, and makes it look effortless....For newcomers to Ender's universe and long-time fans, this book will hit the spot and whet the appetite for more." (School Library Journal)
"Even those who are intimately familiar with the concepts of the Game from later Ender books will be struck anew by Card's virtuosity. His powerful voice and startlingly clear vision will draw many new readers into a lifelong love of science fiction. This accessible collection will impress even non-sci-fi buffs, besides being a must-have for Ender saga devotees." (Publishers Weekly) "These stories demonstrate the assured scene setting, apparently effortlessly sustained suspense, and moral preoccupation with the responsibilities of kinship and friendship that distinguishes Ender's entire saga." (Booklist)

Great set of stories

This is a great addition to the Ender series! Very entertaining.

Not sure what I heard

Kinda a spoiler: so the book starts as if it’s going to be an origin story to Enders parents. But then it jumps to Ender after Enders game, then goes back to Ender at the end of his original story. I’m not sure if there was an error in audio book or if that is how it was written. If that’s how it was written, why cover a lot of info that was already in Enders Game? Also, having loud music over power narration in some important sections was pretty lame.

disappointed

the beginning was well written. I feel after chapter 2 it went down hill fast. the change background information for main character and change the overall perspective of bean and ender. I feel chapter 3-5 was not needed and wish there was more on the first two chapters.

Another fine addition

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of reading stories from this universe, with these rich, interesting characters.

The volume levels were a little off in the music vs voice tracks in the final chapter, but that was a minor issue.

Stefan Rudnicki and the other voice actors were brilliant as usual.

Great addition to the saga.

Having been a long-time fan of the Ender series, it was really neat to listen to these stories as they filled in some of the details of the Enderverse. This book is highly recommended for anyone familiar with the series. The narration is top-notch, but the music that overlaps the beginning and end of each story almost drove me insane! The music was SO loud that it was almost impossible to hear what the narrator was saying. Please don't let this one flaw prevent you from listening to this otherwise fantastic audiobook. Great stuff!

A nice addition

Classic Card at his best. My only complaint is that it should have been longer!

Only the intrusive, loud music is a negative.

As always, Orson Scott Card is an excellent story writer. These First Meetings fill in bits of the story that those of us who love the Ender universe really appreciate. The performance was excellent, as well. Fortunately, most of the audio book allows the performers (Gabrielle De Cuir, Amanda Karr, Stefan Rudnicki) to do an excellent job unimpeded.

The only negative in this audio book is the nerve-grating, so-called "music" that intrudes at the ends of the stories. The music was so loud and so grating that I actually had a very hard time hearing the end of the story--something that was incredibly annoying. I like the little wrap-ups, and the intrusive noise was robbing me of that part of the story experience. It must be irritating to anyone who is focused on the story, but it is especially difficult for those of us who cannot separate the noise from the speaking (a learning disability of a sort*), particularly because the noise was louder than the narration. PLEASE, PLEASE remove that terrible racket so I can actually hear and enjoy the end of the story! (*I was forced to go find a written version, so I could actually tell what was being said.)

chapter music way too loud

love the book and the author. the first third of each chapter has offensively loud background music that covers the audio nearly completely. the music isnt even interesting it's just a few chords repeated again and again

goes all over the place

this book is suppose to be story before Ender's game but it goes before, during and after. that was so far away from what the series has been. so far it was chronological and you can feel moment by moment and now this one jumps all over. had some good points but rest was... disappointing. would have been nice if it was about setting the stage for Ender's entry only.

they should have omitted the music

This has become one of my favorite Ender's books. Someone thought that it would be good to provide a short music track under the voices at the beginning and end of each short story. This fights with my hearing loss so that it is hard to understand the narrator at those times. Also, Audible's chapter breaks do not occur at the beginning of each short story, which makes it hard to pick one out of the middle. But the excellent performance and well told stories make up for any lack of production quality.