Ender in Exile

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, David Birney, Cassandra Campbell, Emily Janice Card, Don Leslie, Mirron Willis, Orson Scott Card

Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Orson Scott Card returns to his best-selling series with a new Ender novel, Ender in Exile.

At the close of Ender's Game, Andrew Wiggin - called Ender by everyone - is told that he can no longer live on Earth, and he realizes that this is the truth. He has become far more than just a boy who won a game: he is the Savior of Earth, a hero, a military genius whose allegiance is sought by every nation of the newly shattered Earth Hegemony. He is offered the choice of living in isolation on Eros, at one of the Hegemony's training facilities, but instead the 12-year-old chooses to leave his home world and begin the long relativistic journey out to the colonies. With him went his sister Valentine, and the core of the artificial intelligence that would become Jane.

The story of those years has never been told...until now.

The End? Listen to more of Ender's story.

©2008 Orson Scott Card (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Thanks, OSC!

This is a terrific addition to the Ender Universe and I’m glad you filled in the timeline.
The audiobook is very well read and quite enjoyable!

Last book in the series: For a reason

This book is the last of the Ender books. That is a fact and it means you are expected to remember the other books. After you read the book you figure out that it is an implied fact; being the last book, that you have read the other books before, if you have not you will be largely lost during the points where the allusions and nuances come into play.

Great book for about 10 hours then it starts to slow down some, overall an excellent read with the same type of reading that you have become familiar with. Stephan Rudnicki really does make this book as the voice of another actor comes into play later on and totally spoils enders persona in my opinion.

The only downside to this book is that it marks the end of Enders adventures, his line of thought, and insightful reality that is the Enderverse.

Ender's back in fine form

Well narrated by multiple readers doing different characters. A great addition to the Ender universe with more chess-like political intrigue, and more ever-relevant questions about war and peace, leadership, ethics, parenting, etc.

cannot get enough

the well hashed story line to the dynamic charachters. the entire series is a treat.

This was great

Perfectly narrated, expertly written. This was a joy to hear. I couldn't stop listening once I started, and it seems to me that the story of Ender was made to be heard, to be told around the campfire rather than read in a book. Twelve hours is a steal for a story of this caliber

Good idea book, lacking in action

Last week I was browsing through Audible.com for a new book and saw that Orson Scott Card had released a new book last week that tells the story of the first Formic War (Earth Unaware). It is getting fairly mixed reviews right now. But I will probably still get around to reading it soon.

That led me to looking around to see if there were others Orson Scott Card books that I have not read. I found Ender in Exile in my library. By description I did not remember reading it. I remembered it within minutes of starting it. But it was good so I re-read (re-listened?) to it.

Again many people did not like it. And I get some of the point. It is a bit disjointed. There are really three or four different short stories that are tied together here. There is a main theme. But that theme is really about what makes life important. If you have read Card before you will know that what makes life important for him is children.

So throughout this book are children that are sacrificed for. Children that are beneath the thumbs of their parents. Children that are lied to and manipulated into believing that those that raise them are their parents. And the adults that have chosen all of humanity to be surrogate children instead of having their own.

Space travel and the relativistic speeds of flying faster than light creates all kinds of issues for humanity and the individuals that must leave family behind forever if they are going to fly into space is an interesting concept. And Card milks it well.

My impression is that this is one of the books where Card’s Mormon faith is strongly influencing the philosophy and ideas behind the book. But I just do not know enough about Mormon faith to be sure.

Card is clearly conservative in outlook. His very pro-family. Supportive of the military. Interested in institutions (but wary of them). Understanding of human weakness (and sin, although he does not use that word).

So because I like idea books, I really like this book. But if you like action books, skip this one. If you like the Shadow Series but didn’t like any of the books in the Ender series after Ender’s Game, skip this one. But if you enjoy the ideas in Cards book you will probably like this one (even though it feels like a collection of short stories.)

Card has a note at the end of this book where he admits that there are discontinuities between this book and Ender’s Game and some of the other books. After all Ender’s Game was originally a short story that was expanded into a full novel. And now there are well over a dozen books in the series.

"Ender in Exile" did not disappoint.

Where does Ender in Exile rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I thought "Ender's Game" couldn't be surpassed as one of my all-time favourite books but "Ender in Exile" was just as exceptional. I felt like the first book in the series had simply carried on, uninterrupted and that is a very rare thing.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the character development of Ender, his sister Valentine and their strange relationship & co-dependance. Orson Scott Card's characters are beautifully flawed, which draws you even deeper into their story & you can't help but begin to care about what happens to the people who come and go through Ender's orbit.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

My favourite character has to be Valentine. Her dry wit and deep desire to understand her little brother and protect him from himself are things any sibling would recognize in one form or another.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

As with "Ender's Game" it was difficult not to listen to "Ender in Exile" in one long session. I listen to my audiobooks mostly on my two hour drives back and forth from work but I found myself throwing in my earbuds to continue the story while working around the house.

Any additional comments?

I don't ever want to find out there is an end to Andrew Wiggan's story. :)

Another great book written by Orson Scott Card

This book is pretty good, it shows Ender's life during the space travel, pretty good yes

Wonderful

This is my second book of this author. I can't wait to hear more. This book is quality story telling.

I simply love Orson's writing style.

I came from the movie Ender's Game to hear it spoken and I have grown to love Orson's style and how he takes us along his adventure in the universe of so many people. my next listen is Shadows of The Giant! Thank you for these books.