I just finished what I think is the main series of audiobooks ending with The Last Shadow which connects the threads of Bean's kids and Ender's Adventures On Piggyworld.

I'm not saying it was a bad book it just ended a lot sooner than I expected. They cure the disease given to Thulium by the underground humans, help the Raven and Parrots and Orangumans move to a new planet and then it's just over. But... what about the guys underground who tried to kill you with a parasite thing? Are you just going to leave them there forever? Is that how the entire franchise ends? I know there are more prequels about the Formic Wars but I think this is the end chronologically.

The audiobook ends with a footnote by Orson Scott Card explaining why he'd rather leave the origins of the Descolada virus unresolved and it mostly makes sense. Essentially that sometimes life isn't perfect and therefore fiction should be imperfect too, not every mystery has a solution, not all questions get answered, sometimes things are left unresolved. It sounds a bit like a post-hoc justification to make peace with the fact he's already decided not to write any more sequels, it doesn't seem strong enough to be the full explanation for stopping the story there. It feels like there's unfinished business and this is a weird place to end.

Has anyone read the last shadow? I was wondering if anyone else have read the main series completely, including the entirety of the shadow series and shadows in flight, I just want to know your thoughts. Also just as an extension question are the formic books finished? if not when is it expect to end. Thank you in advance!

Just some general thoughts on the last shadow: I think it's good, honestly I think children of the mind was worse on a story standpoint, but that might just be because unlike children of the mind I could not take the last shadow seriously, it honestly felt comedic? simple? it felt like it was such a deathless book that was so shallow in its writing that I couldent even get offended by its writing and nuance or its rebooting or discarding of previous ideas because it felt such lightly written that it half mattered. I dont know honestly it wasent a painful read, it is a slight disapointment considering its the last book of the main series and I wished they would have fleshed out the themes and dilemmas and conflicts more then they did, but I'm not mad at the story, it feels like orson scott card was running out of interest for the story anyways perhaps it's thematic that the story ends so, plainly? so meaninglessly? that feels too harsh of a word it feels like nothing to me but who knows what are your thoughts?

I’ve always wanted an Ender’s Game tattoo but the cover arts aren’t great and I don’t want the usual “The Enemy’s Gate is Down” or “Dragon Army”. Almost got the word “Third”, but went with something else in that spot.

Any ideas? Ideally it would be artwork not a quote or something

Edit: those Chinese book covers just posted may be the answer…

I got these since I'm trying to learn Chinese, and thought the covers looked really cool. Minus Speaker getting kinda beat up in shipping

More like insomnia thoughts but here we go:

(disclaimer: I've only read Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow and am currently working through Shadow of the Hegemon, so chances are some of these may not be completely true)

[spoiler for Shadow of the Hegemon, kind of]>!1. Nikolai would never see Bean again. Their relationship was the most wholesome thing I've seen in a good while, and it's heartbreaking that they'll never see each other again. !<

[spoiler for Ender's Game]>!2. Stilson was just a boy, too. A mean one at that, but still a young one. Honestly dk if this counts as a spoiler since his death happened so early on but I guess it counts? Idk. !<

[not really a major spoiler but just in case..] >!3. Kind of like the first point, Ender would never see Alai again, or anyone else from his Jeesh. I know he's had a long life aside from the Battle School but it's still kind of sad, knowing that Alai was one of his only real friends from the School. !<

I thought I had more but apparently not 💀 lmk if y'all can think of more.

Hi, I love the series & want to buy a copy to display on my shelf that is not the mass market paperback editions. I want them to be regular sized, either paperback or hardback, and all the same size. I can't find it anywhere :( Not in the market to buy one of the super expensive editions, either. Bonus points if it includes the Shadows series! Thanks in advance.

https://www.aaronwjohnston.com/category/blog/

"Enjoy the Latest Animated Short from Chick-fil-A"

I don't think he's working on the queens

I read game and shadow and really enjoyed them. I'm currently at Shadow of the Hegemon and it's going really well. I love how Peter's not the atrocity of a sibling as he was in the beginning of game, and honestly it's nice seeing the members of the jeesh again. I searched around and apparently >!Petra has some crazy baby fever in the next book (shadow puppets!<), but I also heard that we get to see more of Achilles' thoughts and although he's an absolute ass of a person I find his character very interesting. I think the reason why I liked game/shadow (and this first half of SotH that I've read so far) is the military strategy/geopolitical drama, and apparently OSC's strange mormon morals infects the rest of the shadow series (>!doesn't petra like have children with peter too?!<). lwk hyped myself up a little too much, lol, but idk, shouldn't make assumptions too quick. Also, apparently>!Bean and his children go in space in i think shadow of the giant which I'm not so sure if I'll like. I feel like once the timeline gets warped (bc time goes slower outside than on Earth) it's kind of hard to put things together/connect events. Idk, some people like that but I don't think it's for me.!<Do you guys think it's worth it for me to continue past SotH?

edit: i don't mind mild spoilers, so like plot and what happens, but if it's pretty major like >!when ender finds out the battles were real!<maybe spoiler tag that, lol

so since the books never really describe the characters unless it’s relevant to what’s going on i’m curious, what physical appearance do you imagine the characters have (no specific characters in mind, can be anyone)

So I've seen many videos of dogs and even pigs using speech buttons, apes using sign language, birds speaking in meaningful ways and dolphins learning commands and telling jokes, and it really hits home the idea that humanity wouldnt know intelligent life if it spoke to us. I know that one could make the argument that they are just using pattern recognition and exploiting it but I have seen animals use it to express emotions and needs and in reality that's all humans do to communicate with each other.

The best way to prove that you understand a concept is to teach it and I think the biggest reason why we don't believe them to be Ramen is because they don't really teach each other these communication skills. There is not really any generational learning but is that a criteria for intelligent life?

I've read the main body of works a couple of time.

But, this time around, I wanted to read it in in-universe chronological order, instead of published-order.

My plan (which I'm almost half-way through):

• First Formic War:
  • Earth Unaware
  • Earth Afire
  • Earth Awakens
• Second Formic War:
  • The Swarm
  • The Hive
  • The Queens (not published yet)
• Interlude
  • The Polish Boy
  • Mazer in Prison
  • Teacher's Pest
• Ender's Storyline I:
  • Ender's Game BUT only until just after >! joining Rat Army !<
  • A War of Gifts
  • Ender's Stocking
  • Continue Ender's Game
• Bean's Storyline I:
  • Ender's Shadow >! (It's parallel to Ender's Game, but I didn't want to jump between them) !<
  • Shadow of the Hegemon
• Interlude:
  • Children of the Fleet
• Bean's Storyline II:
  • Shadow Puppets
  • Shadow of the Giant
• Ender's Storyline II:
  • Ender in Exile
• Bean's Storyline III:
  • Shadows in Flight
• Ender's Storyline III:
  • The Investment Counselor
  • Speaker for the Dead
  • Xenocide
  • Children of the Mind
• Bean's Storyline IV:
  • The Last Shadow

I know I'm missing a few, and I may be wrong at some points.

I'll probably update this post when needed

I listened to the audiobook recently, great book. Moved on with my life, and here I am today listening to some music on youtube when the narrator at the start of THIS video strikes me as being the same exact voice who narrated the Pequeninos in Xenocide.

I've been on a hunt to find out who the heck was the voice actor but I've had no luck. Any guesses? The details of this youtube video does not mention a narrator, and despite finding a list of the book voice actors I never found a cast

I’m about 100 pages into cotm and the characters keep mentioning Jane’s death that is to come. This is confusing me though, because I thought it was concluded in xenocide that she would only be crippled as her essence lived in Ender. Am I missing something or did Card just forget a major plot point of his previous book?

I'm working on a video review of the movie to upload to YouTube because I've been wanting to since the movie came out but I finally started actually working on it.

I want to hear everyone's thoughts on the movie and what you liked and what you didn't like.

I'm considering doing a review of the book next if I get a decent reaction from my movie review, but idk.

I can’t find which book this quote is in -

“You can’t lead somebody you don’t know - you can either bribe them or coerce them”

I might be slightly off, but it’s close to that.

It’s somewhere in the enderverse, but I can not remember where?

Help Please!

Based on my reading order, The Hive is literally the last book in the entire series for me, until The Queens is released anyway. I just finished chapter 13, and it was so bad and so unbelievable that I literally don’t know if I can finish the series now.

! No matter how bad you feel for those miners, there is no way you risk the survival of the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE in order to help them. It’s ridiculous. It makes zero sense. It’s literally idiotic.!<

I'm currently listening to Shadow of The Hegemon on Audible, and I've noticed in chapters 11-13 (I'm only on ch 13 now) everytime the word "hegemon" is said, there's almost a "copy and paste" thing going on. It's like a different voice actor recorded the word "hegemon" and "pasted" it over the original reader's voice. And it's not a subtle change in the voice, audio quality, or even the speaker's volume. It's pretty noticeable.

Any idea why this would happen?

Did anybody knows why isnt there a spanish version of The Last Shadow?

Spoilers for Shadows in Flight and Speaker for the Dead

for context I've read the entire Enders Shadow series, plus Enders Game, Ender in Exile, and Speaker for the Dead. I loved all the books but wondering if anyone else feels this way about some details...

1. What is OSC's obsession with incestuous sibling relationships? We've got Ouanda and Miro's whole arc, and Ender describing his relationship with Valentine as a "celibate marriage" (both in SftD)

2. worst of all, Bean trying to get his kids to procreate together after spending the entire book insisting he didn't want to pass on his genes. But at the end, with no explanation of why he changed his mind, it's suddenly extremely important for him to pass on his genes? Through INCEST? Let's not even mention Petra being 5+ years older than him and basically tricking him into having kids with her when he was like 14. There's multiple instances where she blatantly manipulates him and lies to him because she's so obsessed with having his babies (which tbh didn't make sense for character at all imo)

3. Speaking of passing on genes, why does every single female character have 5+ children? Plus the rants about how important procreating is....the mormon propaganda really pops out in some places, even when it makes NO sense for the character.

I know it is mostly if not completely because OSC is very mormon. I just don't wanna be skeeved out all by myself, lol.

https://xkcd.com/241/

Okay, so I'm currently extremely frustrated with the movie. It's my first time watching and I enjoy the premise. But, for the LOVE OF GOD. The transition from him re-enlisting to him seeing his cadets after going to the staging planet is mind-blowingly awful. I have NO IDEA WTF is going on. How long did he travel in space? What was he doing in advanced command training? Why are all of his cadets there all of a sudden?

I really want to know if the book does a good job of explaining these things. These plot holes are DRIVING ME UP THE WALL. I assume it's explained and developed in the book, but I need clarification.

Sorry for the rant, this movie is just driving me crazy RN.

I wanted to share with all the Ender’s Game fans an original oil painting by John Harris that was custom commissioned from a pastel sketch I was blown away by.

I have no affiliation with Mr. Harris or his agent apart from my commission, but I have to say they are exceedingly lovely.

If anyone is interested in his work, here’s the link: https://www.alisoneldred.com/john-harris/

Cheers!

Everything from the fake nausea, Morgan’s speech, Ender showing up in full uniform and the letter to Morgan, it all has me cracking up!

I watched Enders Game when it came out as a movie. I liked it as a kid but it made me want to read the book. Went a long time without listening or reading it but for the last year I just can’t stop listening to this over and over and over again. I’ve listened to the other books too but the first one is always just so perfect

Finished speaker like a week ago and just got xenocide which I'm so excited to read. Children of the mind coming soon and also planning to get another Ender's game copy (the version of it that all the other ones are)

Hello, I wanted to write into this sub because I'm interested in buying a copy of Ender's Game from Centipede Press.

I'm a huge fan of the Enderverse but only recently have gotten my hands on any physical copies (I'm a Kindle reader). I have a copy of Speaker of the Dead and Ender's Way by Centipede and want to complete my set. I was hoping somebody here may have one they're willing to sell or perhaps can point me in the right direction.

Thank you in advance.