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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   2360 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 9, 2025

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Ender in Exile is an entertaining read. If you’re just a fan of the setting, or if you really want to bridge Ender’s Game and the sequels, it’s worth reading. But that being said, you can definitely go without it, and it’s thematically more like a shadow series than like either the original novel or it’s sequels.

I liked it. If you didn’t like Shadow of the Hegemon, you might not. It suffers from treating Ender like, well, not a person- it’s not that he doesn’t have flaws, it’s that he’s a vehicle for philosophical exploration and social commentary rather than a believable character. The scenes on the colony world are good, the love story on the ship is… more of a series of monologues.

TLDR, read it if you want to frame the sequels the way Card wanted you to. If you didn’t like the shadow series I’d not expect you to like this for its own sake.

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind if I ever see a cheap copy of it, or if alternately the Kindle version goes on sale.

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