Ender in Exile is a direct sequel to Ender's Game. Speaker for the Dead, the original sequel to Ender’s Game, took place three thousand years after Ender won the war against the Buggers, but it never fully explained the circumstances leading to Ender’s endless travels through space at relativistic speeds. Hence, Ender in Exile was written to reveal all the gritty details of Ender’s expulsion from Earth, as well as his travels to the newly formed space colonies immediately following the Formic Wars.
Ender's Saga Reading Order Including Ender in Exile
Although the events in Ender in Exile follow the events of Ender’s Game, a vast amount of the story deals with Ender’s travels at relativistic speeds. Therefore, although only a few short years have passed by for Ender himself, almost forty years have elapsed for those who remained on Earth. In terms of the Ender Saga, it places the majority of the story not only before Speaker for the Dead, but after Bean’s Shadow Saga.
In order for reader’s to fully understand the story, Ender in Exile should be read after Ender’s Game and the Shadow Saga, which ends with Shadow of the Giant. Speaker for the Dead follows after Ender in Exile, along with the subsequent sequels, Xenocide and Children of the Mind. While Ender in Exile is excellent as a standalone novel, some of the key plot elements are determined by the outcomes of the previous novels.
Why Orson Scott Card Wrote a Second Sequel to Ender's Game
While many might believe that Ender in Exile may be a shameless attempt for Orson Scott Card to cash-in on a once renowned series, readers will quickly note that Ender in Exile stands as a brilliant and evocative piece of writing worthy of the Ender series. Ender in Exile is astounding because:
- It gives new insight into the mind of one of the most innocent, yet disturbed protagonists to ever be created on paper. Card studied intensely the psychological effects in order to more believably write Ender’s initial reactions to the ending of the war, and the results are phenomenal.
- It believably portrays events that have heretofore been merely alluded to in the previous works of the Ender series. Each event that Ender once remembered as a memory or recounted as a story of his distant past now becomes a stark and brazen reality. One example is the discovery of the Hive Queen egg, when Ender first discovers the playground surrounding the Giant’s head.
- It fills in some of the holes left by previous novels, such as the fate of Virlomi after her crushing defeat, and the whereabouts of Bean’s final lost embryo.
Conclusion
Ender in Exile is another brilliant return to form for Orson Scott Card. He has a spectacular gift for crafting deep, authentic characters in a vivid, thriving world. Ender in Exile will bide well with fans of the series, and is a stellar addition to one of science fiction’s most influential series.
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