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Ender in Exile
Ender's world series

by Orson Scott Card



      "He’s not the boy we knew. . .when your child goes off to war, you will never get him back. Not as he was, not the same boy."

This haunting statement from Andrew Wiggin’s father sums up the painful reality facing many of the characters in Ender in Exile. Taking place in the "lost years" after Card’s Hugo and Nebula-winning Ender’s Game (1985), this novel follows Andrew, known as Ender, on his journey of exile to the far-flung colonies. In this intense and somber novel, the characters who are within Ender’s sphere of influence experience the ramifications of Ender’s time as a 12-year-old military genius who defeated alien enemies. This is particularly true of his connection, tenuous at best, with his family, which is the core of the novel.

Ender in Exile shows Ender from the perspective of key people he, out of duty, has to keep at arm’s length. His parents cope (with varying degrees of success) with allowing their special child to be the hero that the human race needs, never to truly be their son. His sister, Valentine (also gifted and isolated from others, but at least able to live at home), both loves and hates her brother for who he has become, and who he must be for the future; she later joins him in the Colonies out of love and subservience to something she will never fully comprehend.

The author’s introduction of Alessandra as a love interest for Ender adds a new complication for the hero. Like Ender, Alessandra faces a similar dilemma of having to put aside her own aspirations in service to others. Now a fifteen-year-old, Ender is attracted to Alessandra, but he sacrifices his own feelings for her to his "higher" calling.

This sacrifice, among others, gives Ender in Exile a tragic tone. Ender becomes the governor of a new colony, but his thoughts on his role in the deaths of thousands of humans and aliens as "The Great Weapon" weighs heavily on his mind. In the next traditional Ender novel, Speaker for the Dead, Ender will come to believe it was a mistake to wipe out an entire alien civilization. But that is for the future, and the author uses foreshadowing to good effect.

Without a doubt, Ender in Exile is more of a philosophical outing than a physical one. For the legions of fans of the Ender saga, this tells the story of the "wilderness years" that probably has been the source of great speculation for nearly two decades. The story is serious with little action, however, and readers unfamiliar with the series will feel the existential and moral weightiness. Card is a thoughtful storyteller, however, who is in a class by himself when it comes to science fiction. With Ender in Exile, a worthy addition to the saga, readers will experience a moving, yet worthwhile, journey.

The Book

Tor
November 2008
Hardcover
9780765304964
Young Adult Science Fiction
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
NOTE: Orson Scott Card won the 2008 Margaret A. Edwards Award for his novels Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow.

The Reviewer

Heather Buchanan
Reviewed 2009
NOTE: Reviewer Heather Buchanan is the author of Dark River: A Novel of Suspense.
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