I’m a big fan of Orson Scott Card’s novels, including many of the Ender books, in particular, Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead. Those two books won both the Hugo and Nebula awards two years in a row (1985 & 1986). Ender in Exile is the 8th book in the Ender Series plus a novella (The War of Gifts) and a short-story collection (First Meetings in the Enderverse).
Ender in Exile is set between Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead when the books are arranged chronologically. It shows the beginning of the transition of the child military genius Ender Wiggins to Speaker for the Dead Andrew Wiggins. Ender has won the Formic War for humanity, but he has been sent into exile so he can’t become a weapon of one government against another.
Ender is named the governor of one of the Formic colonies, but since he is only 12 years old, it is expected to be a titular title. In fact, the captain of the ship taking Ender and his older sister Valentine to the colony expects he will become the colony’s governor.
The journey gives Ender plenty of time to think about who he is and what he has done. The colony planet also reveals more about the Formics that Ender has begun to suspect.
As I said, I love Card’s books, but there’s something about this book that just doesn’t seem quite right for an Ender book. All the elements are there, but it’s almost as if Card is trying to hard to make the book fit into a timeline, but not much seems to happen to carry the story along the timeline. It’s not a “large” story like Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead and it withers in their shadow. Still, any fan of the Ender books will enjoy it, but it won’t be at the top of their list of favorites.
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