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Gary
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Gary asked in Arts & HumanitiesBooks & Authors · 8 years ago

Orson Scott Card's Ender/Formic War series?

I'm new to the whole Ender universe, my question is should I read Earth Unaware & Earth Afire before I delve into the Ender Wiggin series or doesn't it matter.

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  • 8 years ago
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    Ugh, definitely not. They're really not all that good, and they'll just confuse you. I started one of them put never finished it, nor do I intend to. (Edit: I meant Earth Unaware and Earth Afire, not the other ones, although some of the extras, notably A War of Gifts, aren't particularly good either.)

    Read them in this order:

    Ender books (Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind)

    Bean books (Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant.)

    It really is vitally important to read these in order- I accidentally skipped Shadow Puppets, and when I tried to go back, I'd missed important plot elements but knew enough from having read Shadow of the Giant that I couldn't get through Shadow Puppets, and so I never finished it.

    Then there are some extras (Shadows in Flight- it can also be read as the last Bean book, A War of Gifts, First Meetings. And of course Earth Unaware and Earth Afire)

    Again, Ender books and then Bean books, then whatever extras you feel like, including Earth Unaware and Earth Afire. I may be missing some extras, so if you really want to read all of them, double check.

    Orson Scott Card also wrote other books you may be interested in, including Pathfinder, Sarah, and many, many more. The first one may be part of a series, the second definitely is. I haven't read his other books.

    Source(s): This site is a little confusing, but once you get the hang of it will help a lot in making sure you get them all: http://www.hatrack.com/index.shtml (OSC library is the link you want, and then use the drop down menu.)
  • 8 years ago

    You will want to read them in order of publication - ender's game first -it is the classic that started it all.

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