Ender in Exile

Set immediately after the events of Ender's Game, this sequel narrates Ender's life following the end of the Bugger War. The story deals primarily with the guilt that Ender feels as a result of having killed two boys while at Battle School, and the unknowing xenocide of an entire species.

Ender sacrifices his reputation by revealing the deaths of Bonzo and Stilson to the court martial, even though he is unable to understand why the buggers “let him win.” He travels out into the colonies to find an answer, and eventually lets himself be beaten up, partly to punish himself.


Orson Scott Card provides some further great lore on the wars during Peter's ascent to the Hegemony. I enjoyed the following up of many characters from Ender's Game, as well as the power the jeesh had on the new Earth. Insight into the way the colonies were created was also welcome.

I think this book falls down on the necessity of sticking with the previous timeline at the end of Ender's Game. Card's afterword notes that he is prone to making errors in continuity. The book suffers from spending a lot of time dealing with how Ender sees his parents and sister on his way to Shakespeare, and much less with his own redemption until the very end. Various plotlines on the ship appeared gratuitous to me - enjoyable to read, but not apparently necessary and diminishing from the “point” of the book.

Looking forward to exploring more of Ender's universe.