Ender’s World

Just let Stefan Rudnicki read... Seriously.

I've read and listened to the entire Ender cannon... So, when another book comes up I have to read it, if only to "complete" the series. If you love all things Ender this is a must and a repeat listen. My biggest complaint is too many readers, or the lack of Rudnicki's narration.

28 of 29 people found this review helpful

Now what I was hoping for

As a huge fan of the Ender's Game books, I was interested in hearing analytical and outside takes on the book and its influences.
Although some entries were interesting and informative, not all were.
I do think the the bridge from print to audiobook may have lost its intention. I think if you are interested in this book for obvious reasons, check out the print version instead. A bit disappointed.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

If its Ender, I will read it

I really love the Ender series, including Enders Shadow so this was right up my alley. This was an interesting collection of essays surrounding the world of the book itself. I was somewhat surprised by the impact it made on military leaders as well as the others. Enders Game was recommended to me by a Navy buddy back in the late 80s and has stayed with me ever since. It appears that it has stayed with quite a number of people as well, and it was fun to listen to how others have been touched in this way by Ender and his crew.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

For fans only

Any additional comments?

This is a series of book reports about the book Enders game so if you have not read Enders game you should before reading this. At first I was somewhat disappointed waiting for the story to start but these are book reports from really interesting people with interesting ideas. If you are an Ender fan you will enjoy it but it's not for everyone.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

It's fine for hardcore fans, otherwise pass it up

This is a pleasant little audiobook about the experience different people had with Ender's Game. It's interested to listen to how some authors learned from the novel, how military members benefitted, and how people reflected on multiple reads. After a while the listen gets a little awkward. It starts to just beat the dead horse on how fantastic Ender's Game is and what a God OSC is in the literary world. I would listen to each essay and then step away for a time or you'll be overwhelmed.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

See if you can find the essays, Q&A online first

Having recently re-read the classic Ender's Game, I thought a venture into assorted essays examining the book and its impact on SF and society at large would be worthwhile. Sadly, this book did not live up to expectations. The essays, all well-written, did not evoke thoughts or perspectives that are not unusual for SF books in general, much less one as well-known as Ender's Game. I found many of the analyses to be overly generalized, describing experiences and perspectives that can be easily applied to just about every book out there. Some of the essays were more an opportunity for the writer to vent their own personal experiences with the book rather than focusing on a meaningful, through-provoking theme to be explored by the reader. The exception is an essay written by a Marine Captain who was assigned the task of writing the master instruction manual for the entire Marine Corps on how to make war using a methodology that mirrored the tactics and leadership practices that Ender used in Battle School and beyond. That is a VERY fascinating read into how Ender's Game can relate to real-life instances of leadership and warfare and is perhaps on its own worth the price of the book. The Q&A at the end of each chapter is the best part for fans of Ender's Game. Questions are asked directly to Orson Scott Card regarding his thoughts and plans behind various aspects of Ender's Game and the entire Enderverse, and Card reads the answers himself. Those same questions and answers, as well as the topics of the articles in the books, could probably be found online in other forums. If you're a hardcore Ender fan like me, I guess this book is worth the time ... barely.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

The inside story

I loved Enders Game... one of my favorite books ever! Listening to this Fresh Perspective narrative just added a new level of depth to the story... the fact that the United States Marines use it to train their Commanders says it all.

Familiar Echoes

While this book is NOT a novel or another story set in the Enderverse it is a powerful exploration of the themes, lessons and emotions that draws so many of us back to Ender's World. The authors of each essay highlighted echoes of the experiences I felt when I first read--and repeatedly reread each of the Ender, Speaker, and Shadow books.

While I would have loved to hear these essays read directly by their authors, using the narrators of the Ender's series audiobooks tied it all together for me.

Great book, only one pet peeve.

Would you consider the audio edition of Ender’s World to be better than the print version?

The essays collected here are very good and cover a variety of aspects of the Ender books with a concentration on Ender's Game.

The only real problem I had was that one name was consistently mispronounced. It's not the narrators' fault; most people would pronounce "Bonzo" like the chimp that acted with Reagan, but as Petra clearly pointed out in Ender's Game: "Not bahn-zoe, pisshead. bone-so. The name's Spanish. Bonzo Madrid. Aqui nosotros hablamos espanol, senor gran fedor."

The producers* should have known this and told the narrators. Normally audio versions of Card's work are exceptionally good so an obvious error like this is particularly jarring.

*Especially if Stefan Rudnicki produced it since he read the above line himself in the Ender's Game audio. Can't remember if he did this one, but he's produced several of the Ender titles.

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

This is not a story...

This is more like the commentary track to a DVD than a story. Although thought provoking it is not what I had hoped

0 of 2 people found this review helpful