Absolutely enjoyed the story’s included in this. It’s interesting to hear the story of Ender meeting Jane. My favorite, however, was the story’s of John Paul, Ender’s dad. It helped paint a picture of the world between the first formic war and the 3rd.

As for the audio production, the music that played at the beginning and end of some of the short stories was rather distracting and at some points, louder than the narrator. It didn’t last long, thankfully, but i don’t think that music added anything to the story, they could have don’t a shorter transitional audio rather than having it cover the beginning of the next short story.

Absolutely recommend reading this if you are working your way through the Enderverse. I would read the main ender quintet and the shadow series before diving into this novella.

why I read this book: I love “Enders Game” and “Speaker for the Dead.” I’m currently working my way thru other books in the Ender universe. I didn’t know this book existed.

format: got the audiobook from the library. Good narrators.

“Polish Boy” is about Ender’s father- a polish catholic in a large family that is illegal because of population laws. I found it unrealistic that “Captain Graff” was involved. And I’m getting tired of the author making Every Single Character so completely genius smart smart special!!

“Teachers Pest” is also about the father- later in life, during his genius special smart smart college years. This guy is extremely difficult to like. Arrogant and condescending. And his special super smart “teacher” isn’t any better.

“Investment Counselor” is definitely the highlight of the book for me. When we see Ender in “Speaker,” he’s already deeply bonded with his computer “bridge” Jane. This story goes back and shows us their first interactions. Some cute moments with young Jane.

I will def read “Investment Counselor” again in the future but I’ll probably skip the others.

3 stars- I enjoyed listening to it & it held my attention. Nothing particularly special tho.

Not at all recommended. I was not able to get the audiobook for a while but frankly, had I read this book, I would not have continued the series. I am not even sure why I continue reading it. This book is a full-throated support for eugenics version 2.0, where the author is aware that pairing skin color and gender with inferiority doesn not make sense but still fully believes in eugenics and supports a continuation of eugenics in modern society (and, if you read his words outside of this series, despite recognizing that race and gender based eugenics does not make sense, he continues to be sexist and racist). I hate that I am so far along that I will probably finish the full series (through library audio books only) to see how the currently unpublished books wrap up the whole thing, but the ethical belief system of this author is shit.

I read this book years ago when it came out in hardcover and didn't include one of the stories in this edition. But I found a copy for a dollar at a Half Price Books, so I picked it up and read the whole thing again. It's a quick book.

I enjoyed it. If you enjoy the Ender's Game series and want to read more of it, this book is more of it. If you haven't read Ender's Game, though, start there.

This collection includes the original Ender's Game short story, which is very similar to part of the first novel but contradicts it in lots of minor ways. This collection also includes two stories about Ender's parents, who are treated pretty blandly in the original and given more credit in some of the sequels.

It's interesting to see a talented writer go back to the same material and revise and expand it in different ways.

I'm looking forward to the day that all the various short stories in this universe--including the handful published in Card's subscription-only online magazine--are collected in one edition.

Four short stories in one: Ender's Father meeting Colonel Graff, Ender's Father meeting Ender's Mother, Ender meeting Jane, and an abbreviated version of "Ender's Game."

My favorite by far was Ender's Father meeting Ender's Mother. "Enderverse" is known for incredible minds applied to science and tactics; This however, is extremely smart people flirting and it's very funny and impressive.

fascinating backstory on some of the most interesting Enderverse characters

⭐️ 5

Once again I find myself falling back into Ender’s universe. I struggle with this series because Ender’s game was such a formative book for me in my younger years and I still compare many books to it in my adult years, but the next books in the series have put me into series (like 9 month long) reading slumps. All that being said I was nervous to break my nearly a year long hiatus to jump back into this series, but this book was a refreshing jump back into Ender’s world that helped bridge Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead for me a little more. I wish I had read this before because it might have helped the transition feel less jarring. I especially loved meeting Jane in this book- I felt that I had missed out when I read Speaker for the Dead. I am currently reading Xenocide (which of course feels more in line with Speaker for the Dead) so I am hoping I can ride the high of this book to get me through the next 19 hours of Xenocide….



Content: (spoilers ahead)

•Xenocide
•Murder
•War
•Mental Health Problems (in children & adults)

For some reason I delayed reading this book for a long time and now, when I finally read it, I feel like I should have picked it earlier. A great space sci-fi book I’ve been looking for a long time.
I knew nothing about the series and was sure that John Paul Wiggin is Ender, but was surprised to discover that he’s actually his father.
The first two novellas are about Ender’s father and the last one is about Ender. It was a bit confusing, but I assume that’s because I know nothing about the Ender’s universe. Probably you should first read the original story and at some point jump to this one.
My favorite was the Teacher’s Pest. He is so bold there and I like how he approaches the professor. They fit together greatly.

Those wanting to know the origin of Jane?

After finishing Ender In Exile, I wasn't completely satisfied due partially that one of the most important characters to the series wasn't mentioned at all. This book contains four short stories (including the meeting between Jane and Ender. The book is short and fairly satisfying. I was intrigued by the first two stories about Enders father (the first tale) and how his mother and father met. The third tale is the original novella of Enders Game. It's great but I'm so glad that the full novel was written. The story barely touched on the character at all but rather with his battle stories. Finally, the last story is about his meeting of Jane. It wasn't my favorite and had a more comical feel than I expected (which isn't bad) but it was a nice read nonetheless. Overall, it's a nice quick read if you're between books in the series. It gives some light background to characters as well as the original Enders Game. I would suggest this novel if you are interested in the Enders Series (not so much if you aren't)

OSC's writing did not age well for me.

Four enjoyable short stories from the Enderverse, including the original short story that got it all started in the first place.
I began with the expanded "Ender's War," as I imagine most people have. I read several of the other books in the series, and found their quality all over the place. I thoroughly enjoyed "Speaker For The Dead" and "Ender's Shadow", but other sequels in the series have been disappointing. Besides taking you back to where it all began, the other stories fill in other "gaps." While they didn't need to be filled, I did like them overall. The first two, which involve Ender's parents were very good stories, in and of themselves, even if they did raise some continuity questions. (Just how old is Captain Graff?) The last of the four, about how Ender first meets Jane, is weak, but still fun.

A very cool entry into the Ender Saga!

4 short stories packed into one book. 3/4 stories were extremely well done. The 4th was just a reprint of the Enders Game short story published long ago, before it was a full novel. So it wasn't bad, it was just a story I already knew.

We got to meet Enders parents and see things from both of their perspectives. How they met, and how they came together. And then a book that is set after the events of Enders game where a man tries to blackmail Ender.