I really enjoyed the first 2 stories about Ender's father, John Paul. Especially the second, where he meets Ender's mother, Theresa. His father was named after Pope John Paul II. Was his mother named after Mother Theresa?

The third story was my least favourite. It features Ender when his is twenty, on a new colony world and tax worker tries to steal from him. It is also in this story that Ender first meets Jane.

The last story was the original Ender's Game short story. Needless to say it was great, but it was also so similar to the novel that it was nothing new. I did enjoy the brief recap though, since it has been 7 years since I last read the Ender's Game novel.

Just read this again last night! My favorite short story in here is "The Investment Counselor" where we first encounter Jane. She is awesome and the comeuppance of Benedetto is particularly sweet. I love the Enderverse!

Read 11/2013
5/2014

Another fantastic book from the genius Orson Scott Card: a collection of short stories to discover the story behind the Bugger's war or the Xenocide.

How Ender's father meet each other, the war and what happened to Ender and Valentine after the war.

You feel the touch of a talended writer in these pages.

This book is interesting, since it's a collection of short stories. "The Polish Boy" is extremely well written and gives me strong Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow vibes. "Teacher's Pest" is also interesting, but honestly it ends too soon in my opinion. "Ender's Game" is honestly not good... surprising since i love the reenvisioned book so much. This story doesn't do anything to make me want to sympathize for Ender or to even understand the importance of some of the people and the war. "Investment Counselor" is an interesting tale, that i feel cuts too many corners trying to introduce elements of Ender's character that we know from the later books.

This story introduces Ender Wiggin (of 'Ender's Game') to the AI, Jane. Ender has just turned 20 and must figure out how to deal with his huge and hugely complicated trust fund. Jane presents herself as a piece of accounting software. While 'Jane' is the star of the show, here (by far the most intriguing and likable character in the story), the piece doesn't answer enough questions about her to really stand on its own - it feels like a piece of deus ex machina. The custom of 'speaking for the dead' as described here, is unconvincing - a better job has been done elsewhere in Card's work.

These short stories about the Wiggin parents' youth are fun. One thing that seems a little off is the fact that they had such a strong understanding of future demands that would be placed on them by the IF. This seems a bit unbelievable in light of these misgivings being not mentioned at all in Ender's Game.

The original short story of Ender's Game isn't very enjoyable in light of the depth and adventure of the full novel. However, the alternate (original) version still should be of interest to fans.

Somewhere around a 3.4-3.6 rating, for what it was. Ender's Game, the short story, was different than the book, but not so different as to be entirely foreign. Some characters were missing in it that the book had added, and such. I quite enjoyed it, and am not surprised it won awards all those years ago. It stands the test of time.

I enjoyed each of the other 3 stories, but found the romance of John Paul and Theresa to be utterly foolish. But it was still interesting, so I won't be too hard on it.

I did not read this consistently. I read some here and there and set it aside due from time to time, due to heavy work load. 12 hour work days, working with my woodstove and wood pile constantly, to heat my house, and my travel time to work, kept me very very busy.

"First Meetings in Ender’s Universe" by Orson Scott Card is a delightful set of short stories that catalogue, as the title implies, the different starting points that surround the famous 1977 novella Ender’s Game. The collection starts with two stories that follow John Paul Wiggin (the future father of Ender), first in his childhood when he is “selected” for his potential to procreate a brilliant military leader, then later as he starts college and meets the woman who will become his wife. The third story included is the original version of Ender’s Game, followed up with a tale about Andrew Wiggin (now infamous as “Ender the Xenocide”) who is struggling to pay taxes and finds himself a clever AI program to help with his money and personal security issues.

Overall, this book is a fun read. It’s not just because it consists of short stories, which naturally make a book easier to pick up and put down due to the segmented nature of the storytelling. The collection starts with a young but smart boy whose future is inadvertently mapped out for him even though he’s barely six years old. From there comes an adorable story of love at first sight, as our “hero” falls head over heels for his young teacher and proceeds to woo her with an impossible amount of take-out. Then comes the dark turn: Ender plays his game well – he’s been trained to, of course – but winning the “game” means wiping out an entire species and destroying an entire planet. Finally, after being labeled as a mass murderer and living on the run, Andrew/ Ender finds financial help in the unexpected form of a computerized personal assistant, and eventually discovers a purpose for his stigmatized life.

I have more to say on this book (and others!) in my blog! Check it out here:
http://www.lynnwallaceauthor.com/blog...

Humorous stories of Ender's parents and his tax attorney.

Having been written down years, may be decades after the first book and the other books in the series, there are obvious anomalies. Possibly intentional. However, none of them take away the joy and thrill of reading through the books. I wanted read the Ender's Saga again, but I realized that I have never read some of the other 'supplementary' sequels such as "A War of Gifts" and "First Meetings".

Card brings the sharpness to his writing like in all other books. And he also makes you think, especially in the "Teacher's Pest".

What? Did you think the plot of the story in which Ender's Dad met Ender's Mom would be a sappy romance?

This book surprised me. I was ready to be done the series with Children of the Mind. This wasn't a bad addition, with Jane's origin story, the story of Ender's parents, and a few other tidbits.

OMAIGAAA! Es raro porque creo que mas que una numeración 0.5, es una especie de compilacion de extractos de diversos puntos de la historia total. Pese a ello, la redacción y la forma de llevar los hechos incentivan a seguir adelante con la numeracion cronológica de número enteros.

A ver que sale, este estuvo ok.