Somewhat interesting, but not too rewarding short stories:
- two about Ender's father's childhood and how he met his mother
- one about how 20 year old Ender deals with an attempt to steal his inheritance and his meeting with an AI agent helping him deal with his taxes and other issues
- Ender's game short story - blah.

This "book" is actually a compilation of 4 short stories...
1. The story of Ender's father as a child
2. The story of Ender's father meeting his mother
3. The introduction of Jane
4. The original short story

I LOVED each of these short stories. They all add something to the universe of Ender's Game. Originally I thought that the original short story would be a waste of time because it is just a condensed form of Ender's Game. Despite what I initially thought, I think it WAS worth reading the original short story because it was interesting seeing how Ender's Game originated and what changes were made in order to extend the story.

Story #3 was about the introduction of Jane-- it has been quite some time since I read the series (hence my rereading of it), so initially, I did not make the connection of who this Jane program was. It was not until at least halfway through that short story that I remembered Jane from my original reading of the series. I feel like this should be read AFTER reading the initial series (not after the first book like I did... If I had not already read through the series once already I would have missed out on that connection)

My only issue with this book is specifically for the audiobook version--- I don't know what the sound editors were thinking with that intro/outro music when they were layering in the different audio-- the music is SO LOUD that you can't here the book narration! Especially the final outro music.

There were a few discrepancies in this book compared to the Books Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow.

There are differences with Graff's character and his age (within this book, I did not even consider the other books), who the other kids in Ender's "jeesh" for the final battle were, and with Bean's background story. I am sure there are more, but these were the ones that caused me to do a double take.

Otherwise this was a very enjoyable book of four novellas. I loved learning a little more about Ender's parents and how he meet "Jane".

Short read. Loved the first three stories. Which were about Ender's father as a child in Poland, Ender's father in college meeting his mother, and Ender first meeting Jane. The fourth story, the Ender's Game short story doesn't cut it in comparison to the full book. Nor does it fit with the "first meetings" concept since the war that Ender fought was the 3rd encounter. Oh well. Loved the 1st couple stories though. Jane was always one of my favorite characters and I liked her introduction. It was fun. They all were. Light, nothing too heavy. Fun stuff.

Entertaining prequels for Ender fans.

Is this book, First Meetings by Orson Scott Card, a good book? I think it qualifies to be considered a good book. This is because it makes connections with Ender’s Game, a book I very much enjoyed, and I thought it would be fun to read because I’d get to learn more about Ender’s universe. This book has successfully let me escape reality, and as an added bonus, this book contains pictures. They don’t make the book any less good, however, as First Meetings doesn’t rely on any pictures. But enough about pictures and more about the book’s details!

The book is laid out so that you’ll be reading different short stories that are related to the Ender’s Game series in chronological order. The first short story is the Hegemony searching for a future military leader in Poland and their discovery of John Paul Wiggin, who will grow up to be Ender’s father. After that, the next story shows John Paul Wiggin in university and how he meets an equally intelligent student. Then, we are shown a segment from Ender’s Game, though I don’t know why. The final story is of Ender in adulthood and how he deals with financial issues, which sounds normal, but you’re still sweeped away from reality as things take a strange turn right from the beginning (assuming you have only read Ender’s Game before this one, as I have). Because of all this, I would describe this book as an interesting book because it was fun discovering new things about Ender’s Game.

Although the book gives you a good time reading it, it isn’t so grand that it be considered revolutionary. It is short and I feel personally that some of the plots are not as memorable as the ones from Ender’s game. Ender’s Game has the plot of saving the world, where you feel emotion for Ender and his journey. In this book, there is no journey, only little anecdotes. But since I enjoyed reading this book, I don’t have any complaints. This book is short and it works out fine that way, so I wouldn’t change a lot about it.

But you should know that You need to read Ender’s Game before reading this book. It was a fun book to read mainly because you discover more about Ender’s universe. It’s not a book like Ender’s Game, but it does act as a fun little add-on to Ender’s Game. That means that if you enjoyed Ender’s Game, you’ll probably enjoy this book! I am concerned that I was meant to read another book before this one, but I am not in the mood to find out. Since I am not obliged to type what I rate this book out of 5, I think this book is worth checking out after reading Ender’s Game (or a sequel if you are supposed to read this after a sequel).

(I don't know how to write a proper review, so this may be inaccurate)

Probably the breeziest of all the reads I have planned for this year. This is a collection of four stories, including the original Ender's Game novella. The other three depict vignettes from Ender's life (between novels) or those of his parents (prior to the first novel).

Most of the story takes place entirely in dialogue, featuring the manipulative maneuverings of highly-intelligent people. That's always rewarding, of course, but the enjoyment is doubled when it's kids doing the maneuvering. I've always loved the way Card writes children's dialogue, and this book doesn't disappoint. And at just a couple hundred pages, it's the kind of thing you could finish in an afternoon, in between weightier tomes.

Since I decided start to get into Ender’s universe from this book instead to do the publication order the only clues I had about what was going on were my memories about the film I watched several years ago.

So from that point of view I think it is perfect, without tons of details you learn past, present and future of the world you will visit in the next books, that’s something that allow you to understand and learn without getting bored.

I don’t criticize the brief of the stories because I think what Orson Scott Card wanted for the readers wasn’t a prequel about Ender’s origins, for me the point here is giving a gift in shape of desired information, funny anecdotes and understanding. I’ve read lots of prequels and most of them are so long in details that you lose the point and they turn to be a lack for the saga.

A very quick read, but very well worth it as a supplement to the Enderverse. We see the origin of Ender's father John Paul, his mother Theresa, more detail regarding Ender, Bean, Graff and Anderson in Battle School (and Command School) and even the beginnings of Ender's exile from Earth, sparking the appearance of Jane. Not crucial to the series, but if you're invested in this series like me, it's a must-read.

I read this after Ender's Game but before the rest of the series, which I regret. The story about how Ender meets Jane convinced me that she was EVIL and throughout the entire rest of the series I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop to see her true colors, which never happened. I had a tainted view of her, and this story seems totally unneccessary since there is a perfectly good explanation of their relationship in the core series.

"Eu não estou interessado em política." "Você vive e respira política", disse John
Paulo. "Você acabou de chamar de 'estudos comunitários' e fingir
você só está interessado em observar e entender. Mas um dia você vai
ter filhos e eles vão viver neste mundo e você já se importa muito
em que tipo de mundo eles vivem.

This prequel was not developed enough to make me crave the first book in the series but it was not bad either so I will move on the next book. I hope it blows me away.