First Meetings
In Ender's Universe
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4.4 • 103 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Welcome to the Enderverse.
When "Ender's Game" was first published as a novella twenty-five years ago few would have predicted that it would become one of the most successful ventures in publishing history. Expanded into a novel in 1985, Ender's Game won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novel. Never out of print and translated into dozens of languages, it is the rare work of fiction that can truly be said to have transcended a genre. Ender's Game and its sequels have won dozens of prestigious awards and are as popular today among teens and young readers as adults.
First Meetings is a collection of three novellas-plus the original "Ender's Game"-that journey into the origins and the destiny of one Ender Wiggin.
"The Polish Boy" begins in the wake between the first two Bugger Wars when the Hegemony is desperate to recruit brilliant military commanders to repel the alien invasion. In John Paul Wiggin-the future father of Ender -they believe they may have found their man. Or boy.
In "Teacher's Pest"-a novella written especially for this collection-a brilliant but insufferably arrogant John Paul Wiggin, now an American university student, matches wits with an equally brilliant graduate student named Theresa Brown.
It is many years since the end of the Bugger Wars in "The Investment Counselor." Ender's reputation as a hero and savior has suffered a horrible reversal. Banished from Earth and slandered as a mass murderer, twenty-year-old Andrew Wiggin wanders incognito from planet to planet as a fugitive. Until a blackmailing tax inspector compromises his identity and threatens to expose Ender the Xenocide.
Also reprinted here is the original landmark novella, "Ender's Game," which first appeared in 1977.
Fully illustrated, First Meetings is Orson Scott Card writing at the height of his considerable power about his most compelling character.
THE ENDER UNIVERSE
Ender series
Ender’s Game / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind / Ender in Exile / Children of the Fleet
Ender’s Shadow series
Ender’s Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight
The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens
The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)
The Swarm / The Hive
Ender novellas
A War of Gifts / First Meetings
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ender's Game, first published 25 years ago, and three other novellas by Orson Scott Card comprise First Meetings: In the Enderverse. In "The Polish Boy" (2002), which occurs between the two Bugger Wars, the Hegemony tries to draft a boy genius, John Paul Weiczorek, to help ward off an alien invasion. In "Teacher's Pest," written especially for this collection, John Paul (now known as John Paul Wiggin) spars with the brilliant graduate student who teaches his class at the university. John Paul's son, Ender Wiggin, stars in "Ender's Game," as he trains in Battle School to lead an army against an alien army. And finally, in "Investment Counselor" (2000), Ender has been accused of mass murder and, traveling as Andrew Wiggin, he avoids detection with the help of a mysterious financial adviser.
Customer Reviews
An amazing collection
This collection of four short stories is an amazing collection that fills in the gaps before and after Ender's Game and leading up to Ender in Exile.
I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in continuing reading through the amazing continuing saga of Ender and his comrades.
If you have read only Ender's Game, this leads into a third avenue of going through the saga. Originally you went from Ender's Game through Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide; then, Ender's Shadow and the Bean saga; now, there is this and on to Ender in Exile. In any case, all will provide a great journey through the Endervere.
After reading this, I'm genuinely interested in learning more about the Wiggin family pre-Ender. Learning about John Paul's early childhood really enlightens the reasoning behind Andrew's being a "third" and brings even more curiosity towards his siblings and what may have happened to Peter and Valentine during their testing process.
Ever wonder about...
Ever wonder how the meeting with Jane went? Ever wonder if Ender's parents were as smart as he and his siblings were?
Even though I thought the "Ender's Game" chapter could be left out, this was a fun reentry into the "Enderverse". As with Ender in Exile, Card is in his element as he opens up more of Ender's world for us to experience.
Ehhh
The beginning was very good and good at hooking the readers attention but it jut cuts off and goes back to ender in space which was very dull and poorly written I would say I want my money back but I don't only for the beginning of the book (in my opinion the author should have just wrote more about Enders parents and then the ending should have been when they came to take him to battle school.)