The Ultimate Orson Scott Card thread

[Jace]

I'm setting this thread up specifically to talk about the work of author Orson Scott Card. I'll start things off with listing the books of his I've read.

-Ender's Game: Hands-down my favorite book of all time. The perfect commentary about war and the nature of survival.
-Ender's Shadow: A fun experiment. Taking place at the same time as Ender's Game but with Bean as the protagonist.
-Shadow of the Hegemon: The second book in the Shadow series, establishing Achilles as the main antagonist.
-Shadow Puppets: The third book in the series and the last one I've read. Loved the conclusion.
-The Memory of Earth: First book in the Homecoming series. Hated the Deux Ex Machina ending it IS based on religion though.

I've also seen the Ender's Game movie and (SPOILERS) didn't like it that much because Bonzo didn't die. I understand they did this so that they could get a PG-13 rating but the accidental implication that one human dying is bad BUT a whole species getting killed off off-screen is A-OK really irks me.

and right now I'm currently reading Enchantment. It's pretty good so far.

I also read most of Speaker for the Dead.

So go ahead and share your opinions!

 

[raisindot]

I'll bite.

I started reading Card, oh, decades ago...I think in the late 80's, when he was recommended to me by a friend.

Ender's Game blew my mind, and its immediate sequel, Speaker for the Dead, was nearly as good. The other books in the series declined in quality as Card pulled out a lot of mystic comic book type tricks and added characters that took away from the immediacy of the main story.

The other great early Card book is Songmaster, which is kind of a fantasy version of the Ender's Game concept of the extremely gifted child.

I also enjoyed his Alvin Maker series, which takes place in an alternate colonial American where the Revolution doesn't take place and most people have a "knack" (magical ability) or some kind. There are about seven (I think) books in the series and while some are better than others, the series holds up pretty well.

But I stopped reading Card after he started revealing his right-wing conservative side, which first appeared in his series of short stories about Mormons, and then in his increasingly homophobic and intolerant rantings in recent years. For this reason, I've essentially stopped paying attention to him.

 

[mirandashell]

That's the same reason I don't read him.

 

[DaveC]

But I stopped reading Card after he started revealing his right-wing conservative side, which first appeared in his series of short stories about Mormons, and then in his increasingly homophobic and intolerant rantings in recent years. For this reason, I've essentially stopped paying attention to him.

I'd not really heard of him until the Ender's Game film started to gain speed and all I would hear were critics boycotting or not wanting to review the film due to the reasons raisndot mentions...

Not sure if I'll ever read him or not...probably not.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

I still think he quite a good author and if one of his stories interest me I will read it, regardless of his leanings.

 

[Molokov]

Ender's Game is a fantastic and brilliant concept, and the book is worth a read. Even the Ender's Shadow series (following Bean) is good too and gives you a little more insight into the universe. (caveat: I've only read the first 3 and it was ages ago)

I found Speaker for the Dead/Xenocide/the other one to be arduous and woeful although some of the SF concepts in it were OK.

But yeah, I'll follow the concensus here: Once Card started ranting publicly on his distasteful views of homosexuality, I've really gone off him, and won't read any more of his stuff. I even avoided the Ender's Game film, but that was partly due to Card and partly due to poor reviews.

I would recommend people to read "Ender's Game" but that'd be it.