Books Similar to Ender's Game?

[L.A.]

Please send/post your suggestions for teen-aged sci-fi fantasy similar to Ender's Game. This is for a teen-aged boy who specifically "doesn't want a book with too much romance. Once in a while is okay, but not every few pages," says he. Thanks so much.

[James]

I would recommend the Hunger Games trilogy. Post apocalyptic world where teens have to fight to the death.

My son (16) is also a fan of John Scalzi's sci-fi books.

[L.A.]

Yes, he's also read and liked the Hunger Games. We will definitely take a look at John Scalzi.

[Dylan]

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Tunnel in the Sky by Robert Heinlein

[Roger]

Look at some of the older SciFi like Asimov, Verne, Hugo, etc. The Foundation series would keep him busy for a while.

[L.A.]

Excellent. I appreciate these suggestions.

[Frank]

Any of the Heinlein juveniles would probably work, Tunnel in the Sky, Podkayne of Mars, The Rolling Stones, Star Beast, Citizen of the Galaxy.

[Penny]

If he hasn't already read the sequels and companion series I highly recommend those! The Ender's Saga series (http://www.goodreads.com/series/43963...) which starts with Ender's Game is set mostly on other planets with some more interesting Aliens. The Shadow series (http://www.goodreads.com/series/40409...) starts with Ender's Shadow which is a retelling of Ender's Game from a different character's point of view. If he hasn't read it I'd suggest you start there. The sequels deal with the power struggle on Earth after the events in Ender's Game.

[Stephen]

All of the first three Ender books are worth a try.

[DavidO]

Frank wrote: "Any of the Heinlein juveniles would probably work, Tunnel in the Sky, Podkayne of Mars, The Rolling Stones, Star Beast, Citizen of the Galaxy."

These are very enjoyable and don't get as political as his adult stuff. Although I'll never understand why he thinks nuclear rockets are such a great idea. One accident would be a gigantic catastrophe.

[Trike]

Tunnel in the Sky by Robert Heinlein.

Teen adventure series by John Varley:
Red Thunder
Red Lightning
Rolling Thunder


The teenage superhero books by Jonathon Carroll would probably be up his alley, too.

Quantum Prophecy
1. The Awakening
2. The gathering
3. The Reckoning

A Super Human Clash
1. Super human
2. Ascension
3. Stronger

[Becky]

Roger wrote: "Look at some of the older SciFi like Asimov, Verne, Hugo, etc. The Foundation series would keep him busy for a while."

I really enjoy Asimov, as well as Orson Scott Card! Have been reading Robert Jordan too.

[John]

I'll second the suggestion about early Heinlein, including Starship Troopers (never mind the hokey movie they made of it -- the book is worth reading).

For more recently-published books, you might try David Weber's new "teen" series which begins with A Beautiful Friendship and continues with Fire Season. It follows the adventures of a teenaged girl living on the newly-settled planet Sphinx, who becomes the first human "adopted" by an intelligent, empathic six-limbed Sphinxian arboreal known as a "Treecat" (a critter that is well-known to fans of Weber's Honor Harrington series).

[L.A.]

These are great. We will be looking at all of them.

[Pickle]

i thought was very good

[Peggy]

Some of Mike Resnick's older stuff might work. Santiago, Ivory, or maybe Stalking the Unicorn. Resnick also has some nice anthologies.

[Stephen]

Mortal Engines is a great book. Must re-read that one some time...

[Rollie]

I would have suggested
Heinlein's Starship Troopers
since I find it Ender's Game's
Adult version. Its bluntness didn't just made me that well .
Mortal Engines is great choice, too.
The rest books of Ender Saga are too matured and scientifically
complicated for me that I don't think
they fit for teens, unles such genre is
their forte. Same with the rest books
of Ender's Shadow because it is a
political science series.
Nevertheless, both series are my all-
time favorites. So, give him a go for
these books.
I haven't read yet other books
mentioned above but I think they
are great choices, too. However, if he
is looking for a character-centered
book and likeable one, I recommend
Dune by Frank Herbert. It is filled
with actions and twists. Though, it's
also a hardcore sci-fi book.

[Thomas]

Psion Beta by Jacob Gowans

Feels a lot like Ender's Game to me, even down to the arena combat for the kids.

[L.A.]

These are all just great suggestions!

[Stan]

I highly recommend the "Inda" series by Sherwood Smith. Orson Scott Card even accused Smith of partially stealing the plot from "Ender's Game." (He also said the books were very good.)

http://www.amazon.com/Inda-Sherwood-S...

[Rich]

I can't even remember being a teen, but you might look toward the fantasy side and go with Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series because of the young characters in the lead roles.

[Kevin]

Nothing will ever come close to Ender's Game, ever!

[Julia]

Little Brother, The Warrior's Apprentice and Valor's Choice are each very different from the OSC, but like Ender's Game, they are real page turners, appropriate for teens. #2 and 3 are the first of a looong series, #1 has a sequel out soon.

[Leonie]

Maybe try Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan. They're fantasy, and our 17 year old son has been reading them for years (as they're published). I like them too. There is a little romance, but it's minimal and doesn't get in the way of the action.

[L.A.]

An update that he read Ready Player One, can't wait for the next Cline book, and he rated it right with Ender's Game. Thanks, Dylan! We've noted all of these books. Yes, Leonie, he liked Ranger's Apprentice, too.

[D.L.]

At that age I read and absolutely loved Harry Harrison's The Stainless Steel Rat series. Funny sci-fi adventure stuff.

[Vardan]

you should also try Bill the Galactic Hero, which has a satiric reference to Ender's Game :)

[D.L.]

Loved Bill when I was young - the chicken leg cracked me up every time. Even the Deathworld stuff was great though, Harrison wrote some tremendous 'loveable-rogue' style characters.

[L.A.]

These are new to me, and great suggestions.

[D.L.]

Harrison is a gateway drug however, I ended up hooked on hard sci-fi as a direct consequence - so be prepared to administer regular doses of Larry Niven, Arthur C. Clarke, Stanislave Lem etc. Hope he enjoys.

[Isaac]

A book I rated up there with both Ender's Game and Ready Player One (my two favourite books) was the divergent series by Veronica Roth. Absolutely brilliant!

[Ajl]

I liked the David Eddings Belgariad books a lot. There are 5 in the series as well as a secondary series that also has 5 books. It has the same kind of theme as Ender's Game, but isn't a space age series more magic and swords and ancient gods kind of books, but definitely worth reading

[Neal]

Forever War and Forever Peace without a doubt. Could probably skip Forever Free.

[Greg]

Neal wrote: "Forever War and Forever Peace without a doubt. Could probably skip Forever Free.

"

I'd hit 'em both up - they're pretty short reads.

[Ben]

There not really SF but The Recruit and Stormbreaker are the first books in two different young spy series that are very action oriented. Teenage boys I know loved them I very much enjoyed the series' myself. The first books also share the protagonist at training camp element that is a big part of Ender's Game.

It does depend very much on what it was in Enders Game that he loved, was it the battles, the SF ideas etc. as this could help give sharper recommendations.

I second the Little Brother recommendation - hugely enjoyable book and like Ender's game there are sequels if he wants more.

[Reinoud]

Its not sci fi per se but i would highly reccomend Name of The Wind. It has the same comming of age the as enders game and also deals with a genius kid. I like it better than EG. The sequel is just as good.

[Kevin]

Old Man's War

[R.S.]

Treason was quite nice and should go over well since it was also written by Card.

[Kevin]

Also The Worthing Saga written by Orson Scott Card is the origin of all the science in Ender's Game.

[Gordon]

Regarding ur parameters I'm glad u liked 'Ready Player One' I was going to give another vote to that:

'Lost Fleet Series' & 'Beyond the Frontier' continuation by Jack Campbell or the 'Stark Wars' trilogy by the same author. That is not graphic in any category (language-descriptive violence, there is obv violence just not describing in detail how the top of persons head reacts to sharp or explosive objects lol) & plot not too complex yet fun to read, starting with the book 'Dauntless'.

Not sure how others felt about 'Star Trek' books, all the movies & grown up with shows but only read 2 Trek books, It was fun to read, think called 'Into the Darkness'? Maybe a more experienced Trek reader can give u (& me) a good starting point with the books.

[Mawgojzeta]

Vardan wrote: "you should also try Bill the Galactic Hero, which has a satiric reference to Ender's Game :)"


LOVE that series (even if he did not actually write them all). I would second this suggestion.

[Deborah]

If he likes ender's game (my all time favorite book as a teen!) he might enjoy the Philip k. dick short stories, Starhammer by Christopher Rowley or Isaac Asimov. All fantastic and what I read as a teen :)

[Jim]

'The Inverted World' by Christopher Priest is similar to the Ender's Game books in the sense that the plot involves the citizens being led to believe they are somewhere other than they really are and are performing a task that is not what they have been led to believe.

[MK]

How about the Uplift Trilogy, by David Brin? They're not really the same, but I recall reading them at about the same time, and thoroughly enjoying both.

[Mary]

Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett. It's Pratchett's best book.

Also, it has a teenaged boy dealing with an alien invasion. So to speak.

[The Angry Lawn Gnome]

How old a teen are we talking about? For younger teen boys I don't think you can go wrong with John Christopher's Tripods series, even though the series itself is coming up on fifty years old.

[Aaron]

Ohh hey he liked Ready Player One how about I just dump all these off.

Sword Art Online, by Reki Kawahara (2002)
Epic, by Conor Kosick (2004)
DAEMON, by Daniel Suarez (2006)
Halting State, by Charles Stross (2007)
Omnitopia Dawn, by Diane Duane (2010)
For The Win, by Cory Doctorow (2010)
REAMDE, by Neal Stephenson (2011)
Re-Monster is looking like the new up and coming one but...official translations are probably still years off.

Bujold, and Scalzi seconded.

David Weber's one off series like Excalibur Alternative and Empire from the Ashes are pretty good reads for YA.

[Balkron]

I have found nothing like Ender's Game in my search. However I have found some items I like almost as much.

1. Troy Rising Trilogy - Live Free or Die
2. Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
3. Ringworld series - Ringworld

None of these can stack up to Ender's Game. Ender's Game is the top of the stack when it comes to Sci-Fi.

[Alan]

Megatherium wrote: "How old a teen are we talking about? For younger teen boys I don't think you can go wrong with John Christopher's Tripods series, even though the series itself is coming up on fifty years old."

Fair enough . . . but speaking of John Christopher, ... no, dammit, I'm wrong! Can anyone identify a piece of fiction from late 60s/early 70s, theme is Britain cut off by a ?magical? event, children as heroes, magic in the form of weatherworkers among others (one of them got into real trouble by trying to hold Norwich City hostage under a thunderstorm for three weeks until the locals ran him out of town . . .
The series ends when the children discover the source of the magic - Merlin himself, re-awakened by a local pharmacist who is attempting to control the magus by addicting him to drugs . . . . ? I thought it was John Christopher, but Wiki says I am wrong. Anyone?