Book Order

[Ruba]

I've read most of the Ender and Shadow series and I wish I could start over knowing what I know now. Here is what I would recommend to a person starting out. What do you think?

- Ender's Game (Ender #1)
- Ender's Shadow (Shadow #1)
- Shadow of the Hegemon (Shadow #2)
- Shadow Puppets (Shadow #3)
- Shadow of the Giant (Shadow #4)
- Ender in Exile (Ender #2)
- Shadows in Flight (Shadow #5)
- Speaker for the Dead (Ender #3)
- Xenocide (Ender #4)
- Children of the Mind (Ender #5)

Here's what I don't know:
- Where does "First Meetings in Ender's Universe" fit?
- "War of Gifts" takes place in battle school. Should it go between Ender #1 and Shadow #1?
- Where does the "First Formic War" series fit? Does it make sense in order before starting the Ender series or do you need to read Ender's Game first?

[Nikki]

I don't know... I'm currently reading Xenocide but I accidentally skipped Ender in Exile. Personally, I want to read all of the Ender books and then all of the Shadow books, but, then again, I haven't read any of the Shadow books yet, so I don't know where to put them.

Saying that, I would probably just put those few you didn't know about at the very end, but I'm the kind of person who will read things in their allotted groups/order instead of in the actual order the plot goes in. For example, I read Kill Order after reading the rest of the Maze Runner series.

I mostly just go in the order they came out in (which is why I missed Ender in Exile), with few exceptions.

Hope this helps!

[Crandall]

I would say (and have a few times to friends) to read them in the order that Card wrote them.

[Lauren]

Ruba wrote: "I've read most of the Ender and Shadow series and I wish I could start over knowing what I know now. Here is what I would recommend to a person starting out. What do you think?

- Ender's Game (End..."
This is a great order to read the books in. When I first read the series (both Ender and the Shadow series) I bounced around all over the place. This order will make the most sense when it comes to keeping all the events in chronological order, or as much as you can. :) Enjoy!!!

[Crandall]

If the books were meant to be read in a specific order then the author would have written them in that order. Oh wait he did write them in a specific order! Interesting... wow what a neat concept to finding the best way to read the books. Here I'll help listed below.

1. Ender's Game (1985)
2.Speaker for the Dead (1986)
3.Xenocide (1991)
4.Children of the Mind (1996)
5.Ender's Shadow (1999)
6.Shadow of the Hegemon
7.Shadow Puppets (2002)
8.First Meetings (2002)
9.Shadow of the Giant (2005)
10.A War of Gifts: An Ender Story (2007)
11.Ender in Exile (2008)
12.Shadows in Flight (2012)
13.Earth Unaware (2012)
14.Earth Afire (2013)
15.Earth Awakens (2014)
16.Shadows Alive (forthcoming)
17.The Swarm (TBA)
18.The Hive (TBA)
19.The Queens (TBA)

[Lauren]

It's not necessary for you to troll book readers crandall. Luckily, in this country, and most for that mstter, you have a right to read whatever books in any order. Happy reading!!

[Crandall]

Trolling? LOL... Sarcasm is not Trolling. My comment is not directed at anyone. I simply posted my idea of the best way to read the Ender(verse) series or for that matter any series that is written by only one Author. Series like Star Wars/Stargate/Pride and Prejudice/Peter Pan/The Godfather/The Foundation Series... They have many authors and some span generations so, there is not one mind behind the plot and the order of the books.
And please don't state the obvious to me about "in this country" if offends me. I know very much the freedoms that I have served to protect and keep. You can read the books anyway you want. However the questions was "Here is what I would recommend to a person starting out. What do you think?" I posted what I thought.