The End of the Ender: Speaker for the Frustrated

I finished Ender's Game. I would have finished it a while ago, but I lost the book for about two weeks. I almost checked it out of the library or re-bought it, but then I decided not to. 

When I began, my friend Biz told me to take my time. Soak it in, she said. It isn't the same the second time. It got dark about halfway through, but I expect this from Orson Scott Card. I can re-read this no problem. 

The last two chapters changed everything. I don't think I could re-read it. It would certainly not be the same if I did, but I don't think I could bring myself to do it. I mean, maybe someday, but certainly not right now. 

I bought Speaker for the Dead, the second book in the series a few days ago. "Second book" is somewhat of an unfair designation, as the series goes so many different directions. There is the main storyline, of which SftD is the second book, but then there is an entire shadow storyline which takes place simultaneously. Further, the books are not all sequels in the way that we normally designate things sequels: they are more of a web of interrelated stories. 

Herein we find my biggest frustration with Orson Scott Card: he cannot let a series end. He is too attached to his characters. On the cover of Slanted Jack by Jack L. Van Name* is a quote from Card, in which he says that he'd like to see Jack in at least a dozen more novels. Card needs to learn to write endings as well as he writes stories. 

Let's take an example: I've been reading The Tales of Alvin Maker. I have read the first three books. While I've enjoyed the series, it should be over. However, there are three more books. Card will introduce characters, only to kill them off two or three chapters later. They will interact minimally with the main storyline and bear no consequence to the plot, but a few chapters were spent unnecessarily discussing their lives. 

At least in the Alvin Maker series there is a definite end. The end is hinted in the first book and openly discussed in the second. The other four books are a matter of getting there. In theory, Card could (and quite possibly will) continue writing Ender books until he dies. There is no definite end. There is no overarching goal. There is only the universe. 

Further, Card's protagonists always have special knowledge which no one else has. They do not communicate this knowledge (whether by decision or inability), but it is absolutely necessary to the whole of humanity. Instead they carry around their secret (whether represented by a golden plow or a silken egg) bringing about destruction (active or passive) of everyone else by accident. And yet somehow these are the good guys. 

despite my frustrations with Card (a list from which this is only a sampling) I cannot not read him. He draws me in. I get attached to the characters. I never get closure, so I never stop reading. His words ring through my mind in a way that few authors can achieve. And unfortunately, as if it were written by Card himself, this post doesn't really have an ending. 

*Van Name is without a doubt the worst pseudonym I've ever seen - it seems like more of a placeholder. On the off chance that actually is his real name, he should have used a pseudonym. 

I finished Ender's Game. I would have finished it a while ago, but I lost the book for about two weeks. I almost checked it out of the library or re-bought it, but then I decided not to. 

When I began, my friend Biz told me to take my time. Soak it in, she said. It isn't the same the second time. It got dark about halfway through, but I expect this from Orson Scott Card. I can re-read this no problem. 

The last two chapters changed everything. I don't think I could re-read it. It would certainly not be the same if I did, but I don't think I could bring myself to do it. I mean, maybe someday, but certainly not right now. 

I bought Speaker for the Dead, the second book in the series a few days ago. "Second book" is somewhat of an unfair designation, as the series goes so many different directions. There is the main storyline, of which SftD is the second book, but then there is an entire shadow storyline which takes place simultaneously. Further, the books are not all sequels in the way that we normally designate things sequels: they are more of a web of interrelated stories. 

Herein we find my biggest frustration with Orson Scott Card: he cannot let a series end. He is too attached to his characters. On the cover of Slanted Jack by Jack L. Van Name* is a quote from Card, in which he says that he'd like to see Jack in at least a dozen more novels. Card needs to learn to write endings as well as he writes stories. 

Let's take an example: I've been reading The Tales of Alvin Maker. I have read the first three books. While I've enjoyed the series, it should be over. However, there are three more books. Card will introduce characters, only to kill them off two or three chapters later. They will interact minimally with the main storyline and bear no consequence to the plot, but a few chapters were spent unnecessarily discussing their lives. 

At least in the Alvin Maker series there is a definite end. The end is hinted in the first book and openly discussed in the second. The other four books are a matter of getting there. In theory, Card could (and quite possibly will) continue writing Ender books until he dies. There is no definite end. There is no overarching goal. There is only the universe. 

Further, Card's protagonists always have special knowledge which no one else has. They do not communicate this knowledge (whether by decision or inability), but it is absolutely necessary to the whole of humanity. Instead they carry around their secret (whether represented by a golden plow or a silken egg) bringing about destruction (active or passive) of everyone else by accident. And yet somehow these are the good guys. 

despite my frustrations with Card (a list from which this is only a sampling) I cannot not read him. He draws me in. I get attached to the characters. I never get closure, so I never stop reading. His words ring through my mind in a way that few authors can achieve. And unfortunately, as if it were written by Card himself, this post doesn't really have an ending. 

*Van Name is without a doubt the worst pseudonym I've ever seen - it seems like more of a placeholder. On the off chance that actually is his real name, he should have used a pseudonym. 

The End of the Ender: Speaker for the Frustrated