Book Recommendations Day 3: Orson Scott Card

On Tuesday I told you my favorite author was Alastair Reynolds.  That being said, my favorite book, Ender's Game, is actually written by Orson Scott Card.  Card's bibliography is massive and covers several genres, but he is most well known for his science fiction work.  Card is an extremely decorated author, and is the only science fiction writer to win both the Hugo and Nebula awards for two years back to back.

Card has an extremely relatable style of writing.  He has an uncanny understanding of human emotion and thought processes, and can expertly convey this through his characters.  Card has a way of describing complex situations eloquently and intelligently, but also in a way that everyone can instantly grasp.  I have often said that reading Card's work just makes me feel smart.

Ender's Game tells the childhood story of prodigy, Andrew Wiggin (Ender), as he is chosen for battle school and trained to lead a military force against an alien species that threatens all of humanity.  If you haven't read Ender's Game before, you need to do so now.  I think I would be hard pressed to find someone who didn't enjoy at least part of this book.  Go read, I will wait.  

Now that you've read Ender's Game, you are no doubt desperate for more Ender.  You are in luck!  There are several sequels and even a spin-off series available.  Just recently, a direct sequel to Ender's Game was released, but I suggest you wait to pick it up.  If you fall as deeply in love with this universe as I did, you will want to read all the other books before this one.  The spin-off series follows Bean, a character from Ender's Game.  The first Bean novel actually takes place concurrently to Ender's Game.  After that, the Ender and Bean novels split off and each character has his own story.  So here is my suggestion on the order you read these books:

Ender Series 

Ender's Game 

Speaker for the Dead

Xenocide 

Children of the Mind

Bean Series

Ender's Shadow 

Shadow of the Hegemon

Shadow Puppets 

Shadow of the Giant

Ender's Game Direct Sequel

Ender in Exile 

You really can't go wrong with any of these books.  Be aware that the Ender series drastically changes after Ender's Game, but stick with it, it's worth it.

As I said, Card has written a LOT of books.  I'm sure you will be entertained by anything of his you pick up, but let me also recommend a couple other books outside the Ender universe that I particularly enjoyed.

Pastwatch follows the story of a group of future scientists who discover the technology to go back in time.  They make the decision to return to the time of Christopher Columbus to attempt to alter our past for the better.

In The Worthing Saga, people have discovered the means to continue living indefinitely.  The world eventually becomes completely corrupt and humanity almost destroys itself.  Ships are sent out to far away planets, carrying the means to start new civilizations.  Jason Worthing is in charage of one of these ships and The Worthing Saga is his story.

Gosh, reading back over all this I'm beginning to wonder if maybe Orson Scott Card really is my favorite author.  I guess it depends on the day!  Anyway, do yourself a favor and check out this amazing author if you haven't already.