Customer Reviews

The Authorized Ender Companion

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a fan of Orson Scott Card's Ender series and was delighted to find this companion! I'm slowly re-reading the series and it's opened up my eyes as well as refreshed my memory on some of the characters and events! The pictures that are included in The Technology of Ender's Game, were very detailed and made the picture that was in my mind clear up. Black went into exclusive detail of every event, character, giving us a useful encyclopedia that needed to be created. This book provided a great insight to the Ender's Game. If you are just beginning to read the series, this is definitely a must have! & If you have already read the series than you should def get your hands on a copy because the detail and insight will def blow your mind! This companion NEEDED to be written and thanks to Jake Black it has! I give this novel 4 out of 5 paws!

For the Ender fans among us, this is a priceless jewel. Jake Black has authored a comprehensive encyclopedic listing almost every character, setting, and tool in the Ender books. Many of the entries are biographic in nature, and include notations on which book they appear in. There are notes on the comic books, and screenplay in development.

This rocks!

I understand the work behind such a project, and to complete it so well in an objective manner is difficult. It is easily readible, and can be used alongside the novels. I can easily imagine a 2nd edition, when Mr Card has reached book #15 and his canon has enlarged quite significantly.

Thank you.

Where are the pictures from the book covers and comic books?

I love this book, and it's not just because I happen to have written a chapter in it.

Well, maybe that has a little to do with it.

No, let's be honest, it probably has a lot to do with it.

But seriously, not only is the chapter on the "Technology of Ender's Game" fascinating, enlightening, beautifully and concisely written, wonderfully illustrated, etc., etc., etc. but I understand there are other chapters in the book as well.

For instance, there's a great chapter on the history of the movie-to-be, and all the trials and tribulations it's gone through and will probably still be going through as the screenplay is developed.

The first part of the book is the "encyclopedia" part, with details on what is probably all the characters, planets, etc., from most or all of the Ender's and Ender's Shadow books (who knows how many more will be written by the time you find this review?)

Fascinating stuff. Fun book. If you're reading this review, you're already and "Ender's Game" fan, and you know you want this book...

--Steve S.

I started reading the Ender books with the very first novelette about Battle School and then eagerly read each new novel as it was published. The final book Ender in Exile was published in 2009 and caps this very long series. The books cover many planets, characters and a long time line, so like the Dune series, a companion volume is helpful to the new reader to fill in the blanks, and to the longtime reader, to provide insight and additional detail that is enjoyable to read on its own.

All the major and minor characters are here (Ender's Jeesh or cadre from Dragon Army), the characters in Xenocide and Children of the Mind and the newer Shadow series that fills in from the end of the third Formic War until Ender finds a new home away from Earth.

If you are a fan of the series, this is a wonderful addition to the library, and if you are new to the Ender books (lucky you! to get to read them for the first time), this will provide a lot of valuable background, including some information on complex subjects like the Descolada Virus, the Pequeninos and even a schematic of the Battle School and the gravity-controlled battle rooms, which is absolutely fascinating. Great read!

This book is a must-have for those hard-core fans of the Ender and Bean series from Orson Scott Card, and it does provide some more insight into some of the technology, timeline, and history of Ender and many of the planets mentioned in the books. Overall, however, the book was much less exciting than I had hoped, and did not supplement the knowledge I already had as much as I thought or hoped it would.