[juzzza]

I've always considered myself firmly a fantasy fan, rather than sci fi fan, although I am a sci fi movie addict!

Don't get me wrong, you will find a well-worn copy of Consider Phlebus in my home library and I really enjoyed Karen Traviss' City of Pearl trilogy... a lot!

But the majority of my books are fantasy, horror or non-fiction.

I thought I'd better check out Orson Scott Card and by pure accident, I bought Ender's Shadow... not realising that the whole series began with Ender's Game... anyway, a cool twist of fate means I am starting at the beginning of the story, albeit through Bean's pov rather than Ender's... but OH MY GOD... what a great story, and what a brilliant writer!

This discovery is similar to my experience with Robin Hobb... I started with the Liveship Traders and fell in love with her style and universe.

I am now keen to whip through the rest of Ender's adventure.

Thanks once again, SFFWORLD for helping me discover amazing talent.

Anyone else a fan of Orson... what else is available outside of the Ender/Bugger universe?

[KatG]

Juzz, you will want to read Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. I thought it kind of went a bit off after that, but there are some more books in the series. Card has a lot of random standalone sf titles, some of which are interesting, and a few other series. He also writes quite a lot of fantasy, so you could read that too, but I'm afraid I didn't like his most famous, the Alvin Maker books.

And as a moderator, I'm sure you know to search the SF Forum for Card threads that will give you more information. :)

[Jacquin]

OSC rocks, I love the Ender books, he's really quite preachy, but manages to do it at the same time as telling a great story about likeable characters. Just stay away from Empire and you won't go far wrong.

[Rob B]

I went through a run for a couple of years where I read much of OSC's stuff. I liked his Homecoming saga - a five book set inspired/based on the book of mormon. I'm not overly familiar with the Book of Mormon so I didn't pick up on the religious aspect of the storeis; I just thought they were pretty well told stories.

I also liked his Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, wherein time travelers try to fix the violence Columbus/Europeans inflicted on the Native Americans. Some found the story preachy, but I enjoyed it.

Kat is spot on though, you will want to read Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead two (rightfully so) classics of the genre.

[kater]

I agree with Rob, the Homecoming Saga is good whether you know anything about the book of Mormon or not, the last book is a wee bit annoying though. There's also a small book in the Ender universe called first meetings, which is a few novellaish size stories that pick out some fun things - like how Ender's parents met for example, it's good stuff once you've read the series. Not sf but still OSC is the Alvin Maker series, a fantasy based around the time of the American Frontier and manifest destiny. It's clever, quaint and very enjoyable. Odd as it may sound also worth reading are his books about writing, especially 'How to write Science Fiction and Fantasy', it's unpretentious, full of superb ideas and offers a decent insight into how he views writing in general without feeling the need to say you have to do X and you have to do Y.

[Phelann]

I loved his homecoming saga, but even more I loved the seventh son fantasy/alternate history series (except for the last one, The Crystal City, just stop before you get to that). The first 3 especially are phenomenal.

[nicba]

I too liked both the Ender and Alvin Maker tales.

He's also written a stand alone fantasy book called Enchantment. It's based in part on the sleeping beauty fairy tale, and on on some russians tales as well. And it's absolutely enchanting. :)

http://www.hatrack.com/osc/books/enchantment.shtml

[JonLaidlow]

I think Ender's Game is fantastic, and Speaker for the Dead too, but the later sequels were a bit of a waste of time. I really enjoyed the first 3 Alvin Maker novels until I realised there was some kind of Mormon subtext to it all, then I just grew disinterested and gave up. If he ever finishes the Alvin series I'll probably give it another try.

J

[U-Borat]

IMO, Ender's Game is brilliant, but the rest suffer from what I call Harry Potter syndrome, that is, they rely on the brilliant of Ender's Game, and are nothing more than money-makers.

Children of the Mind is possibly one of the worst books ever written.

[Shehzad]

I was reading Xenocide, and the book just didn't hold me. I sort of set it aside a while back and haven't picked it up yet. A far cry from the superb Ender's Game and almost-as-good Speaker for the Dead