[Plywood]

As the title says, I want to start both of these series but I am wondering which to start first. Which would you recommend bookGAF?

edit:

Well, I went through with Ender's Game, I could've finished it sooner but I took my time with it. I felt like it ran through some plot points at the end there, but whatever. Now I'm wondering if I should check out Speaker of the Dead or if I should move onto Foundation or one of the other two recommendations(The Forever War & The Mote in God's Eye.)

[SquiddyCracker]

Foundation, because it is easier to get into.

[Ledsen]

I found Ender's game to be a pretty shitty book, so I'd say Foundation by default although I haven't read it yet (it's in my bookcase though).

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

Just going by the first book enders game but ill take the whole foundation trilogy over enders anything

[magicstop]

Foundation, b/c after Ender's Game . . .








there is no series.

[pigeon]

Foundation stays good for like four or five books. Ender's Game is good for maybe two.

[Plywood]

Foundation, b/c after Ender's Game . . . there is no series.

Is the rest really that bad?

[jgkspsx]

I really liked Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide. Most of Card's stuff is not for me, though. And the whole Ender's Shadow stuff actually CAN ruin the original books for you, so be warned.

But you can't go far wrong with Asimov.

[Prophet Steve]

Foundation, because it is easier to get into.

Uh, what?

Ender's game is -

Oh never mind, talking about the entire series here. It kinda depends on how far you want to read. I only have read the first two books of the Ender series and I've read the Foundation trilogy, because those were the ones I saw recommended and I enjoyed all of the books of (Ender's Game the least). I would say it doesn't matter, but it depends on all the books you want to read from the series.

Are the Foundation books outside of the original trilogy recommended?

[Salvor.Hardin]

C. The Forever War

But yes, the Foundation trilogy is fucking awesome.

[pigeon]

Is the rest really that bad?

I like Speaker for the Dead okay. Some people disagree, and that's not unreasonable.

I really wouldn't recommend any of the rest of the books at all. Or anything else Orson Scott Card has written, said, done, or indeed believed.

[ultron87]

Is the rest really that bad?

No. The Ender sequels just become a different genre of science fiction and that turns a ton of people off.

[magicstop]

I really wouldn't recommend any of the rest of the books at all. Or anything else Orson Scott Card has written, said, done, or indeed believed.

Exactly . . .

[jgkspsx]

I really wouldn't recommend any of the rest of the books at all. Or anything else Orson Scott Card has written, said, done, or indeed believed.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I wanted to say.

[whatsinaname]

Prelude to Foundation
Forward the Foundation
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation
Foundation's Edge
Foundation and Earth
Ender's Shadow
Ender's Game

In that order.
Then stop.

[Bombadil]

I couldn't get into Foundation. It was too depersonalized.

[SquiddyCracker]

C. The Forever War But yes, the Foundation trilogy is fucking awesome.

Dito this man.

You also need to read The Forever War, and Forever peace, and that other one.

[ultron87]

Prelude to Foundation Forward the Foundation Foundation Foundation and Empire Second Foundation Foundation's Edge Foundation and Earth Ender's Shadow Ender's Game In that order. Then stop.

Eew. Read books in publishing order, not chronological.

[Salvor.Hardin]

I couldn't get into Foundation. It was too depersonalized.

My (user)namesake is what makes the Foundation trilogy one of the smartest written scifi books out there.

[Tesseract]

ender's game was written by a homophobic bigot, the foundation series was written by one of the smartest generalists to ever walk the earth.

do ender's game first. reading ender's game after the foundation series is like watching armageddon after 2001: a space odyssey.

but i'm gonna have to second salvor's forever war rec. it's kingshit gravy.

[Vlad]

No. The Ender sequels just become a different genre of science fiction and that turns a ton of people off.

Exactly this. I really enjoyed the first book, and I was initially quite surprised at the shift for the second one. Still, once I got used to the fact that the next book was going to be very different from the first one, I ended up really liking it. If you've read The Dark Tower books by Stephen King, it's kind of like how the first book ends up acting more like setup for the main character for the rest of the series, and while the events there aren't entirely inconsequential, they act more to flesh out the character's future motivation.

[Bombadil]

My (user)namesake is what makes the Foundation trilogy one of the smartest written scifi books out there.

Wasn't he briefly in the first book and then the book jumped in time 50 years? I must admit I liked him as a character but as soon as the book glossed over him I stopped reading.

[Draconian]

Foundation, because it is easier to get into.

Joke post?

[Andvary]

Foundation because it's the better series.

[tdrdrgn]

Ender's game is a pretty easy read. It took me under 2 days to finish it, so i'll say start with that. If you don't like the first book, then you could easily move on to foundation.

[SquiddyCracker]

Joke post?

Srsly.

The quality of the foundation series remains the same throughout, so if he likes Asimov's style he'll be able to finish of the entire series.
Ender's Game changes pretty radically mid-series, so he might take longer to finish the series.

Thus it's a better use of his time to go through the Foundation series as he'll probably finish the entire series in one go or get turned off by the first book.

[rhfb]

Eew. Read books in publishing order, not chronological.

Seriously. I'd never suggest anyone read Prelude / Forward before regular old Foundation.

And I guess I need to eventually go out and buy Foundation and Earth since I've never read it, even though I try to read through the rest of the series at least once a year.

[ElectricBlue187]

Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are both fantastic. Foundation is a bit too antiquated for me

[Dalauz]

Foundation
Ender's Game
The Mote in God's Eye
Foundation & Empire

[ronito]

Ender's game is really just a book. Outside of speaker for the dead and Xenocide the rest are the same as the first book

Foundation isn't terribly well written but it has an incredible premise and is really well thought out.

I'd say it's what you're in the mood for.

In the mood for an action flick? Ender's game.

In the mood for a film? Foundation.

[tokkun]

The quality of the foundation series remains the same throughout, so if he likes Asimov's style he'll be able to finish of the entire series.

Really disagree with this. The first 1-2 Foundation books were basically about the question of whether there is a natural order to societal development. Even though the premise of psychohistory was completely unbelievable, they were interesting if viewed as sort of a socio-economic version of morality plays.

However Asimov apparently realized how dumb psychohistory - a point that Seldon himself eventually brings up in one of the prequels - was and devoted the entire remainder of the series is to a string of ever evolving deus ex machina retcons.

The early books attempt to be hard sci-fi; the later books lean more towards 'space fantasy'.

[Hasardeur]

Foundation is really rather excellent (just read it on a train ride 2 days ago)

[TomServo]

Just going by the first book enders game but ill take the whole foundation trilogy over enders anything

This is the way I feel as well.

When it comes to the first book in each series, it's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison, since Foundation wasn't written as a single novel.

[Fusebox]

Enders Game. You can finish it quickly, pretend there are no sequel and then move straight onto Foundation which is a much heavier read.

[Pau]

I couldn't get into Foundation. It was too depersonalized.

Basically. I've always thought I've been missing something because I didn't enjoy Foundation at all.

But yeah, Ender's Game is the lighter read, so really it comes down to what you're in the mood for.

[Plywood]

Well, I went through with Ender's Game, I could've finished it sooner but I took my time with it. I felt like it ran through some plot points at the end there, but whatever. Now I'm wondering if I should check out Speaker of the Dead or if I should move onto Foundation or one of the other two recommendations(The Forever War & The Mote in God's Eye.)

[Cyan]

Well, I went through with Ender's Game, I could've finished it sooner but I took my time with it. I felt like it ran through some plot points at the end there, but whatever. Now I'm wondering if I should check out Speaker of the Dead or if I should move onto Foundation or one of the other two recommendations(The Forever War & The Mote in God's Eye.)

Ender's Game is amazing (don't know wtf is wrong with some of the people in this thread), but the rest of the series... well, do you like philosophical maundering?

[The Technomancer]

Man, I love Ender's Game so much but hands down I'd say Foundation

EDIT: Thread is a bump apparently

Well, I went through with Ender's Game, I could've finished it sooner but I took my time with it. I felt like it ran through some plot points at the end there, but whatever. Now I'm wondering if I should check out Speaker of the Dead or if I should move onto Foundation or one of the other two recommendations(The Forever War & The Mote in God's Eye.)

Yeah, it does run through some plot points at the end because it has to set up Speaker. He didn't want Speaker to open with the events at the end of EG and then jump forward...well...you'll see

[Plywood]

Ender's Game is amazing (don't know wtf is wrong with some of the people in this thread), but the rest of the series... well, do you like philosophical maundering?

Depends, is it bad anime philosophical maundering or not?

Yeah, it does run through some plot points at the end because it has to set up Speaker. He didn't want Speaker to open with the events at the end of EG and then jump forward...well...you'll see

Well now you've piqued my interest a bit.

[The Technomancer]

Depends, is it bad anime philosophical maundering or not?

Orson Scott Card is, at his best, one of the best character driven authors in science fiction, and this is especially true in Speaker for the Dead. Everyone says that the final book, Children of the Mind, is philosophical, but I never really understood that description. I think people use it because that's the book that departs the most from being science fiction and really just plays around with metaphysics and stuff.

[not psycho]

As a series, Foundation. Just keep in mind the books are not complete on their own.

Ender's Game is great and you can stop there if you want (though I also liked the next one).

[Grakl]

I wholly enjoyed the Ender series up to Ender's Shadow; each book is good, though it does meander a bit in Children of the Mind. I haven't read anything past Ender's Shadow, and I'm not sure that I will, but I can say that Ender's Game, Speaker of the Dead, and Xenocide I loved. Ender's Game is a really easy book to get into, but the latter books are a different style; still, they aren't hard reads, and I recommend reading them first.

The Foundation series is absolutely amazing. I only say read this second because it blows the Ender series out of the water - no surprise there, really. Read them in order of publication (or, you know, the original trilogy). Also read the Robots series.

[Foolworm]

Foundation: The original trilogy only, then skip ALL the prequels/sequels and go straight for Psychohistorical Crisis by Donald Kingsbury.

Ender's Game takes a philosphical bent after the original, so if you're fine with that it's a good series. There's a reason why OSC is the only author who got both the Hugo and Nebula back-to-back.

If you want stories that are built around a single concept, I would recommend Ringworld and Protector by Larry Niven.

Short Stories: Ted Chaing - the fellow blows my mind.

[Switters]

Wasn't he briefly in the first book and then the book jumped in time 50 years? I must admit I liked him as a character but as soon as the book glossed over him I stopped reading.

Me too. :( I felt so lost without him. Dude was #FUTURESWAG

[Cyan]

Orson Scott Card is, at his best, one of the best character driven authors in science fiction, and this is especially true in Speaker for the Dead. Everyone says that the final book, Children of the Mind, is philosophical, but I never really understood that description. I think people use it because that's the book that departs the most from being science fiction and really just plays around with metaphysics and stuff.

To be a little more fair, Speaker is a perfectly fine book. It's just not at all what I was expecting after Ender's Game. The latter two go a little more off the rails.

I enjoyed the parallel Shadow series a lot, though it falls off a bit midway through.

Short Stories: Ted Chaing - the fellow blows my mind.

Oh my God, yes. When he's on, he's like a latter-day Borges.

Tower of Babylon, Understand, Story of Your Life, and especially Exhalation. Amazing stuff.

[coldvein]

foun-day-shun

[Jackpot]

The Ender series takes too big a change and doesn't really relate much to the first book. Bean's series is more that kind of thing with strategy and armies and wars on Earth.

[Mariolee]

I hated Speaker of the Dead, but loved Ender's Game. Ender went from merciless complex child in the first book to some sort of shrewd pure-as-snow figure in the second. Honestly, I may have liked Speaker of the Dead if it weren't at all related to Ender's Game and had totally different characters or something. What they did to Ender's character was absurd in my humble opinion.

[LCfiner]

I’m reading through the Foundation series now (currently at Foundation’s Edge, the fourth book after his long time away from the series) and I quite like the books.

Although, if you read all the books in a row like I just have, the plot progression structure of having two people in a room talking for 50 pages can seem a bit repetitive after a few times.

Still fun to read, though

[Plywood]

Well I guess I'll try out Speaker of the Dead and if that doesn't work out I'll just move on(likely to Foundation).