Way to Pull a George Lucas, Mr. Card

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card

You know how franchises sometimes make another movie or a spin-off of something just because the original is wildly popular and want to keep the gravy train rolling? And the newly created entertainment is just a shadow of the original and you wish it wasn't created in the first place? If you're not quite certain what I'm talking about just refer to Episodes I, II, and III of Star Wars and the joke that was the fourth Indiana Jones movie. Or read Ender in Exile.

Now, I am a huge fan of Ender's Game. Seriously, I read that book at least once a year, and right now am rereading the Ender's Shadow series. And so when Ender in Exile came out, of course I had to get it. And while it was nice to extend my time with Ender, and getting to see him grow a little older (sort of), there were numerous issues with book that led me to not enjoying it as much as I hoped:

1. Valentine (Ender's sister) has become exceptionally whiny and overbearing.
2. Part of what made Ender so wonderful was his ability to love and understand before ultimately destroying something. In Exile, his characterization is a shell of that. It's fairly one dimensional.
3. The climax of the story is completely abrupt and random.
4. Exile is supposed to directly follow Ender's Game, in fact, there's even some overlap. However, if you hadn't read the Ender's Shadow series (I have) or the Speaker for the Dead series (I haven't, but plan to), which are both divergent continuations of Ender's Game, you will get massively confused. Kind of like reading that sentence. Card assumes his readers have detailed knowledge of those two series and refers to events that occur in them constantly. But his reference to the events are not clear and would be impossible to follow if his readers actually read Exile right after Game, without reading the original follow-up series.
5. Too much talk, very little action. I've become very aware of this trap since Twilight, and Card fell into it. And the brief moment of action, the climax, was so jarring from the rest of the novel because there had been no set up for that flow.

So do yourself a favor, don't watch Episodes I, II, and III of Star Wars, the fourth installment of Indiana Jones, and don't read Ender in Exile. Stick with the originals.