Ender’s Game 2: The Buggers Strike Back

Orson Scott Card, why can’t you be more like Suzanne Collins?

Of course there is no “Ender’s Game 2.”  Yes, there is a sequel to “Ender’s Game,” but it’s not really a sequel.  The introspective and philosophical novel, “Speaker for The Dead,” about Ender Wiggin’s life as an adult, has nothing to do with the experience of “Ender’s Game.”

Card wrote many books spun-off from “Ender’s Game,” and none is a proper sequel.  What we want in a good sequel is to see our hero do it all over again.  Having just begun to relax after vanquishing enemies, the hero finds out that first bit was just the tip of the iceberg.

Harry Potter had to fight Voldemort seven times! (over the course of eight films).  Katniss Everdeen only  gets a six month break before she finds President Snow in her living room.  Luke, Frodo, Tony Stark…  the modern hero must make at least three journeys.

That’s not just because Wall Street really loves an endless franchise.  The audience says, “That was fun, let’s do it again!”  After a great story we want to know what happens next.  Not, “What happens when the hero is all grown up and vaguely troubled by their past?”

Unless “Ender’s Game” gets a “Star Trek”- like reboot, nothing happens next.