Where to start with Orson Scott Card
Begin with Ender's Game, the first book in the Ender Saga, published in 1985. This novel introduces the central character, Ender Wiggin, and establishes the military and psychological challenges he faces in a future where Earth is threatened by an alien species. Proceed through the Ender Saga in publication order: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, and the later sequels. The series continues with Ender's Shadow, which is the first book in the Shadow hexalogy and is set in the same universe but focuses on a different perspective. The Homecoming series begins with The Memory of Earth, which is also the first book in the Homecoming Saga. The Tales of Alvin Maker starts with Seventh Son, and the Formic Wars series begins with Earth Afire. The Pastwatch trilogy begins with Pastwatch, and the Women of Genesis pentalogy begins with Rebekah. Standalone works such as Songmaster, Wyrms, and A Planet Called Treason are not part of any series and can be read independently.
Series by Orson Scott Card
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Buy on Amazon1985 · Orson Scott Card
Ender's Game is a 1985 military science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. The story is set in Earth's future, after two wars against an insectoid…
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Buy on Amazon1999 · Orson Scott Card
Ender's Shadow (1999) is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card that takes place at the same time as Ender's Game. It tells the story from the…
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Buy on Amazon2008 · Orson Scott Card
Ender in Exile is a 2008 novel by Orson Scott Card that serves as a direct sequel to Ender's Game. It follows Ender Wiggin, who, after years of…
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Buy on Amazon2001 · Orson Scott Card
Bean and other members of Ender's Dragon Army return to Earth after winning the Formic War. Shortly after their return, all members of the army…
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Buy on Amazon2002 · Orson Scott Card
A 2002 novel by Orson Scott Card. As the nations of the earth attempt to control the children trained at Battle School, Peter Wiggin continues to…
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Buy on Amazon2005 · Orson Scott Card
A 2005 novel by Orson Scott Card in which Bean, nearing death, and his wife Petra search for their stolen children with the help of their former…
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Buy on Amazon1986 · Orson Scott Card
Speaker for the Dead is a 1986 science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card, published as a sequel to Ender's Game, which was released in 1985. The…
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Buy on Amazon1991 · Orson Scott Card
A 1991 novel by Orson Scott Card. On Lusitania, Ender finds a world where humans, pequeninos, and the Hive Queen could all live together, but the…
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Buy on Amazon1996 · Orson Scott Card
A 1996 novel by Orson Scott Card set on Lusitania, home to the Pequeninos, a human colony, and the Hive Queen brought there by Ender. The Starways…
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2012 · Orson Scott Card
Shadows in Flight is a science fiction novella by Orson Scott Card, published in 2012. It is the twelfth book in the Ender's Game series and…
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Buy on Amazon1987 · Orson Scott Card
Seventh Son is a 1987 novel by Orson Scott Card set in an alternate version of frontier America. Young Alvin is the seventh son of a seventh son, a…
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Buy on Amazon1988 · Orson Scott Card
Red Prophet is a 1988 novel by Orson Scott Card. It carries an age rating of PG-13, with a recommendation that readers have had "the birds and the…
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Buy on Amazon1989 · Orson Scott Card
Prentice Alvin is an alternate history and fantasy novel written by American author Orson Scott Card. Published in 1989, it is the third book in…
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Buy on Amazon1995 · Orson Scott Card
Alvin Journeyman (1995) is an alternate history/fantasy novel by American writer Orson Scott Card, the fourth book in his Tales of Alvin Maker…
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Buy on Amazon1998 · Orson Scott Card
Heartfire (1998) is an alternate history/fantasy novel by American writer Orson Scott Card, the fifth book in Card's The Tales of Alvin Maker series.…
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Buy on Amazon2003 · Orson Scott Card
A 2003 novel by Orson Scott Card set in an alternate history of North America where folk-magic drawn from the lore of its settlers is real and has…
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Year unknown · Orson Scott Card
The Tales of Alvin Maker is a series of seven alternate history fantasy novels written by Orson Scott Card. Published between 1987 and 2026, the…
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1999 · Orson Scott Card
Ender's Shadow (1999) is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card that takes place at the same time as Ender's Game. It tells the story from the…
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2001 · Orson Scott Card
Bean and other members of Ender's Dragon Army return to Earth after winning the Formic War. Shortly after their return, all members of the army…
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2002 · Orson Scott Card
A 2002 novel by Orson Scott Card. As the nations of the earth attempt to control the children trained at Battle School, Peter Wiggin continues to…
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2005 · Orson Scott Card
A 2005 novel by Orson Scott Card in which Bean, nearing death, and his wife Petra search for their stolen children with the help of their former…
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2012 · Orson Scott Card
Shadows in Flight is a science fiction novella by Orson Scott Card, published in 2012. It is the twelfth book in the Ender's Game series and…
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Buy on Amazon1992 · Orson Scott Card
The Memory of Earth, a 1992 novel by Orson Scott Card, is set on the planet Harmony, settled by humans nearly forty million years earlier and guarded…
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Buy on Amazon1993 · Orson Scott Card
A 1993 novel by Orson Scott Card. As Harmony's Oversoul grows weaker, the warrior Moozh has arisen to challenge its bans, winning control of an army…
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Buy on Amazon1994 · Orson Scott Card
The Oversoul's chosen people flee Basilica after the city is destroyed in their wake by General Moozh, traveling across desert wastes to a hidden…
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1995 · Orson Scott Card
Earthfall (1995) is a science fiction novel by American writer Orson Scott Card. It is the fourth book in the Homecoming Saga, a series that…
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Buy on Amazon1995 · Orson Scott Card
Earthborn is a 1995 novel by Orson Scott Card. Aboard a starship above Earth, Shedemai sleeps as the lone survivor of the Children of Wetchik,…
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Buy on Amazon1996 · Orson Scott Card
A 1996 novel by Orson Scott Card that interweaves a portrait of Christopher Columbus with the story of a future scientist who believes she can alter…
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Buy on Amazon2012 · Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
The mining ship El Cavador, located beyond Pluto, detects a fast-moving object approaching Earth. The crew initially dismisses it as unimportant.…
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Buy on Amazon2013 · Orson Scott Card
The book traces the events of the First Formic War, which took place a century before the events of Ender's Game. It follows Victor Delgado as he…
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Buy on Amazon2014 · Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
Earth Awakens is the story of humanity's first encounter with an alien species known as the Formics. Set nearly 100 years before the events of…
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Buy on Amazon2000 · Orson Scott Card
Sarah is a 2000 book by Orson Scott Card. It is part of the series The Women of Genesis pentalogy. Catalog genres: Religion & Spirituality, History,…
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2001 · Orson Scott Card
Rebekah is a 2001 novel by Orson Scott Card, part of the Women of Genesis series that began in 2000. The series centers on the wives of the Biblical…
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2004 · Orson Scott Card
Rachel and Leah is a 2004 book by Orson Scott Card. It is part of the series The Women of Genesis pentalogy.
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Buy on Amazon2010 · Orson Scott Card
Pathfinder is a 2010 novel by Orson Scott Card. Rigg, who can see the paths of any living being, loses his father and learns he has a sister he never…
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Buy on Amazon2012 · Orson Scott Card
A 2012 book by Orson Scott Card in which teenaged Rigg Sessamekesh, who can manipulate time, must assume more responsibility to prevent the…
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Buy on Amazon2014 · Orson Scott Card
In this 2014 novel, time-shapers Rigg, Umbo, and Param must stop the Visitors from ordering the destruction of the planet Garden, an…
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Buy on Amazon2011 · Orson Scott Card
The Lost Gate is a 2011 fantasy novel by Orson Scott Card, the first novel in the Mither Mages trilogy. It is followed by a second novel, The Gate…
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Buy on Amazon2013 · Orson Scott Card
In this sequel to The Lost Gate, Danny North, still in high school, holds within him the stolen outselves of thirteen centuries of gatemages, making…
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Buy on Amazon1979 · Orson Scott Card
Hot Sleep: The Worthing Chronicle is a science fiction novel written by American author Orson Scott Card in 1979. It is part of Card's Worthing…
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Buy on Amazon1983 · Orson Scott Card
This book, currently out of print and replaced by The Worthing Saga, follows Jason Worthing, a telepath and the best of the ark captains sent to seed…
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Buy on Amazon2006 · Orson Scott Card
The American Empire has grown too fast, and the fault lines at home are stressed to the breaking point, as the war of words between Right and Left…
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Buy on Amazon2009 · Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card returns to the near-future world of Empire, where the United States has fractured after a violent civil war. The conflict, sparked…
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The 1972 Annual World's Best SF
1972
The 1972 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is the first…
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The 1973 Annual World's Best SF
1973
The 1973 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is the second…
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The 1974 Annual World's Best SF
1974
The 1974 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is the third…
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The 1975 Annual World's Best SF
1975
The 1975 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is the fourth…
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The 1976 Annual World's Best SF
1976
The 1976 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is the fifth…
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The 1977 Annual World's Best SF
1977
The 1977 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is the sixth…
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The 1978 Annual World's Best SF
1978
The 1978 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is the seventh…
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The 1979 Annual World's Best SF
1979
The 1979 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is the eighth…
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The 1980 Annual World's Best SF
1980
The 1980 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is the ninth…
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The 1981 Annual World's Best SF
1981
The 1981 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is the tenth…
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Standalone books
Frequently asked questions
How many books has Orson Scott Card written?
We list 80 books by Orson Scott Card across 13 series, published between 1972–2021 — each shown in full reading order.
What order should I read Orson Scott Card's books?
Read each series in publication order. A good place to start is “Ender's Game.” Open any series above for its complete numbered reading order.
Where can I buy Orson Scott Card's books?
Every title links to Amazon from its series page — see our affiliate disclosure in the footer for how that supports the site.
Reading order compiled from author/publisher guidance and verified bibliographic data. Spotted a wrong order, a missing book, or any other mistake? and we'll correct it.