Ender in Exile

Ender in Exile is one of the better novels in the Ender series. It takes place more or less contemporarily with Shadows in Flight, - the final book in the Ender's Shadow series (so far) - and also the final chapter in Ender's Game, though with near-light-speed travel, contemporary is a relative term.

Card wrote the novel Ender's Game as a prequel, or back story, to Speaker for the Dead. Ender in Exile adds to that back story. For those who may be just beginning the Ender series of novels, I'd recommend reading the Shadow series after Ender's Game, and then Ender in Exile before readingSpeaker for the Dead, and the novels that follow it.

In criticism, I think Card spent too much time in development of Dorabella and Allesandro, who ultimately turned out to be minor characters, and too little time in the development of Randall Firth, who in his new persona Arkanian Delphiki, could in fact get a spin-off story of his own, similar to Bean and the rest of the jeesh in the Shadow series.