Best Orson Scott Card Books

Best Orson Scott Card Books Ranked

Born in Washington State in 1951, Orson Scott Card is an American writer who has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories. He writes mostly science fiction but also writes thrillers, historical fiction, fantasy, horror, and biblical fiction, in part because of his Mormon upbringing. 

His most notable works include Ender’s Game and The Tales of Alvin Maker. He has been the subject of controversy and even boycotts because of his views against homosexuality. He has won dozens of awards for his writing but has been hesitant to grant film rights to any of his books. Orson Scott Card also serves as a judge for Writers of the Future, a contest designed for amateur writers. 

Some of Orson Scott Card’s best books include the following:

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46. Invasive Procedures

Invasive Procedures: A Novel
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.303.073.19
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

George is both a brilliant scientist and insane, wanting to use his discoveries to make all humans more “perfect.” Frank is a virologist who sets out to stop George from doing crazy things. Which one will win?


45. Magic Street

Magic Street
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3.253.223.24
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Mack Street knows he’s different than most, especially when he enters another world through a portal where time and reality are both skewed. But through it all, he may just figure out who he is and why he’s here.


44. Treasure Box

The Treasure Box
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.333.203.27
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Quentin had a devastating childhood but is now a millionaire. When he meets Madeleine, who is just as uncomfortable with reality as he is, he thinks his life is complete. But there’s a lot about Madeline that he doesn’t know.


43. The Folk of the Fringe

The Folk of the Fringe
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.333.213.27
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Biological and cultural wars ended America, but now people in the Utah/Colorado/Idaho area are working to make things whole again to create a brand-new America.


42. Empire

Empire
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3.443.173.31
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

The American Dream has shattered into violence, and wars of words have been turned into shooting wars. Is it possible for anyone to bring the two sides together, and if so, how?


41. Earthborn

Earthborn: Homecoming: Volume 5
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3.413.263.34
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

This book is part of the author’s Homecoming Saga series and revolves around Shedemai, who now wears the Cloak of the Starmaster, and the Oversoul, who is still trying to find the one thing it has wanted for so long – the Keeper of the Earth.


40. Homebody

Homebody: A Novel
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3.403.273.34
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

When a loner buys an old Southern mansion and begins restoring it, he not only has to deal with the demons from his past but also the demons he has started to unleash since buying the home.


39. Wyrms

Wyrms
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3.393.333.36
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Is the duty to one’s race more important than the duty to one’s self? Patience finds out when she travels to the heart-soul of the planet to find out what her destiny is – and the destiny of the planet.


38. Lovelock

Lovelock (Mayflower Trilogy Book 1)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.473.363.42
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Lovelock is a monkey engineered to be perfect in every way, while his creator uses his attributes to improve mankind. But Lovelock is so smart that he knows he isn’t truly free, and one day he decides to do something about it.


37. Hart’s Hope

Hart's Hope
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.473.413.44
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

This is the story of Palicrovol, who marries Asineth but who is a cruel ruler. But eventually, she sends Palicrovol into exile to breed a son that could one day take the world back from a cruel leader.


36. Earthfall

Earthfall: Homecoming: Volume 4
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.513.383.45
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

The Oversoul of Harmony has chosen the Wetchik family to help it get back to Earth. But while they’re on the spaceship on the way there, the two children in the family become pawns in the struggle because each side wants something different from this adventure.


35. The Ships of Earth

The Ships of Earth: Homecoming: Volume 3
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3.553.353.45
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

The Oversoul has chosen people who have settled in a hidden valley where exiles from Earth left their starships – and the machines that can make them fly again!


34. Hidden Empire

Hidden Empire
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.643.353.50
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

America is devastated, and a political scientist named Averell Torrent is now president. He wants to expand America’s power into the rest of the world, and his opportunity to do just that comes sooner than he thought.


33. The Memory of Earth

The Memory of Earth: Homecoming: Volume 1
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.583.443.51
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

On the planet of Harmony, the Oversoul is in control and keeps it free of war and weapons of mass destruction. But when there is a problem with the data banks, the Oversoul has to act fast before everything gets out of control.


32. The Call of Earth

The Call of Earth: Homecoming: Volume 2
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.593.463.53
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Harmony’s Oversoul is growing weaker and Moozh, a warrior, is wreaking havoc on the planet and trying to overtake Basilica. What’s worse, Wetchik and his sons aren’t strong enough to stop this from happening.


31. The Crystal City

The Crystal City: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Book Six
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.613.453.53
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

This is a story about an entire colony where magic and folklore have an important role to play. This is the sixth book in Card’s Alvin Maker series.


30. A War of Gifts

A War of Gifts: An Ender Story (The Ender Quartet series)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.673.503.59
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

This is Card’s short novel about Ender Wiggin’s first year at the Battle School with its ban on giving religious gifts. When a student does just that, all hell breaks loose and no one knows what will happen next.


29. Lost Boys

Lost Boys: A Novel
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.593.623.61
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

When the Fletchers move to a tiny town in North Carolina, their son Stevie finds it hard to fit in at school. He turns instead to some imaginary friends – friends with the same names as kids who have recently gone missing in the town.


28. Heartfire

Heartfire: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Book Five
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.713.543.63
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Peggy has protected Alvin since his birth, but now that they are married, their journeys take them on two different paths. Now, Peggy has only one slim path she can take to take care of Alvin, and keep the rest of the world at peace.


27. Alvin Journeyman

Alvin Journeyman: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Book Four
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.743.573.66
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Alvin Miller is a gifted maker and uses his gift for the good of mankind. But his enemy, the Unmaker, is out to destroy him and even take his life from him.


26. Children of the Mind

Children of the Mind (Ender Quintet Book 4)
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3.773.543.66
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Jane is a computer intelligence that uses her powers to transport people to habitable planets for colonization. But now, the network is being shut down and she has to find a way to transfer her “soul” to a human before it is too late.


25. Shadows in Flight

Shadows in Flight (The Shadow Series Book 5)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.803.533.67
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

The fifth book in the Shadows series tells the story of a man who flees earth with three of his children while scientists try to figure out the ailments that plague them. They are eventually forgotten until a certain event changes everything.


24. The Gate Thief

The Gate Thief (Mither Mages Book 2)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.773.583.68
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

A sequel to The Lost Gate, it is the story of a teenager named Danny, a gate-mage, and the families who want to kill him because they can’t control him. Meanwhile, Danny comes face to face with two other mages and starts to understand a little more about the world around him.


23. Prentice Alvin

Prentice Alvin and Alvin Journeyman: The Third and Fourth Volumes of The Tales of Alvin Maker
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.793.653.72
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Alvin returns to the place of his birth to start his seven-year apprenticeship as a blacksmith. But as a Maker, he also has to learn to use and control his own special talents because if he doesn’t, his destiny will be unfulfilled.


22. Xenocide

Xenocide: Volume Three of the Ender Quintet
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.803.653.73
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

The planet Lusitania is in the middle of a war for its very survival, and its destiny lies in the hearts of a child named Gloriously Bright. Ender found that on this planet, everyone and everything is able to live together peacefully, or so he thought.


21. Songmaster

Songmaster
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.743.753.75
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Ansset has a beautiful voice and was kidnapped while he was young and brought to a retreat called Songhouse, where his world is filled with music. But soon, he is brought to the old Earth and his voice is put to the test, with everything he’s ever known riding on the results.


20. The Lost Gate

The Lost Gate (Mither Mages Book 1)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.823.693.76
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Danny North lives with his cousins, aunts and uncles, in a big house in Virginia. His cousins are finding their talents and niches, but he isn’t. What he doesn’t know is that secrets are being kept from him, and with good reason.


19. Shadow Puppets

Shadow Puppets (The Shadow Saga Book 3)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.903.643.77
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Ender Wiggin’s victory over the Formics had good results, but now, nations are rising against one another and wars are happening again. Is there any way to stop it from getting worse?


18. The Worthing Saga

The Worthing Saga
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.863.703.78
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

This is the story of Jason Worthing and what he found when he visited an unusual world where two types of people live extremely different lives. Two different societies existed, and they’ll be described in detail in this saga that consists of three different stories.


17. Red Prophet

Red Prophet: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Book Two
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.803.773.79
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

This is book number two in the Alvin Maker series, and it describes a boy of mysterious powers who is just getting familiar with the mysterious place he lives in and what the people are all about.


16. Ender in Exile

Ender in Exile (Ender Quintet)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.913.693.80
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

On Lusitania, a virus has been released called descolada. It is incurable and worse, it can destroy everyone if it leaves the planet.


15. Shadow of the Hegemon

Shadow of the Hegemon (The Shadow Saga Book 2)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.953.723.84
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Ender Wiggin and his team of child-warriors have won the War and people are going back to their lives before the war occurred. But new challenges arise as Earth becomes a battlefield once again.


14. Earth Unaware

Earth Unaware (The First Formic War Book 1)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.993.703.85
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

This is the story about the mining ship El Cavador, which picks up on its telescopes a fast-moving object. They believe it’s one thing, but they have to be sure. If it’s something else, a full-blown war may be at hand.


13. Treason

Treason
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3.903.803.85
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Lanik is heir to the planet Treason, which is a world without metals and therefore, they cannot get the iron they need to build a spaceship. But Lanik has a plan that just might work, which means they just might get that spaceship built after all.


12. Seventh Son

Seventh Son: Tales of Alvin Maker, Book 1
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.873.833.85
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Alvin is the seventh son of a seventh son, which gives him extraordinary powers. But there are already people out to destroy those powers and leave him with nothing.


11. Ruins

Ruins (Pathfinder Book 2)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.893.843.87
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Rigg and his friends cross from the world they’re familiar with to a brand-new one. There, they have to dig into their pasts and solve issues so that they can all have a future.


10. Earth Afire

Earth Afire (The First Formic War Book 2)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
4.053.723.89
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Describing the first Formic war, it occurs 100 years before Ender’s Game when the aliens arrived on Earth with both fire and death. Victor beat the alien ship to Earth, but not by much. The government is not convinced that there is a real threat ahead.


9. Shadow of the Giant

Shadow of the Giant (The Shadow Saga Book 4)
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4.003.803.90
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Bean had a rough childhood and had to join a children’s gang to survive, but he ended up civilizing them than growing old himself. Next, he was discovered by the recruiters for the Battle School.


8. Enchantment

Enchantment: A Classic Fantasy with a Modern Twist
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.903.923.91
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

If you love the story of Sleeping Beauty and would like to enjoy a different take on it, this book is for you. Unique and innovative, it is one version of this amazing fairy tale that you will never forget.


7. Earth Awakens

Earth Awakens (The First Formic War Book 3)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
4.093.743.92
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

This is the third book in The First Formic War series and tells about the experiences of the first people who get to travel from Earth to the other planets in the Solar System.


6. The Abyss

The ABYSS
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4.083.783.93
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

In the Caribbean, a U.S. submarine is attacked by the Russians, and an all-out war is expected. But the cause of the attack is not what most people think it is.


5. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.973.913.94
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

This is a compelling story that interweaves the story of Christopher Columbus with a future scientist who believes she can alter human history into something good.


4. Pathfinder

Pathfinder
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
3.993.903.95
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Rigg has the talent to see other people’s pasts, and only his father knows about this talent. But when his father dies, he learns that he may have been keeping secrets about Rigg’s own past. Does he really need to know what his father knew?


3. Speaker for the Dead

Speaker for the Dead (Ender Quintet Book 2)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
4.073.974.02
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Book number two in the Ender’s Saga series, it describes a world 3,000 years after the War. Ender is reviled by many and in this book, he tells the story of the war so that history won’t repeat itself and life can be peaceful again.


2. Ender’s Shadow

Ender's Shadow (The Shadow Saga Book 1)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
4.304.114.21
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

This is book number one in The Shadow series and tells the story of Bean, who is trying to survive among other child gangs and must do so with his brain and not his physical strength. But Bean is a genius, and when he meets Ender Wiggin, both their lives seem to improve.


1. Ender’s Game

Ender's Game (Ender Quintet Book 1)
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GoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
4.304.314.31
Average Star Ratings Out of 5

Overview

Ender Wiggin thinks he’s playing a computer game, but it is actually a way for “they” to train him so that Earth can be safe from the alien enemy who is out to destroy all human life.


Complete Rankings of Best Books Written By Orson Scott Card

We have done all the work of compiling rankings for Orson Scott Card’s best books, so you don’t have to!

Rank Book TitleGoodreadsLibraryThingOverall
1 Ender’s Game4.304.314.31
2 Ender’s Shadow4.304.114.21
3 Speaker for the Dead4.073.974.02
4Pathfinder 3.993.903.95
5Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus 3.973.913.94
6The Abyss 4.083.783.93
7Earth Awakens 4.093.743.92
8Enchantment 3.903.923.91
9Shadow of the Giant 4.003.803.90
10Earth Afire 4.053.723.89
11Ruins 3.893.843.87
12Seventh Son 3.873.833.85
13Treason 3.903.803.85
14Earth Unaware 3.993.703.85
15Shadow of the Hegemon 3.953.723.84
16Ender in Exile 3.913.693.80
17Red Prophet 3.803.773.79
18The Worthing Saga 3.863.703.78
19Shadow Puppets 3.903.643.77
20The Lost Gate 3.823.693.76
21Songmaster 3.743.753.75
22Xenocide 3.803.653.73
23Prentice Alvin 3.793.653.72
24The Gate Thief 3.773.583.68
25Shadows in Flight 3.803.533.67
26Children of the Mind 3.773.543.66
27Alvin Journeyman 3.743.573.66
28Heartfire 3.713.543.63
29Lost Boys 3.593.623.61
30A War of Gifts 3.673.503.59
31The Crystal City 3.613.453.53
32The Call of Earth 3.593.463.53
33The Memory of Earth 3.583.443.51
34Hidden Empire 3.643.353.50
35The Ships of Earth 3.553.353.45
36Earthfall 3.513.383.45
37Hart’s Hope 3.473.413.44
38Lovelock 3.473.363.42
39Wyrms 3.393.333.36
40Homebody 3.403.273.34
41Earthborn 3.413.263.34
42Empire 3.443.173.31
43The Folk of the Fringe 3.333.213.27
44Treasure Box 3.333.203.27
45Magic Street 3.253.223.24
46Invasive Procedures 3.303.073.19

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