Ender's Game

Compared to my previous two books, Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, felt quite fast and quick, but that doesn’t mean the story doesn’t develop just as well as the books I read last year, not at all!

The state of the world is not a good one, Humanity hasn’t really conquered the stars and flourished just yet, other than a few stations. Earth has been at war with the buggers, some insectoid alien race that had come in contact with the planet twice already. The first time it was just exploration, and Humanity managed to hold out. The second time, was colonization, and we almost lost. Thankfully, the genius strategist Mazer Rackham managed to stop them and became the hero of the story. We lived happily ever after.

But decades have passed since then, and a third invasion is on the horizon.

Now, kids are being monitored from birth, and those who show promise are drafted to become part of the army at a really young age, with the hopes of finding the next genius, who will command the fleet and protect the planet from the buggers.

Ender ends up drafted, and since he shows the most promise, he’s put into tremendous pressure by his superiors, making him go through quite a ton of hardships. Learning the tactics and strategy, by a series of games that put him and his army to the test. Zero G battles, Simulations, Games—as some might say.

The story really played with my feelings and morals quite a bit, no matter how cool and epic battles and victories were, things were just, wrong all the time, and yet, what else could be done? It really makes me think and feel uncomfortable, and it somehow remained hopeful, even if just a little.

The writing was great, the pacing felt alright, I couldn’t stay away from the book for long. It was a really intricate story where the protagonist has to sacrifice everything for the greater good—if there is any greater good at all. And the characters, the characters were amazing. Ender is such a complex character and the people that sorround him are really interesting too. The kids at school, his family, his superiors. Some of them only served for the story, sure, but they did so quite well.

Tragically, I had already watched the movie adaptation, and had an idea of the main plot and the finale. I was a little dissapointed by the fact that such a movie—which is pretty average—spoiled it for me. But I was still rather surprised by the twists and turns, as well as the points in the story that differ between the book and the film, or that aren’t even in it.

I am glad I gave it a read, highly recommended.

didn't particularly like this tale of child soldiers/commanders - i could never let go of the ages of the main character, ender, and the incredible violence he unleashed. even though it is a movie now, i have no desire to see it.

i also thought it was morally ambiguous. ender doesn't want to harm but feels forced to, and ultimately kills a couple of children himself. the book never really adresses the loss of humanity when you snuff out a life. instead, ender see-saws between feeling so bad he goes straight to bed and won't eat, and justifying the need for such action. so the character lives on both plains of good and evil.
a book about violence and children should take a specific stand on the issue, and not be so wishy washy. then again, perhaps the author IS taking a stand but one that can't abide by: justified violence is not an evil act. in fact, his premise is that good and evil can be judged through intention alone.

it reminded me of the forever wars, and was published a few years after that book, so maybe the author was influenced. it also seemed, up to about the last 5-6 pages that it would be a series - that ender would discover one more queen and he'd the forced to train up another child to replace him - forcing him to participant (again) in a process he's so against, but ultimately engages in. ie: more of the same wishy washy stuff.

the addition of the religion at the end was pointless - their society never used religion before, why would it seek it now now? and the religion itself was ridiculous.

lastly, ender spends his entire life suspicious of people's motives and even recognizes his sister as manipulating him - and yet he has no similar suspicion when faced with an alien race that 'knows' him so well. why the trust now?

This was one of those books that everyone was reading, when I was in high school. Based on the high volume of reviews, it seems like it still is. I read it, at the time, because of the glowing recommendations from a number of people whose opinions I valued.
For the life of me, I cannot understand why this book is so popular.

The characters are wooden in their portrayal, and some of the most implausibly written children I've ever read. The pacing is awful, rushing through sequences. It's as if Card's written a timeline checklist, and is trying to get through each point as quickly as possible. Which would explain why every instance of characterization is so damn heavy-handed.

Worst is the fact that Card's Mormonism is a driving factor to the plot. A different planet for each religion? Pro-militaristic dogma? Overt homophobia? Even when I was 15 and had no idea what Card's ideologies were, the book still left me feeling queasy, annoyed, cheated.

I'm not even sure why I'd given this book two whole stars when I first rated it, poor as it is. I'll adjust that.