Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Dec 17, 2009

Charly rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

64 comments like (140 people liked it)

May 09, 2011

Keely rated it:

I was savaged by a miniature poodle the other day--wait--no, someone protested my review of The Giver the other day. If you have any pent-up rage from that college lit teacher who made you think about books, be sure to stop by and spew some incoherent vitriol--my reviews are now a socially acceptable source of catharsis for the insecure.

In any case, one of them made the argument that children need new versions of great books that are stupider, because children are just stupid version More...

17 comments like (57 people liked it)

Nov 29, 2011

John rated it:

This is a novel that blows past conventional ideas like "disbelief." Apparently humanity, a species whose only real claim to fame is war, now stinks at war, and can only be saved by a child genius who is one part prophecy, one part bad science, and one part wish-fulfillment. Thanks to this plan, we are treated to a gaggle of super-intelligent children who seldom appear particularly clever (in fact many behave with adult maturity rather than abnormal intellect) and achieve greatness not More...

5 comments like (29 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Hollie rated it:

This was the first book I picked up and read all the way through in one sitting. Technically, it's not a difficult read but conceptually it's rich and engaging.

"They have a word for people our age. They call us children and they treat us like mice."

If you can't understand that statement, you probably won't like this book. It's about intelligent children. Not miniature adults- their motivations, understanding, and some-times naivete clearly mark them as child More...

3 comments like (79 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2008

Matt rated it:

i think 'ender's game' is the only book i've read three times. for me books often don't have repeat reading value in the same way some movies have repeat viewing value. it's probably because a movie takes two hours of your time while a novel, for me, takes a week or longer. so for someone like to me read a novel twice, not to mention three times, is really saying something [and yes, i realize the inherent snobbery in that statement].

i've thought long and hard about what makes 'ende More...

4 comments like (62 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2012

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

47 comments like (17 people liked it)

Nov 14, 2011

Paul added it

Holy shit!

I'm usually really late in catching up with stuff. This time it's only taken me 7 years to find an article Orson Scott Card wrote about gay marriage :

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/20...

which - forgive me - is a subject I can't get excited about one way or the other, and we know OSC is a Mormon, so I figure he won't like gay marriage, but it was this bit that made my hair stand on end:

Now, there is a myth that homosexuals are " More...

56 comments like (20 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2008

Alexander rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

9 comments like (42 people liked it)

Mar 11, 2008

Kyle rated it:

This has to be, hands down, one of the best science fiction books written. Ender's Game is set in a disarmingly straightfoward sci-fi setting: a near future earth threatened by a hostile alien species with superior technology that seems determined to destroy the human race. The story centers on a young boy who is drafted into an all-consuming military training program at the age of 6. The program he's inducted into seeks to forge a new generation of military commanders out of gifted chil More...

0 comments like (45 people liked it)

Mar 02, 2011

Joel rated it:

Lots of people have already read this book, and it's pretty much universally acclaimed, so it probably doesn't really need another review. So I just want to point out one thing that bothered me both times I read it (with a decade at least in-between at that):

Isn't it weird how much time the kids in this book spend naked? The entire time Ender is at Battle School, Card constantly tells us how everyone is always sleeping naked, or walking around the barracks naked or jogging naked. And More...

20 comments like (29 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2008

Martine rated it:

Every now and then you come across a book whose prose is thoroughly unimpressive but whose premise and sheer bravado manage to suck you in nonetheless, to the point where you end up enjoying it an awful lot. Ender's Game falls into that category for me. The first few chapters feature some of the choppiest prose I've come across in a published book -- sentences so short and dull that I seriously wondered how the book had ever got published. However, the writing gradually gets better, and as for t More...

2 comments like (17 people liked it)

Feb 26, 2008

Adam rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

8 comments like (32 people liked it)

May 10, 2008

Shannon rated it:

I rarely really enjoy reading science fiction (the movies are another matter), but - most likely because of the refreshingly unpretentious and clear prose, which did take me by surprise - this book was almost a joy to read. I say "almost" purely because it's still science fiction, and for many reasons that are too long-winded to go into here, I prefer fantasy.

It's nice, though, to have Card (in his 1991 introduction) refer to this clarity of style, and actually encourage hi More...

6 comments like (12 people liked it)

May 31, 2011

Wealhtheow rated it:

I read this book in 7th grade. I remember it so exactly because still, to this day, I distinctly remember sprinting up the stairs to get to the bookshelf to read the next chapter. It is an absolutely engrossing tale of a small boy involved in a big war, filled with heartache and camaraderie and betrayal and cleverness.

The problem is that Orson Scott Card hates queer people and liberals so much that he's written a number of novels entirely about how awful they are. He posts screeds More...

4 comments like (11 people liked it)

May 10, 2007

Ellie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Apr 09, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

Not my cup of tea. Considering that the author probably intended the reader to sympathize with the main character, I disliked the main character way too much, right from the start. Also, many people will probably disagree with me but I think this book is rife with the author’s personal prejudices. Off handed comments about women and different nationalities just threw me for a loop, left me wondering why they were included when they offered absolutely nothing towards the story. Additionally, I di More...

19 comments like (18 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2010

Tatiana rated it:

Hmmm, I find it hard to understand the level of following this particular book gets.

Ender's Game is the type of sci-fi that doesn't interest me much. 225 pages about a boy playing video games, battling in zero gravity, and learning about how military works? I can work up some interest for these things, but there has to be some characters I care about. However, how exactly am I supposed to find compassion for a boy who goes from one task to another never failing and always being the More...

55 comments like (34 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2008

Jon rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

3 comments like (9 people liked it)

Aug 27, 2008

Kristjan rated it:

I first read Ender's Game the same year it was published; I was a marginally successful junior in a US Service Academy at the time, and well on my way to forming my current negative opinion about how such works. What ever other critiques readers might have about Card's story here, IMHO he nailed the military training environment, complete with psychological manipulation and Machiavellian intrigue. I am not surprised to hear rumors that Ender's Game might even be promoted by the military traini More...

0 comments like (14 people liked it)

Mar 28, 2008

Meg rated it:

I didn't think I liked Sci Fi. Maybe I still don't... but you have to be on mind-altering drugs not to LOVE this book. Actually, mind-altering drugs might make it better. Hmm.

1 comment like (15 people liked it)

Dec 21, 2011

Rollie rated it:

God, please give me a brother like Ender Wiggin. I promise myself not to be Peter.

I’d been hearing a lot about this book since before I read Ender’s Shadow. And after reading the parallel book of this book, I knew then that it was wise plan to read this book. I wouldn’t have read this book if it wasn’t for my friend who gave me a copy of this book along with durian candies. Hands to Kwesi.

All because that he’s the third child, intelligent and young, the world seemed turne More...

35 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 11, 2009

Lucy rated it:

Ender's Game. Good? Yes. Great? I don't know. It's supposed to be. Goodness knows I had a hard enough time getting a copy from my library, which, considering how old this book is (24 years!) is its own high praise for the book.

Ender is a 6 year-old genius referred to as a Third, because he is an uncommon third child. Third children are extremely looked down upon (I suppose because of their carbon footprint - man Orson Scott Card was WAY ahead of the game there) and the book begins wi More...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 23, 2010

Scott rated it:

I can see why so many people like this book. I've read that it is very popular with teens and tweens, as well as adults. In reviewing this book, there's very little to say about the writing style, because nothing in the author's style detracts from the telling of the story.

I think one of the strengths of the book is the ambiguity of its characters. Ender is consistently spoken of as really, really good, but he commits a heinously evil act, the virtual extinction of an entire intellig More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 16, 2012

Lithium rated it:

I wanted to like Ender's Game. I really did. It's a wonder that even after more than halfway into the book, I still clung on to the foolishly optimistic notion that the book would somehow redeem itself. That it would end up justifying the tedious, repetitive, drearily dull chapters I trundled through over the course of several days (which is unusual, since I'm generally a fast reader).

Warning: Minor spoilers follow.

It pains me to say it, as a hardcore fangirl of science f More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Laurence rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

8 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 25, 2011

Jane rated it:

Boy outsmarts bullies and fellow soldiers in mock battle fights. Great character development and personality conflicts.

STORY BRIEF:
This is young adult science fiction. Eighty years ago the buggers attacked earth. Humans fear the buggers will attack again so they establish a Battle School and search for brilliant children in hopes of finding their next commander. Ender is selected to go to Battle School when he is six. He is one of the youngest. Most of the story takes pla More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 25, 2010

Megatron rated it:

**EDIT**: I GOT THIS BOOK FOR CHRISTMAS!!! Wheee I'm so happy. :]

Yes, this was amazing.

I loved Ender's Game, but at times, I also hated it. How could I not? It was written with such a truthful brutality. I found myself being caught up into Ender's world immediately. Parts of this book even scared me.

But, like Card said in the introduction, "Why (else) do we read fiction, anyway? Not to be impressed by somebody's dazzling language - or at least I hope that's n More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2007

Pwntalive rated it:

It seems that Enders Game is just one of those novels that everyone else has read accept me. At some point in my life i started to run across the seemingly endless list of books that were not "classics" but well read none the less. The first one of these that really struck me was The Hobbit. At some point in highschool someone recited that first line about Bilbo's little house in the shire and i just looked at them blankly, never being a fantasy junkie i had missed the Tolkien bandw More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2009

Karey rated it:

I just finished Ender's Game last night. I am not a science fiction fan. But I make exception to Orson Scott Card's work, because he delves so beautifully and skillfully into the human mind and what truly motivates a person to do what he/she does. I was surprised that I was enjoying reading about children dressed in space suits fighting it out in the battleroom, about video-like games. What astounds me is that back in 1977 when Card wrote Ender's game, there was no such thing as the world wi More...

3 comments like (10 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2008

Ron rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (5 people liked it)