Ender’s Game (Ender's Saga, #1) in Overdue Podcast

Aug 13, 2025 Chandler rated it really liked it

Shelves: 301-499pgs, audiobook, hoopla, books-for-boys, hall-of-fame, books-i-own, sci-fi, classics, hugo-award, ya-fiction

This book tells the story of Ender Wiggin, a young boy who has been selected for Battle School, a school where he learns how to fight in space against an alien race that could invade earth at any time. We learn that the earth has been saved once already from an alien race called ‘buggers’ for their insect-like appearance, and humanity is not sure if they can win a second time. So, the government interviews people to become ‘generals’ to face off against the buggers, Ender being the best and most This book tells the story of Ender Wiggin, a young boy who has been selected for Battle School, a school where he learns how to fight in space against an alien race that could invade earth at any time. We learn that the earth has been saved once already from an alien race called ‘buggers’ for their insect-like appearance, and humanity is not sure if they can win a second time. So, the government interviews people to become ‘generals’ to face off against the buggers, Ender being the best and most sought after one of them all. But we soon learn that there is more going on behind the scenes than Ender can comprehend. Can Ender figure out what is going on before it is too late? And what will happen to him when he does?

This book was one I liked for several reasons.

The first of which was the atmosphere of the battle school itself. Ender starts school early with promise, and is traded between different groups of kids, here called armies, who tend to face off against each other in battle in an effort to prove themselves. Ender has to face them not only in formal combat, but also outside when he discovers that there are boys who don’t like him. We see leaders for each army and how they work to lead their troop, and how different they are from one another. This can make for a good story and was one that kept me reading this book.

The behind the scenes sections were also well done, where we know that something is going on with the people of the Battle School and why they are controlling Ender Wiggin. This makes for a good bit of mystery. This also helps to understand the twist ending, which I did not see coming and thought was solid in how it affected everything we had read up until that point, as well as how it affected Ender as a character after the reveal.

I also liked how all of the characters were written. Many of the boys, for example, were written to talk how boys talk, insulting each other, but with an undercurrent of respect for each other. This lends a certain authenticity to how they react. In addition to that, I found it surprising to remember just how young these kids are. They are only about ten years old when things happen, leading the reader to question what war does to kids and Ender’s childhood in particular.

The weakest parts of the book, and the ones that I think can be summarized if I had to, are the parts about Ender’s siblings. He has an older sadistic brother, Peter, and an older kind sister named Valentine. In the book, after Ender goes to Battle School, we see them work on writings to criticize the government and begin plans for a political takeover of the world. This was the part that tended to slow down the novel for me, as I just didn’t really care. From a writing standpoint, I guess I liked it, since it explains what happens to Ender by the end of the book, but I still don’t think that this was a solid choice for the pacing of the text.

In the end I liked this book and the journey it took me on as I journeyed with Ender through Battle School. For the series, however, I am not so sure that I will continue with it, as the blurb for the next book did not sound exciting to me. As for this book, I give it a four out of five. It is a classic for a reason.
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Nov 09, 2014 Barrett Lafortune rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

In Ender's Game, we are introduced to a young boy, Ender Wiggin, who is being groomed to become Earth's greatest military leader and whose purpose is to save humanity from alien invasion. I found this book to be very original and I really enjoyed the author's ideas around combat in zero gravity. My main criticism of this book is that the author takes a "great man" view of things to the extreme. The survival of humanity completely depends on the individual genius of one person while things like t ...more

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