Ender’s Game (Ender's Saga, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Dec 16, 2012 Kaitlin rated it it was ok

Ender is a precocious 6-year-old who is summoned by the government for training to fight an alien race humans bested decades before. He is removed from his family and friends, permanently, after the government monitors him with a cool device implanted in his head for a couple years. Eventually, Ender and the other children he trains with will have to put their battle skills to practical use.

Ender's brother is a sociopath who tortures squirrels and plans world domination. Their sister loves Ende Ender is a precocious 6-year-old who is summoned by the government for training to fight an alien race humans bested decades before. He is removed from his family and friends, permanently, after the government monitors him with a cool device implanted in his head for a couple years. Eventually, Ender and the other children he trains with will have to put their battle skills to practical use.

Ender's brother is a sociopath who tortures squirrels and plans world domination. Their sister loves Ender. She's super-smart too, but mostly lives to serve her brothers.

I kept wondering why Card made the characters children; they are children in age only. The stilted dialogue sounds like it's between middle-aged British men. They end sentences with "you fool!", keep their emotions in check (most of the time) and ruminate on adult concepts. I could buy that in this future world children are just different, but the kids keep announcing that they're just kids. Card makes such a big deal out of it that I know it's supposed to be crucial, but I think it's just a trick to make kids relate to the characters. There's a part where Peter and Valentine (Ender's siblings) are talking and exclaim something like, "We are going to take over the world, and we barely have pubic hair!" Valentine is also quick to point out (to her brother, mind you) that she doesn't even have her period.

I sort of pulled for Ender, but he was hard to relate to because there is no actual human like him. He is the same at 6 as at 20-some when the book ends. He is smart and works hard, but I just don't believe he's real. The scenes in which he is commander are especially unpalatable - no human being talks like that.

I didn't care much for his parents or for Valentine. The military higher-ups are talking heads. Peter is creepy and promising in that way, but the B-story about Pete and Valentine is slapdash. Even the main story comes to an end pretty suddenly. There are other loose ends in the beginning that seemed important but were dropped.

Most of the action consists of battle and game descriptions, which I found tiring.

Anyway, I don't like sci-fi necessarily to begin with, but I can like anything with good characters and a solid storyline. This just didn't do it for me. ...more

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Aug 11, 2013 Athena Macmillan rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-fiction, apocalyptic-and-dystopia, 2013-reads, war, made-into-movie, sci-fi

I don't generally read this kind of sci-fi, and I have never read anything set aboard spaceships. While I probably won't go out of my way to read another like this, I did thoroughly enjoy it. there was enough action to keep it moving, a firm plot to keep things on track, and just when you think you're about to get bored of the work and training, things completely flip so you just have to read on.

Many people have rated this down for not being believable, but really I think if you're going to read ...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Rusty rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Ah, yes, this novel was every bit as good as the reviewers said and certainly deserving of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. Why, oh why, did I wait so long to read it?

The story has many directions and many well developed characters that the reader can love - Ender, Valentine. Bean, Alai, Dink and others. I found myself despising Ender and Valentine's parents. How could any parents be so unfeeling?

In short, I recommend that anyone interested in science fiction check this wonderful novel out. It' ...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Mary X rated it liked it

I'm on the fence on this one. I wanted to really love it but I just hated all the stuff these kids were put through. It was like how many bad things can the author think of to do this kid? I also found the mock battles and simulations to get boring after awhile. But I liked the concept of the book. ...more

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May 09, 2012 Mandi rated it it was amazing

Even though it took me six months to finish, I love this book. It was well written and kept me entertained. I never wanted to finish it. But, the ending was absolutely amazing. Definitely glad I did finish reading it.

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