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Ender’s Game (Ender's Saga, #1)

Orson Scott Card

Start date: January 1, 2013

Finish date: January 31, 2013

Discussion: Book Discussions

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Hugo Winner 1985
Nebula Awa…more
[close] Group disucssion January 2013 Classic
Group discussion February 2013 Short Story
Hugo Winner 1985
Nebula Award Winner 1985
#3 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#2 on Locus Magazines Best SciFi novels of the 20th century http://www.locusmag.com/2012/AllCentu...

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Oct 13, 2011 Miss rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, hugo-novels

I think if I’d read this book in the midst of my angst driven, rebellion-seeking, alone-feeling teenage years, it would’ve had more impact. I would’ve identified with Ender more and I wouldn’t have read so many books as I have now. I found myself thinking of other young adult books I have read that seemed very similar to Ender’s Game and were much better.

The first fact introduced is that Ender Wiggins is the third child. This is IMPORTANT because he is the balance between the first stereotypical I think if I’d read this book in the midst of my angst driven, rebellion-seeking, alone-feeling teenage years, it would’ve had more impact. I would’ve identified with Ender more and I wouldn’t have read so many books as I have now. I found myself thinking of other young adult books I have read that seemed very similar to Ender’s Game and were much better.

The first fact introduced is that Ender Wiggins is the third child. This is IMPORTANT because he is the balance between the first stereotypically aggressive masculine destroyer child, Peter and the stereotypically mild but manipulative female, Valentine. He is also the final child, because his parents received special dispensation to have him. Did you get that? It’s IMPORTANT because he is the BALANCE and the END. Even his name has END in it in case you missed it.

Card hammers the IMPORTANT BALANCE and the END that Ender provides, over and over and over and over; as the human military commander for his troops balancing friendship and command, as the military commander balancing human and enemy strategy, the commander who ends the war and even as the balance between the past and future of the enemy and humans. I’m sure there’s even more ways Card found to pound “Ender is the balance and the end” throughout; I just stopped caring.

The plot is simplistic: Ender is taken into a program to train astoundingly intelligent children to be the next military commander. What follows is your basic “break them, build them, repeat ad infinitum” military story, with the added joy of it being perpetuated on six to twelve year olds. In the meantime, Peter and Valentine hatch a plan to overthrow the existing political structure back at home. That little nugget of plot summary actually sounds interesting, but Card chooses to only allude to the most interesting plots like Peter and Valentine’s diabolical political scheming or international political rivalries tearing the Earth apart even in the face of all-consuming universal war. Instead, he focuses on long, drawn-out military games that are only there to show us all how smart Ender and IMPORTANT Ender is, because only he can see and do what needs to be seen and done and find the BALANCE needed to bring the END.

The plot twist, even for 1985 (especially considering WarGames had come out in 1983), is completely foreseeable. I don’t believe it was suppose to be. The writing in this book is simplistic, even for a children’s book. It’s choppy and fairly non-descriptive. Themes are pounded into the writing over and over again. The characters are never fully fleshed out, instead serving only as mouthpieces for the political/philosophical agenda that the author is putting onto them for the plot to work.

Then the last fifteen pages show up. It’s like Card got tired of writing and let another writer have a go. And it’s suddenly interesting. You get insights into the minds of the main characters that are introspective, character developing and enlightening. Political issues are suddenly explained and give insight into what had been going on behind those long, drawn out and boring war games. These pages are the only thing that makes the entire novel great. If the book had just ended with the end of the war, it’s a book that would’ve been thrown to the side very early in its career. These pages are the pages that make you long to read the sequel or re-read the book. The last fifteen pages are brilliant and utterly frustrating; who wants to hammer away at 150+ pages of utter rubbish to get to fifteen pages of greatness?

With all that criticism above, I do have to step back and remind myself that at a certain age I would have absolutely adored this book and probably read it over and over. I think this first in that category of books that doesn’t age well. The joy to be found in it now is to give it to someone who reminds you of your teenage self/Ender.
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Sep 03, 2013 Fungus Gnat rated it really liked it

It is perhaps a century in the future, the world has been through two invasions by athropoid aliens and expects a third, and the International Fleet is looking for a few good men – or rather, children, to command the earth’s starships. Six-year-old Ender Wiggin is judged to have the right combination of extraordinary intellect and character and is hustled off to Battle School. Card’s “education of Ender Wiggin” is imaginatively and credibly filled with a conflict and growth dynamic that sets End It is perhaps a century in the future, the world has been through two invasions by athropoid aliens and expects a third, and the International Fleet is looking for a few good men – or rather, children, to command the earth’s starships. Six-year-old Ender Wiggin is judged to have the right combination of extraordinary intellect and character and is hustled off to Battle School. Card’s “education of Ender Wiggin” is imaginatively and credibly filled with a conflict and growth dynamic that sets Ender off variably against his classmates and his teachers. Nothing comes easy in this pilgrim’s progress, and achievement of the ultimate goal is never assured. Card stays with his prickly lead character’s POV through the great majority of the book, taking ambitious leaps into the dreams that mark his troubled psyche. Must man kill? Must this boy? What if the fate of the earth is at stake? Card has taken on some challenging themes and built them naturally and expertly into his story. When the POV switches to Ender’s sister Valentine, the story is not as rewarding, as her subplot does not seem essential. However, I would not fool too much with the content. The plot line is beautifully structured and played out through the end of the principal story movement—then, for good measure, the subject returns to Ender’s dreams in a final chapter that serves as a beauty of an epilogue and a jumping-off point for the sequel. Card’s prose is assured and authoritative throughout—well above the SF average—although his habit of occasionally hopping mid-paragraph from 3rd to 1st person rattled me a bit. The book’s weakest point, though, is the seemingly endless series of Battle School simulation games that Ender must grow through. These get to be a bit tiresome, and I suspect would have been even if Card were better than the typical SF writer at conveying the geometry of physical struggle, which he isn’t. The reward for sticking with it, though, is an appreciation of Ender’s growth as a process that is shown as organic within the story, rather than simply told. One point that has been remarked upon is that Card’s children do not talk much like children. Agreed, but these are intended to be extraordinary children, so I’m willing to give him a pass on this point. All in all, Ender’s Game, as far as I’m concerned, deserves the classic status that has accrued to it over the 28 years that has elapsed since its publication. (This 1991 edition is also expertly proofed, with very few miscues other than the occasional punctuation or capitalization glitch. The prospective reader should be aware that the page count of 226, which sounds compact, is an artifact of this edition’s large format; the book is on the order of 110K words. This edition also contains an intro by Card that provides a little helpful personal context and some interesting thoughts on the reader’s participation in constructing the work’s impression, while also offering some self-serving observations on stylistic philosophy and a couple lengthy testimonials I didn’t need. ) ...more

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Jul 17, 2013 S.C. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, featured-books

I try to be conservative about giving five-star ratings only to books that truly deserve it. I can honestly say Ender's Game is one of the best books I have ever read. I had actually never heard of it until a couple of weeks ago when I was talking to my Uncle. We were talking about some good books we had read and he said, "Do you like movies?" And of course I was like YES! So he told me about this great book he had read that was going to be a movie that was coming out soon. He then went on to su I try to be conservative about giving five-star ratings only to books that truly deserve it. I can honestly say Ender's Game is one of the best books I have ever read. I had actually never heard of it until a couple of weeks ago when I was talking to my Uncle. We were talking about some good books we had read and he said, "Do you like movies?" And of course I was like YES! So he told me about this great book he had read that was going to be a movie that was coming out soon. He then went on to summarize the book:

Basically Ender's Game is an extraordinary novel (Yet a pretty easy read) about a young boy called Ender (Andrew) Wiggin. The book takes place about 70 years after and alien invasion almost destroyed Earth. The only reason Earth was saved was because of the strategic genius of a war general, Mazer Rackham. Ever since that first war, the people of Earth have been waiting for another alien attack. They realized that in order to beat the Aliens a second time they need someone like Mazer Rackham who thinks of "outside of the box" ways to defeat the aliens. To find this future saviour they have been taking genius children and training them in the hopes of finding one smart enough to defeat the enemy and Ender Wiggin may be their last hope.

Sure enough right after my uncle told me about the book I went to the theatre to see the Lone Ranger and I saw a cool poster for Ender's Game. My interest in the book then increased rapidly. I spent half an hour after the movies looking for the book in chapters. I guess the store was about to move the books to a promotional display for the upcoming movie so I almost gave up looking for it but I am so glad I did find it. It was a near thing. Just think If I hadn't went to visit my Aunt and Uncle I wouldn't be writing this trying to get as many people as possible to read it!

Usually I don't like reading books that center around a little kid but this book was different because every single kid that is in it is incredibly intelligent so you don't feel like you are reading about a child. But you do empathize with the main character because although he doesn't seem like a child, he is, and he has to go through some horrible things.

I tell everyone I know to read this book because I found it truly remarkable especially since it was written over 20 years ago. At the end of my reviews I usually like to recommend a book to certain people like sci-fi lovers but I think that everyone has something to gain from reading this book. Please take my five-star rating seriously and read this book.

I do, however recommend that people read this book before seeing the upcoming movie (November 1st,2013 in the U.S) because there is a huge twist at the end of the book that would be revealed in the movie so your enjoyment of the book might suffer a bit because you already know what the big "secret" is.

Anyway, no matter if you watch the movie first, have never heard of the book, don't like sci-fi or don't even like the movie, read the book anyway! It is a great read and different from anything I have read before. I couldn't put it down. If anyone has even the slightest interest in Ender's Game, I can't see how they would ever regret reading it. ...more

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Oct 16, 2014 S.C. rated it it was amazing

I could go on and on about this book. It was published in 1985 and was way ahead of its time. The author is a genius. The story is incredible. Its use of politics, military strategy, and philosophy is brilliant. But the most important piece I want to convey is that this is the book I tell people to read when they ask for a recommendation. Ender's Game is the book I name as my favourite book. Read this book. See what all the fuss is about. ...more

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