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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

Why we're reading this: Group disucssion January 2013 Classic
Group discussion February 2013 Short Story
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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Mar 01, 2013 Jim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi, war, favorites, 1audio, 3series, 2fiction

My edition is by Audio Renaissance, which I don't see listed. It's not abridged.

I'm not too fond of the voice given to Graff's buddy in some of the asides. He's always chuckling which is too much. It does lend a different interpretation to those bits, though. I wonder if that was Card's voice? He did one character in this audio production.

The afterword by Card is kind of long, but has some really interesting bits:
The making of the movie: He did the original screen play for the upcoming movie. My edition is by Audio Renaissance, which I don't see listed. It's not abridged.

I'm not too fond of the voice given to Graff's buddy in some of the asides. He's always chuckling which is too much. It does lend a different interpretation to those bits, though. I wonder if that was Card's voice? He did one character in this audio production.

The afterword by Card is kind of long, but has some really interesting bits:
The making of the movie: He did the original screen play for the upcoming movie. Apparently it's been a long haul because the producers kept insisting that Ender needed to be 16. I agree with Card, that's a ludicrously stupid mistake. Only a younger child would have swallowed the manipulation. A mid teen would have been too contrary.

A second point was that he couldn't get the screen play to pop until he put Ender's Shadow into the mix. Once he said it, it was obvious. This book is told from Ender's perspective. By adding 'Shadow' in - the same story from Bean's POV - the perspective changes & the story can be shown. I can wait to see it, though. Hollywood will likely screw it up, even with all of Card's caution.

Card says his books are meant to be read aloud. I've never been much for reading aloud, although a friend of mine does it quite often with his wife & says it's great. I think they have something there. While I really liked the book, this audio production really made it pop. Seriously good.

Card purposely cleaned up the language. I loved the way he did it, too. His reasoning was that his 5 year old would be reading this book soon & he didn't want him or any other child exposed to military gutter language. He left the farting & other bathroom humor in, though. Why? Because they wouldn't be real kids without it. I think he got it just right.

The basic idea of the story is kind of far out in some ways, but makes a horrid kind of sense, too. I kept getting stuck on the kids' ages, but they were geniuses & bred or picked to a purpose. I thought Ender's siblings were super, too. OK, it pushed the limits, but it really worked for me.

All in all, the themes all worked well without preaching. It was an emotional roller coaster, too. Since I already knew the ending (actually remembered the book really well) I had more time to think about some things. Can't mention them without a spoiler, but I highly recommend this book & format for everyone. Like Ender's Shadow, it enhances the story & puts a new shine on it.

Also read & reviewed as a paperback here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more

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Nov 22, 2013 Mandy rated it liked it

Read this for bookclub. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would although sci-fi would not normally be my thing. I am looking forward to seeing how they portray it in the theater. I'm sure I will try some other books by this author. ...more

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