Ender’s Game
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Hunger's Game or Ender's Game
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Terris
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rated it 5 stars
Oct 31, 2013 11:06PM
I'm late to the discussion, but I say Ender's Game.
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"Ender's Game", sans doute. It is a fantastic book that is original and well-written. A vast amount of interesting topics are brought up; ranging from ethics and psychology, to extraterrestrial life forms and technology. It is also worth noting that one is given the opportunity to understand the protagonist, his reasoning etcetera, as he develops throughout the book. The other characters were also rather fascinating, especially Bonzo and Petra.
I'm pretty sure I'm the only one saying this...but Hunger Games was better. I found Ender's Game slightly boring. As far as the authors and their writing than in that sense Ender's Game was better. Orson Scott Card is a much better author than Suzanne Collins, but the story line of the Hunger Games appealed to me more. I had to force myself to finish Ender's Game, because I just could not get into it.
Ed wrote: "An English teacher I spoke with today believes that both Ender's Game and The Hunger Games were "inspired" by a short story, "The Lottery." I can't comment on that hypothesis.On the other hand, ..."
Exactly! Its a rip-off of Battle Royale, the 1999 novel by Japanese writer Koushun Takami.
As a few people had said these are totally different types of books that happen to feature children being used. I read both as an adult and I preferred Hunger Games to Enders game, this may be in part because I don't read much sci-fi. I liked Enders character, but felt that nothing was really developed, and the ending was, after such a long up draw, too quick. I know there were more in the series, but I like to feel some closure at the end of a book. I like the concept and loved Battle School, but the book needed to have been longer. As for Hunger Games, I felt Katniss's angst before the first game began. I thought the characters overall were developed more. The other two in the series were a waste and the movie was awful.As for the believable aspect of what parents in a society would do to children, I absolutely have no problem believing either scenarios. Things this awful have and do happen.
Why are we comparing these two books.
Inês wrote: "Love them both but i felt that Ener's game has more impact than Hunger games"Ener's game?
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE fo sho
Karl wrote: "Ian wrote: "In fact I think it will flop. It's a shame. "I don't assume it will flop but a cannot imagine a movie exploring inside the characters head like a book. It will probably be somewhat d..."
nope
Jared wrote: "nope"Yep
Hunger Games. I can relate with her PTSD than anything else. Ender's game was okay but didn't make the cut for me.
I suppose morally Enders Game was better, but I found The Hunger Games better as the book was concerned, although Katniss is a horrible b**** by the end of the series.Also, I couldn't even finish Enders Game it was so dull
Ender's Game is not the greatest thing out there, but there's no comparison between these two. Suzanne Collins is a childrens' writer, whether she knows it or not. Her series is not literature, and belongs firmly in the budding "YA" classification, to which other pieces of similar plot belong.
"belongs firmly in the budding "YA" classification, to which other pieces of similar plot belong"Ender's game is also a YA novel as well as the hunger games.
Not the same. One appeals to and was written for younger audiences, but the other is "YA" which, as an acronym, no longer has any meaning other than being a genre unto itself. A genre populated with pulp fiction plots, full of holes, pandering to the romance crowd, etc etc.
Ender's Game hands down. I read the HG trilogy and I quit on it about three times before deciding to finish it. I had to make an effort to like HG but with EG I just fell in love with it.
I think HG could have been almost as good as EG had it been written differently. It was hard to connect with Katniss because Collins text didn't have that much emotion and when it did have a lot of emotion it felt forced and dramatic. But with Scott I felt like I was Ender and I understood him.
Ender's GameI enjoyed The Hunger Games, but in a head to head match, Ender's Game really brought the more believable and complex characters.
enders game cause it has THE best storyline hands down
Wow, this really is comparing apples and oranges. But as literature, Enders Game is better. Enders Games works as both YA and Science Fiction, Hunger Games only works as YA and probably won't be around as a classic, as Enders Game will.
I loved enders Game and I think in my opinion, im the only one who read all 3 books of Hunger Games and really hated all of them....
Ender's Game. No contest.
Ender's Game. It has a much stronger message at the end than the Hunger Games did.
I'd have to say I like Ender's Game better. You can almost feel Ender's Emotions throughout the story. The Hunger Games didn't appeal to me; I found it sick that children where killing each other just to entertain the people from the capital. Ender's Game was a more grabbing story. Once I picked it up I didn't put it down. I have to say that Ender's Game is more of an adult book even though it is recommended for children in 5-6th grade.
Blah wrote: "Why are we comparing these two books."Because they both have "game" in their titles?
I think that both books are good in their genre, and precisely due to the difference in this is not possible to compare them fairly. Both societies are way different between them; in one you have a unique planetary government product of (we presume) a global consensus, in the other something happened that left a large part of the society under hard labour but in misery and the other enjoying the benefits of their hard work. In Ender's Game there is an overpopulation situation that requires an strict birth control program and the war menace makes mandatory the application of a breeding program; in The Hunger Games Series there is people who works and people who enjoys and the difference in given for the place of your birthing. Action? you can find it in both books, but in very different contexts. I liked both books (I've read some of the Ender's Game secuels and all Hunger Games series) but I definitely LOVE Ender's Game and I've never before thought about comparing them. I'm waiting to see the movie, and praying they don't mess it up doing something like Star Troopers... saw the trailers and it scares me a bit in this regard.
Ed wrote: "Apples and oranges. They are very different books, perhaps different enough so that it may be pointless to ask which is better. As for it being a rip-off of Ender's Game? The two books are so ..."
Sorry Ed, but Ender was NOT a discarded child. If you read carefully, the Wiggin children where 'conceived' according to their genetics, leading and strategic aptitudes. Peter was too aggressive and sicotic (sorry if it was misspelled, english is not my mother language), Valentine was conceived as a girl in order to diminish the aggression level, but she was too kind to their liking, but because the government needed a military leader with some exact characteristics they took the chance with a third child, Andrew, which was not an approved and regular policy due to the global control birth program, and also not known by the general public. That's why the family was considered transgressors and some of the names Andrew/Ender was called by his peers were 'third' and 'turd', but he really was not a discarded child, on the contrary, he was a beloved child of the Wiggin couple, who were secretly catholics, and wanted a big family of their own. This apart, you're right, we are comparing apples and oranges, both good, delicious, but totally different between them.
Enders Game is a landmark book in the SciFi world. The Hunger Games is a good read that translated well into a movie. In fact I liked the hunger games movie more. But the novel, there is no comparison. It's like comparing a wool coat to a fleck of lint stuck on its surface.
Allan J. wrote: "Enders Game.To me Hunger Games was pretty weak and even more superficial.
I found Triorion:Awakening (Triorion #1) to be a much better comparison to Enders Game."
So I need to check that Triorion saga.
Ender's Gameeeee!!!!!
I am comparing them because they are both young adult science fiction novels very popular right now.
My friend got mad at me for saying this, but Ender's Game is just a little bit better!
Ender's Game wins on all accounts for me.
Nabiya wrote: "I think as much as the concepts have certain similarities (children, life or death games, post-apocalyptic, etc)... the two books are TOO different to compare. I liked Hunger Games, and I loooove..."
I agree with everything you have said. I just think that Ender's Game should be classified as a YA book rather than an adult fiction book as it was intended.
Scott Card writes ” For many years, I have gratefully watched as Ender’s Game has grown in popularity, especially among school-age readers. Though it was never intended as a young-adult novel, it has been embraced by many in that age group…”
The topic of this story is no more adult than the Hunger Games. In Ender's Game children aren't murdering each other they are just being trained to fight and lead. Also, the level of violence in the Hunger Games is far higher than in Ender's Game and yet it is classified as a YA novel.
The only thing that could separate Ender's Game from the YA category is that there is a lot of depth to each character.
Hunger Games hands down, maybe because I feel more emotionally atached to it, since it deminated a fair amount of my teen years ... but honestly I thought EG atrocious. The characters were one dimensional and the story seemed dull and unbelievable. Ender always seemed like a push-over to me, while Katnis really got attitude.Furthermore I don't think making children comit genozide is much worse, than letting them kill each other.
It might be an unpopular opinion, but I stand by it.
Don't demean Ender's game by sticking it under the YA umbrella. It's above that. It's more complex than that. Just because it appeals to younger audiences does not make it YA. The themes tackled and the way they're presented are on another level compared with Collins' school-kid romance adventure books.
Kenneth said, "Don't demean Ender's game by sticking it under the YA umbrella. It's above that. It's more complex than that."YA can be very complex. Here's a question to the general public,
How do you determine the age group you put a book into?
I think that no matter how it was originally written, Ender's Game is now a YA novel, because that is where the majority of the readers are (not saying that adults don't read it too). I think you determine a book's age group not by what it was intended as, but what age the majority of the readers are.
Ryan B. wrote: "Nabiya wrote: "I think as much as the concepts have certain similarities (children, life or death games, post-apocalyptic, etc)... the two books are TOO different to compare. I liked Hunger Games..."
H99 wrote: "YA can be very complex, Kenneth. Don't assume that a book written for a teenager audience lacks depth."
That is interesting that the two of you would say that because I was thinking that the characters in HG were more shallow than in Ender's Game. That was actually the factor that led me to choose ED over HG.I feel that Ender was a very deep character.
H99 wrote: "YA can be very complex, Kenneth. Don't assume that a book written for a teenager audience lacks depth."I didn't say that. I said the YA genre lacks depth.
YA is now a genre independent and self-perpetuating. It is no longer "young adult". The acronym or "Why-Ei" as people speak it has its own connotation and that connotation has nothing to do with a young demographic, and everything to do with stories centered around young protagonists in shallow tales.
To me, it is the most hated genre besides romance, but that is just personal opinion.
I too felt Ender was a much deeper character, Ryan. It wasn't written for the YA audience and it is not YA. It lacks the following YA core elements:
Romance between characters, especially a love triangle.
Hero wins, moral is presented indirectly.
Language is kept simple.
Action is fast-paced throughout to maintain interest.
It has none of these things, while HG has all of them.
YA =/= written for young people. False but common misconception. Maybe that's how it began, but that's certainly not what it is now.
It really says something that all the YA "hits" can be found in Airport bookshelves and Ender's Game isn't among them.
Kenneth wrote: "H99 wrote: "YA can be very complex, Kenneth. Don't assume that a book written for a teenager audience lacks depth."I didn't say that. I said the YA genre lacks depth.
YA is now a genre independe..."
I'ma sorry but: YA = Young Adult = books intented for young people and Enders Games main demographic are/were kids and young adults, therefore it is YA.
What you describe as YA is not a genre, it's a bad fad. There is still plenty of good and worthwhile YA out there, that doesn't contain the 'core elements' as you put them. For example John Green's books.
It seems to me that you are just splitting hairs for the sake of your beloved Ender not being put in the same category as The Hunger Games and Twilight.
I pretty much disagree with your "New definition" Kenneth but I also disagree with Anna's conclusion that EG is YA. EG wasn't targeted to kids. The fact that kids enjoy it is fine. But popularity among children doesn't make a book YA imo.
That said.. I'm not that heavily bothered if someone considers EG a YA cat book.
Sorry both of you, but you're wrong. You're caught up in the word itself. Just as the words "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing, you can't take literally that "Young Adult" is written for young adult readers. Does anyone write out "Young Adult"? No. You write YA, because "YA" is a thing apart. While once it was a classification of writing intended for younger minds, it now corresponds to writing with the definition I gave above. That which is written for young people, but is NOT YA, is not YA. Period. Would I consider "The Wind in the Willows" YA? No. It could be a kid's book, it could be an adult's book, there is something there on many levels.
In YA, there are not many levels. There is one level only and that level is plot. This is key. No one analyzes YA. No one looks for what's beneath the surface because there isn't anything. Discussions instead pertain to who did what, when did this happen, how could that happen - mechanics of plot only.
Enders Game is not beloved by me, I don't know if I even own it. I am simply protesting lumping it in with books that have nothing more than plot to them, when clearly Card has imbued his work with layers of depth
As Wolfkin points out, popularity among young people does not make a book YA. That is an error in classification hat is becoming increasingly common and one that I find I must fight against lest it become the status quo.
Ryan B. wrote: "Nabiya wrote: "I think as much as the concepts have certain similarities (children, life or death games, post-apocalyptic, etc)... the two books are TOO different to compare. I liked Hunger Games..."
I disagree and in reality it is just a matter of personal opinion. I think that when an author goes into detail (like in the Hunger Games) on how children murder other children is worse than the accidental, non-descriptive genocide that occurred in Ender's Game.
Ender's Game wasn't classified as YA due to content“The judges cut Ender’s Game for the same reason — Ender himself is young, but the book’s violence isn’t appropriate for young readers.” The same reason cited was in reference to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and reads “Though the language was relatively simple, the themes were entirely adult.”
Source: http://www.endersansible.com/2012/07/...
Colleagues, I never considered Ender's Game YA even though it is about a child. As someone who grew up in a heavily tracked and stratified school system, I am more aware than most that Ender's Game asks the question whether the stress we impose on our best and brightest is good for them. Granted that Ender is subjected to pressures no child even in the most intensively tracked stratified educational system would ever face, the question is the same. Is what we are doing to these kids right?
Hunger Games is not focused on the protagonists mental development in the same way and does not ask the same question about an individual. It does, however, stand as a polemic against repression and rigid class structure.
So, while my inclination is to say that Ender's Game is the better book in that it asks a question that few are willing to deal with, we can not ignore the theme of repression and revolt that drives Hunger Games.
The theme of leadership also separates the two books. Ender is groomed for leadership and he leads willingly until he is betrayed by the very people who trained him. Katniss never leads willingly until the very end. So, which model is better for training leaders? How do we treat our young stars? These are questions for society to answer and are often ignored by readers of both these books.
Ender's Game is better, but both books ask important questions and should be included in a modern literate person's library.
Kenneth wrote: "H99 wrote: "YA can be very complex, Kenneth. Don't assume that a book written for a teenager audience lacks depth."I didn't say that. I said the YA genre lacks depth.
YA is now a genre independe..."
I disagree. I do not agree with the statement that to be an adult novel a book must comply with the characteristics that you listed. There are MANY books like Ender's Game that do not contain those characteristics and are still classified as adult. There are also many books that do contain any romance but are fast-paced or vice-versa and are not adult.
Also the statement that adult books contain a hero that wins follows the common cliché of young adult novels. I felt that the fact that this book didn't contain this gave it a sense of maturity.
Kenneth wrote: "Sorry both of you, but you're wrong. You're caught up in the word itself. Just as the words "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing, you can't take literally that "Young Adult" is writte..."I completely agree with what you have said here. Especially, that most books cannot be classified as only young adult or adult.
Not even a contest. Ender's Game.
H99 wrote: "Kenneth wrote: "H99 wrote: "YA can be very complex, Kenneth. Don't assume that a book written for a teenager audience lacks depth."I didn't say that. I said the YA genre lacks depth.
YA is now a..."
Such as? Which have depth?
H99, how do you prove this? What defines YA for you?
You must all realize that the only genre based on age is "Childrens Books".
"YA", "Paranormal Romance", "Urban Fantasy", and other recently minted coin are all defined by theme, as most genres are. I think there's a lot of blowback to stating that because the supporters don't want to acknowledge it, for whatever reason.
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