Orson Scott Card's main gift is character development, which you can see in the Ender series. I love how in this story you feel like you really get to know and understand the characters, especially the main ones, but some of the minor too. Now, I don't really think a description of the story premise does it justice, but I'll give a short synopsis anyhow: In this book, you follow a boy named Andrew (Ender) who, is the child genius in military tactics that the government's been waiting for. He's taken to a school where he can learn to use these gifts through a series of battle games so that he can, well...Save the world, of course (this is a science fiction book, after all). I'll also note that if you like this book, the next book you should read is Ender's Shadow. It's not a sequel -- in fact, it's the exact same story...just told from another perspective. You can read either one 1st and not ruin the story at all. Very Cool.Read full review
This Book is absolutely amazing on SO many levels. It is the first novel I will give my children when they are old enough. That's how strongly i feel about it. I am NOT a fantasy geek or Sci-Fi person. I'm an Artist and Photographer, just a regular joe, that reads before bed because it helps me sleep. This book absolutely WILL change your life, and the way that you view the world. It is a very simple book, easy to read (all of Orson's books are). It hooks you to where you won't want to put the book down until it's done. It brings you into this whole new world, that is so close to our own, and opens your eyes to what very well could be in our own future. This book will force you to search your inner self, analyze your own life, and will make you a better person for it, and the great thing is that you have no idea that the book is even doing that to you. I guarantee you will love it, and will be out buying the next book the same day that you finish this one. I would suggest the entire Ender Series, as well as the Shadow Series, you don't have to like Sci-Fi to like these books. I have read almost every single OSC book and loved every one of them. They have changed my life, and who I am.Read full review
Ender's Game demonstrates Card's enormous talent in writing. The style of writing is not complicated, mostly succinct in approach and very quick to read. The book itself is a bit strange to explain. Card seems to tap into the military mind and militaristic system and exploits an interest in it, also the fundamental nature of human beings. [SPOILER]: However, near the end of the book, both of these things start to turn incredibly unrealistic and almost completely nonsensical. "Peter" somehow becomes a benevolent ruler after a childhood of murdering smaller things and torturing siblings. The alien race somehow did not figure out a way to communicate with humans withing a span of eighty years. These things, among others, make the quick and strangely bleeding heart ending a bit confusing. The only thing you can really draw from the ending is that some of the characters dont like to kill and militarism is bad. Not much else to it. All in all though despite the strange ending the book was quite good and very difficult to put down.Read full review
An all-time classic. While the expansive story alone creates an exciting read, it's the soul-searching questions boiling out of the narrative that will grab you. This edition includes an introduction from Card looking back on the genesis of the story and the book's impact on a number of young readers who were moved to describe its importance in their lives. That's right, this book can be life affirming for youngsters bright enough to sense the darkness we all face at times growing up. Without ever belittling the military, and with no preaching, the story relentlessly dissects intended and unintended consequences of military solutions to disagreements between populations. Suitable for bright youngsters age 10 and up. Should be suggested reading for all pre-teens and teens, and required reading for youths contemplating the military.Read full review
This is a terrific science fiction novel, but it should and does have a much wider appeal. You could put it in a general literature category and it would still be highly ranked. It is the story of a boy in the future who must train to be the commander of a force that will save humanity. After being attacked by aliens (known as buggers) and barely surviving the attack, the military of Earth are planning to prevent a second wave by sending forces to the bugger home world to destroy them. Ender Wiggins is recruited at the age of six and goes through gruelling battle school in orbit of Earth, learning to develop new strategies and techniques to defeat the enemy. It is thoroughly engrossing as Ender moves from one level to another, fighting his psychological programming as he puts together his own army, built on his own unique approach. Larger issues, especially government manipulation of individuals for its specific agenda, are dealt with in stunning detail. A second manipulation takes place as the author maneuvers his readers into rooting for a boy who is manipulated into becoming a mass murderer without even realizing that he is killing billions. It raises more questions than it answers, but if you are looking for a book to really make you think, this would be it. And that, in the end is partly what makes great science fiction.Read full review
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