Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
December 25, 2008 in Children's & Young Adult, General, Science Fiction
“I’ve watched through his eyes, I’ve listened through his ears, and I tell you he’s the one.”
How to go about writing a review on a book rightfully considered to be a classic (and not just in its natural home genre of Sci-Fi) Well the only way is to treat it like any other book and write out my thoughts on the experience of reading it.
At the age of six Ender Wiggin is being trained to save the world from an alien invasion.
Ender is Battle School’s latest recruit. His teachers reckon he could become a great leader. And they need one. A vast alien force is headed for Earth, its mission: the annihilation of all human life. Ender could be our only hope. But first he must survive the most brutal military training program in the galaxy…
The book, with its page turning plot, action that never lets up and engaging cast of characters works on loads of levels, as an out and out adventure that can be enjoyed by all ages just looking for an entertaining read, watching as Ender battles to overcome the worst the teachers can throw at him, and try and defeat the enemy. But it also works on a more complex and far deeper level, posing many a question.
Attacking a civilisation, based purely on their past actions?
At what point (if ever) is it right for the needs of the many to out number the needs of the few?
Are just a couple of the moral dilemmas you can take away from your reading of this fantastic book, it is possibly (and I do mean only possibly) a little too repetitive in parts, however if one of the marks of a great novel, is how long it stays with you, then this scores with a screaming volley into the top corner!
Rating: 
Buy, Ender’s Game
Other Reviews to Consider
Kailana (37)
Clover (14)
Alyce (13)
Amanda (10)
Carl V. (10)
Nikki-ann (9)
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one, seems you had the same ‘wow!’ experience with it that I had. It feels perfectly timed to read your review of this so close to the same time last year that I read it for the first time. I came close to ending the year with Orson Scott Card and began it with him as well, reading Speaker as my first book for 2008. This year feels like more of the same which is a fun coincidence. I recently read his book Zanna’s Gift and will be reading War of Gifts, which I read last year, to my daughter over the next day or so. Such a fun Christmas take on the Ender Universe. I am also just now sitting down to do my review of Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi, which I finished earlier this morning. He pays homage to Card in the afterwards and am glad he did as Zoe’s Tale is certainly an Ender-like take on the events of the previous novel, The Last Colony, only from a different point of view. I really enjoyed it. Great review! I’m going to try to pick up Ender’s Exile soon and maybe after that I’ll finally get around to reading Xenocide.
Carl V.´s last blog post: Blog Advent Day 24: The result of too much eggnog?
I promise I’m not stalking your December 2007 reading
but I’m also reading The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick!
And as for John Scalzi, I’ve recently just mooched Old Man’s War, and I’m very much looking forward to reading it.
I read Ender’s Game a few years ago–I got a free copy at an NCTE convention, and decided to read it before letting my students borrow it. Afterwards, I enthusiastically talked it up to them, describing it as like being inside a sci-fi, space-age video game.
I had a student who so loved the story that I let him take it and Ender’s Shadow (also on my classroom shelf) when I quit teaching.
Jena´s last blog post: Click by Bill Tancer
[...] 25, 2008 – Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card [...]