If I fail my exams this week, I blame this book.

Ah Ender's Game, how you have sat on my bookshelf for over a year before I got to you. You have been so nicely received by the sci-fi community so why did I put you off? BECAUSE I WAS STUPID, THAT IS WHY.

My stupidity aside, I hope you guys will still consider this 5-star review to be credible and valid. I'll list off the pros and cons to this novel and you can decide.

Pros:
An adorable main character.
Ender (Andrew) Wiggins was a breath of fresh air from the strong heroine of YA literature. Being a 6 year old at the beginning of the novel, I was completely caught off guard by his maturity and how sneaky he was.

The tactics used in the Game.
The reason the Hunger Games was interesting to me were solely due to the tactics Katniss used to stay alive, Well, guess what? Ender Wiggins just pretty much kick this Katniss chick's butt. Ender almost reminded me of Alexander the Great or Napoleon and I LOVED IT.

Oh the perceptive of Valentine and Peter was also very fascinating. The political backdrop highlighted by Demosthenes and Locke was very refreshing for a science student like me.

Now, I shall move on to the cons:
The lack of romance.
OMG WHO AM I SUPPOSE TO SHIP NOW? NO DARK, MYSTERIOUS BOY WHO THE MAIN CHARACTER CAN FEEL SEXUALLY FRUSTRATED FOR.

Haha, just kidding. I am glad the focus was on Ender and his growth to his maximum potential. The lack of romantic development is one of the best thing about this novel. I find romance takes away from such a masterpiece.

Just to be clear, there are no cons to this book. I am just a fool who never listen to others' opinions and it often comes back to bite me in the rear.

Joke's on me, I suppose.

No stars for you, homophobic douche.

In 2008, Card made a bunch of idiot statements about gay people. I disliked ENDER'S GAME when I read it many years ago; it's a tedious tale of strangely and negatively homoerotic/pedophilic prurience; but reading his work and insulting it became a mission in 2013. That was the Year of the Deletions, when Goodreads committed a horrendous breach of trust by simply deleting reviews flagged by a group of idiot users as "not community friendly" or some such crap.

Users affected by this weren't given notice of the company's intent to destroy their data. It simply...vanished. At that time, I was a significantly more well-read reviewer than I am now. I left Goodreads out of a sense of outraged solidarity with people who had no backups of the content they created, unpaid and out of love for books, that Goodreads then and now uses as value-added sales material. Not that long after Amazon took over Goodreads, it became obvious that "negative" reviews were in for a flagging and, if that wasn't enough, a trolling.

So many issues got rolled into the outrage and sense of violation that goes with some business entity acting ham-handedly that it became easier and better for my personal mental health (which would snap shortly anyway) to get out of here. I went from the Forbes 25...the 25 most influential reviewers on the site...to a group blog and a lonely little personal blog for new reviews. Naturally enough my supposed sway here diminished and then pretty much vanished as life's vicissitudes finally caught up with me and sent me to the psych ward for a good long stretch.

But before I vanished, I mocked the many 5-stars-or-else thugs who ran (possibly still run, I'm better at ignoring people these days) roughshod over the idea of respectful disagreement with the opinions of others by rating some of their darlings as above. It drove them nuts that I rated books like this one AND had read them, so was immune to accusations of partisanship.

Well, not immune, I was and am a partisan of political, social, economic, and moral Liberalism and liberalism. It shows. I'm happy with that.

So rather than review the books at the time I read them, I rated them and waited for the haters to hate. They didn't disappoint me. Three years on, I don't care about the anvil chorus of conform-or-suffer any more. So here it is: I didn't like this book by an author whose politics and personality I don't like.

This book came recommended many times over the years. It is fast paced and interesting. Definitely easy to get into. Not sure if you would like it if you are not a sci-fi fan. I have not heard great things about the rest of the series, so I stopped here, but is definitely a book that can stand on its own.

Bruh

„Играта на Ендър“ е възхитителна научна фантастика! С препрочитането открих много нови неща и затвърдих мнението си, че представлява едно от най-добрите и стойностни четива в жанра. Централно място заема военната сюжетна линия на Ендър, която е забележително изградена, обаче този път още повече ме впечатли политическата линия на Лок и Демостен... Книгата поставя началото на поредица, но спокойно може да бъде четена като самостоятелен роман. Играта на Ендър донякъде може да бъде сравнявана с „Дюн“, тъй като и двете чудесни многопластови истории разглеждат темата за израстването като личност на момче, което е натоварено с огромни очаквания да бъде „спасител“ за човечеството, както и в двете са вплетени разнообразни философски размисли.

Андрю (Ендър) Уигин е приет и отива в елитно военно училище за деца, което се намира вщна станция в орбита около Земята. Там започва неговото обучение чрез високотехнологични игри и битки, като военните го подлагат на жестоки изпитания, за да се превърне в съвършен военен командир. Впоследствие личен учител му става легендарният военачалник Мейзър Ракъм и му предстоят още по-трудни премеждия в Космоса...

Междувременно Питър и Валънтайн (брат и сестра на Ендър), които също са талантливи деца, са останали на Земята и решават тайно да участват в информационната мрежа. Те постепенно се превръщат в лидери на обществено мнение на планетата, която още се намира в състояние на Студена война и атмосферата е доста напрегната. Питър следва най-вече своите лични амбиции за власт, докато Валънтайн търси начин да помогне на Ендър... Впоследствие отделните сюжетни се преплитат, за да се получи тази превъзходна научнофантастична твор��а!






„Ендър разбра повече от онова, което му каза Петра. Овладяването на гравитацията бе едно нещо, измамата, с която си служеха офицерите — съвсем друго. Но най-важното, което разбра, бе, че истинският враг са възрастните, а не другите армии. Възрастните са онези, които не ни казват истината.“


„Войниците вече знаеха, че Ендър може да бъде груб, когато говореше на групите например, но когато работеше с отделния човек, той бе винаги търпелив, обясняваше толкова пъти, колкото е необходимо, правеше предложенията си спокойно и изслушваше въпросите, проблемите и мненията. Но така и никога не се засмя, когато искаха да се пошегуват с него, и те скоро спряха да правят подобни опити. Той бе командир във всеки един миг от общуването им. И никога не се налагаше да им го напомня.“


„Освен това те все още се ограничават с приказки. Имат влияние, но не и власт.
— Моят опит ми подсказва, че влиянието е всъщност власт.“

In this science fiction book Earth is at war with the "Buggers" an insect-like alien species that has attacked Earth several times.



Ender Wiggins is a brilliant six-year-old boy with a sadistic older brother Peter, a loving sister Valentine, and parents embarrassed to have three children in a society where two is the norm.



Ender is given the opportunity to attend Battle Academy, a space-based school where children are groomed to be military officers in the war against the Buggers. Though Academy students must leave Earth and their families for many years Ender decides to go. The commanders of the Academy believe Ender might be "the one" who can defeat the Buggers, and purposely make his training very difficult.



Even when Ender is the target of jealous bullies he is left to handle his problems by himself in the hopes of shaping Ender into a superior self-reliant officer.

Most of the book describes Ender's training at Battle Academy where combat strategies in zero gravity are learned.



Ender is a good student and even helps train his friends, all of which leads to a strong militia. Any more description would contain spoilers so I'll just say the story has some interesting characters and a few surprises.

For me the repetitive scenes of battle training got a bit old but I think a lot of people would like this book.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....

I can't believe it took me forever to finally read this. I chose to watch the movie first last year, because I remember not having the physical copy of the book yet. That was the biggest mistake of my reading life.

The book is way better than the movie. I know you've probably seen that phrase a million times, but I can't fully express how it truly applies to Ender's Game. I can't find a flaw even if I wanted to. Everything seems perfectly written and constructed. I'm going to be honest and say that I hated most of the overhyped books here on goodreads, but the hype that Ender's Game received's truly deserving. It lived up to my expectations, and continued to amaze me as every page went by.

The character development in this novel's truly astounding. It's really nothing like the way the movie introduced the characters. Everyone in the novel felt important, and their transformation had a huge impact to me. Valentine and Peter were both very much established, and their life journey [as children] was somewhat different, but completely interesting and amusing at the same time. If I remember correctly, the movie didn't even show that both of them became Demosthenes and Locke. That part of their story truly amazed me. This novel showed that age doesn't matter in making a difference. It's all about courage and knowledge to truly express what's inside your head. I didn't like Peter in the moral sense, but his violence and bullying led to Ender and Valentine's positive growth. It may have affected Ender in a bad way, but if you look at the overall change that Ender exuded, it's remarkable how violence led to success.

I think I'm going to retract my statement that I can't think of any flaws. I believe the author was too harsh with his characters, too harsh in a sense that it became a bit unbelievable. Unbelievable in the sense that I haven't really encountered a child who was pushed too much that he's capable of murder. I'm not talking about Ender, because despite everything he did, his humanity was still very much evident. I'm talking about Bonzo. How could he be capable of murder, and not have any guilt afterwards. If the author presented a violent past, then maybe I could still digest the fact that he became evil , but he was just evil like that. He expressed his anger by raging on Ender, without a concrete and well-explained reason why. That's the only problem I could think of, and it's not even really a problem to be honest. It's so minor that the magnificence of the novel can easily cover up this personal opinion of mine. It's not even bothering me, I just wanted to present a slight flaw so that this review wouldn't seem to kiss the novel's ass so much, even though I think it is.

n  n    I've lived too long with pain. I won't know who I am without it n  n

Yeah, that line in the near end says it all. Ender's a changed man, call me sadistic, but I believe it changed him for the better. He's become the strong young man he's supposed to be.

The plot and character development were both amazing, as I repeat. It's original [for me at least] and the ending truly depicts that the author's not done trying to destroy Ender's humanity. I can't wait to read the succeeding novels, even the Shadow series after. This series made it to my top favorite, alongside A Song of Ice and Fire, or maybe I could just say that this is my favorite Sci-Fi book, and possibly series. If you really read the review, then it's obvious that I'm giving this the highest possible recommendation to anyone. The hype might make you cautious, but seriously, this is novel is amazing.

5/5 stars, truly remarkable.

No doubt about it, Ender's Game is Young Adult fiction because of the way it sometimes switches loose ends instead delving into the nitty gritty a bit more.

But it's still a five-star read and couldn't be anything else.

There's also the questionable way that children talk as adults, but not to the detriment of the book.

This book represents the stark reality of dystopian future perfectly, with power struggles at all levels between adults and kids, older and younger siblings, and powerful leaders and their subordinates, as a reflection of the real world and our perennial struggles.

Ender's Game has elements of Dune about it, too, although maybe not at such an epic level.

And anything that emphasizes to young readers that life's no bed of roses, I'm all up for that.

Although this book is written for and about young adults, it's rarely feels restricted. Ender lives through a perpetual lifestyle of being bullied, first by his older brother, next by the army, then by overwhelming odds presented by the enemy, as he fears becoming what he hates the most - a tyrant, an oppressor, or just another bully himself. And we all know what that feels like - to become something you despise and "just another brick in the wall" that makes no real difference.

It's the dystopian sadness and futility that makes this book surprisingly deep.

A book about boys and girls playing sports and video games to resolve the wider problems of mankind and the universe. Childish maybe, especially as aliens are called buggers (bugs).

These games and sports are played to decide who's best, instead of going through nasty war to battle for petty territories while causing the death of thousands of people. Why do it when points and high-score tables will do just fine? Kids understand. Send drones instead. Let them blow up machines and consoles. There's no need to actually kill each other.

If that sounds a bit wimpish, it's not. There are physical fights and confrontations that are live-or-die terrifying.

There's also a great section involving a surreal role-playing game similar to Alice In Wonderland, or Jack and The Beanstalk, in which Ender constantly gets killed and has to respawn like in any typical video game. The emphasizes the futility of playing against an AI that never tires of gets bored, which is fun until it turns into a grind.

It's the mix between virtual and physical that makes Ender's Game such a curious read.

Although it's about bullying and war as Ender focuses on continuous survival against oppressive environments and abstract odds, it's also a book about peace and how one man (or boy) can get on with everybody to achieve the wider goals of being a respected leader. A pacifist rather than an aggressor, taught to fight, survive and win, through his determination to never quit!

The system does everything it possibly can to break Ender, by waging impossible battle odds and bullying him in every possible way. But he never gives up or accepts total defeat and that's an inspiring attitude, especially if you can't find your own way with such a long path ahead of you.

Full review now posted!

Some books define different aspects and periods of your life. Ender’s Game for me represents the loneliness of childhood when you’re different. I first read this book when I was 9 years old and just starting the 4th grade. I was the only kid in my small class in the Gifted program at that point, which set me apart. I was an odd child, athletically challenged and socially inept and physically awkward. I had teeth too big for my head, ears too far large for my face, and hair that pencils could get lost in. My only true friends at this stage in my life were family members and books.

“Because never in my entire childhood did I feel like a child. I felt like a person all along―the same person that I am today.”

So when I came across Ender’s Shadow and Ender’s Game, I felt understood (by someone unrelated to me) for the first time in my life. Here were kids who were different, who were often hated and belittled by other children because of those differences, but who discovered that those differences were actually their strengths. That was an incredibly inspirational possibility that I clung to for years after reading the books for the first time, and that I still cling to when I feel like I don’t fit in somewhere.

“I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.”

My copy of this book is tattered. Pieces of the cover are missing. The spine is broken. The pages are yellow. And I won’t trade it for a newer copy until it falls completely to pieces. I just read this book for the 8th time. I read it in elementary and junior high and high school, once every couple of years, just to remind myself that what made me weird could make me strong. I read it in college when I got married younger than most people and wasn’t living on campus, and was viewed as an odd duck by my classmates. I pushed it into the hands of kids I could see myself in when I became a teacher.

“Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf.”

I lead a small monthly bookclub for teenagers at my local library, and was thrilled when they chose Ender’s Game as October’s book. I hadn’t read it in about five years, so I was a bit nervous that it wouldn’t hold up to yet another reread, but I dove in anyway. Never have I been happier to be wrong. This book packs just as much punch for me 19 years later as it did the first time I cracked it open.

“Perhaps it's impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.”

Ender Wiggin is a genius, wise beyond his years, and he is thrust into impossible situation after impossible situation. Adults are the enemy, seeking to isolate him and push him to his breaking point. But he will not be broken. He adapts and overcomes, making friends in spite of the establishment’s best efforts. However, a time comes when he has to put the mission above his relationships, and has to stand alone. His empathy and drive and monstrous intellect are awe-inspiring, but are they enough to keep him from finally shattering beneath a weight too large for his small shoulders to bear?

“There are times when the world is rearranging itself, and at times like that, the right words can change the world.”

This is not a children’s book, but never in my childhood did I read another book that I related to more than this one and Ender’s Shadow. I honestly feel that this book is appropriate for all ages. If you know anyone who is different, who just can’t seem to become part of the crowd and always seems to stand out and stand alone, please find a way to get this book into their hands. Be they child or adult, this book will make them feel less alone. And if you yourself are different, if you march to the beat of your own drum even when the world demands your silence, read this book and feel understood.

Original review can be found at Booknest.

I believe it was A. E. Van Vogt who said, "The Golden Age of Science Fiction is 14." And in fact, much of the classic science fiction of Heinlein and others feed into the mind of the adolescent boy. The protagonist Ender is an adolescent's dream. He is alone, alienated and feels he is not appreciated for how special he is. In other words, he is the average teen male or at least how the average teen male sees himself. Add on the naive and egotistical worldview envisioned by Heinlein and it is no wonder why adolescents flocked to the science fiction pulps of the 50s. In fact it can be argued that the teen sci-fi fan of the 50s was not all that different from the Emos of our generation.

Ender's Game was written in 1986. Yet it reads very much like a Heinlein novel and the plot and themes are not all that different from Starship Troopers. Card was smart enough to add in video games and the internet as waves of the future but the old Cold War mentality and the "might is right" philosophy hangs on. This is why this somewhat sadistic journey of a six year old child to his role as sci-fi messiah is so disturbing. Ender is brilliant but it is his habit of extreme violence that attracts him to his superiors. This appears to be a virtue in the author's eyes. In fact, one of Ender's teachers spell it out in no uncertain terms.

"The power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you."

Keep in mind this is being said to a six year old boy.

This is the basic theme of the novel. Violence is never extreme enough if it is for a good cause. This idea is never really questioned by Ender or anyone. At the end there is a twist that appears to lay doubt. However is not the basic moral issue in question but the assumption that sets the means to the end in play

This is why I cannot give this novel anything more than two stars. Card isn't a bad writer although some of his action scenes are muddled and he had an annoying habit of changing to third to first person and back for no reason. This was his first novel but I've never read anything else by him so I don't know if he developed any better habits. But this kind of philosophy in any story, especially one that appeals to teens, is disturbing to me. I'm OK with the idea of a young boy with talent being challenged and persecuted. It is a stalwart of YA literature. Harry Potter is an excellent example. But Card seems to preach "If you can't beat them, join them but just be a better fascist than they are."

While we are on the subject, Orson Scott Card is also known for his rather conservative social and religious viewpoints. One of those is his opposition to gay marriage and his basic revulsion to homosexuals in general. So why does his book have so many scenes of young boys running around and wrestling in the nude? Not to mention that the aliens are nicknamed "Buggers". I see some major issues here. Mr. Card, please seek help.

Outside of the Harry Potter series, this is the book that taught me reading is fun. It was first assigned to me over winter break in high school and I re-read twice since then (this is also one of the first books I ever re-read). It's a well known story (and was adapted into a movie) so I dont think I need to touch on plot. I just remember getting that feeling that the imagination is limitless and you can make anything happen in the world of fiction when I first read this book. I wanted to spend all my time in the war games/zero gravity laser tag when I was reading this and I remember actually surprising myself with just how emotionally invested I was getting into Ender's journey.
It's just one of those books that brings me back to my childhood and always puts a smile on my face.

I read this story decades back with no special expectations. Like most books I read it just happened to be lying around the house.

I read it, was hugely entertained, and went on to read three or four of the sequels.

I've heard since all manner of 'stuff' about the author but what's true and what isn't I don't know and I'm not here to critique the man behind the keyboard. All I can do is report on the contents of the book and those I can thoroughly recommend you check out.

The main character, Ender Wiggin, through whose eyes we see the story unfold, is a child genius. If you're one of those people who wants your protagonist to be an average member of society, typical of his/her age and gender... step away. Ender's story is told because he is very far from ordinary.

OSC employs a bunch of fairly standard story-telling tricks. Our hero is underestimated at every turn, he exceeds expectations, we know he's got it in him and we're frustrated by the stoopid people who just won't see it. There's a bully/nemesis and nobody else but us sees just how nasty he is... However, OSC manages to bake an irresistible cake using those standard ingredients and once he starts sprinkling on originality as well, you've just got to eat it all.

This is sci-fi, not hard sci-fi, not soft sci-fi... let's say 'chewy'. It has a slightly old school EE Doc Smith feel to it, and you expect someone to pull out a monkey-wrench whenever the computer starts smoking, but none of that worried me.

Given the date it was written there's some quite prescient stuff about the internet here, although shall we say ... optimistic ... about the ends to which it's put. Card foresaw rather more reasoned political/philosophical debate that swayed public opinion more effectively than rhetoric and demagoguery. And rather less hard core porn.

Additionally the inclusion of female and Muslim characters whilst not front and centre was fairly progressive for 1985 (not ground breaking but certainly ahead of the curve).

This is actually a book with good messages (for the time) about equality, and one which poses interesting philosophical questions about what happens when races with orthogonal thought processes come into contact, and how far one can or should go in such situations.

There definitely is some characterisation going on. We're not talking Asimov's Foundation here where brilliant ideas invite you to forgive cardboard characters. The people here are decently drawn and Ender has his own angst (involving genius psychopathic siblings) that is quite engaging. However, it's the stuff that goes on that drives the story. The war games in preparation for battling the aliens, the unfortunately named 'Buggers'. These war games and Ender's brilliance in overcoming increasingly dire odds are a major theme and I loved them.

And then there's the twist. I'll say no more on that except that I was too engaged with the story to see it coming, and when it hit me ... well, I'd give the book 6* just for that moment. It doesn't work for everyone but it did for me!

EDIT: I have now seen the film - which I enjoyed. The film skips a lot that's important to the book, but I found it entertaining.

EDIT 2: Orson Scott Card reviewed *my* first trilogy. That's pretty damn cool!

(scroll down the article)
http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/ev...


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