Ender’s Game is a Science Fiction novel written by Orson Scott Card. It is the story of a futuristic Earth that has survived two alien invasions, and is desperately preparing for a third invasion. The International Fleet has a Battle School in orbit to train the commanders that will battle the bugger fleet. The trainee that the IF has put all its hopes in is the five year old genius Andrew Wiggin, who goes by Ender.
Orson Scott Card does a spectacular job in weaving such an intricate story from the perspective of a young boy. At the beginning of every chapter the reader is presented with a conversation from the adults that are manipulating Ender’s life. These snippets are a tantalizing foreshadowing to what Ender is really going through. The reader isn’t given a full scope of things until Ender himself is.
The Battle School is a sad example of the brutality that children are capable if trained for it. These children are stripped of cultural or familial identity at a young age, and after a brief training period are placed in an ‘Army’ where they perform mock battles in Zero Gravity with the other Armies. This game is the entire core of the Battle School, and shows the adults which of the children is suited for tactics and command. I forgot several times on my first reading that I wasn’t reading about adults, but young children under the age of twelve. The brutality and cold calculation which Ender is capable of is almost unbelievable when I look at my nephew. He’s the same age as Ender, and it breaks my heart that this School is training such young children to be ruthless warriors.
This only makes the book more worthwhile. Card not only tells a fascinating and engrossing story, but brings to mind many of the same social issues that the book Lord of the Flies addresses.
Overall, I would say that Ender's Game is one of the most finely crafted books I have ever read. It leads into a around 9 books that follow Ender, or another Battle School graduate named Bean, each of which are just as engaging and enjoyable to read as the original.
Craft: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Plot: 10/10
Significance: 10/10
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