Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
November 25, 2002

Genre: Science Fiction

     A teacher recommended Ender’s Game to me.  The teacher whom I had beaten mercilessly in a ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trivia, 13.5 points for me, and a measly 3 for him!  Hah!  I rule Middle-Earth!  Okay… then again… maybe I don’t…

     Ender’s Game, written by Orson Scott Card, is about young Ender Wiggins, a genius.  Taken place in the future, aliens have attacked Earth twice and will likely strike again.  To prevent a recurring nightmare, and ensure a victory for humankind, the world government has committed themselves to training geniuses at a tender age in military warfare; and Ender Wiggins, is a genius among geniuses.  All mankind’s hope lies on this small child, will he be able to live up to his destiny?

     Written in 1977, Orson Scott Card had delivered new and fresh ideas, which even may be an accurate depiction of the future, that even today such concepts may be a possibility.  Buggers, colonization, and Battle School are just some of the innovative ideas of Card.  I mean, Battle School!  The whole idea of kids going to space to be trained by means of a game is purely ingenious!

     Character development, I must say, is an important element in all books.  Without deep feelings of like or respect towards the main character, the whole story can go down the drain.  Ender is a real person; he has his ups and downs, his sorrows and joys, his pain and grievances.  Card develops all of his characters so well, that you would believe they are actually real and is a taste of the future.  With the usage of dialogue to develop both the story and character, the story flows smoothly and let’s the reader pick up the details on the characters almost subtly.

     Card delivers a novel of human nature on a much larger scale.  He shows us how humans are ruthless conquerors; they claim to defend their race, but lust nothing more but power.  Arrogantly they conquer anything that appears as so much as a threat to their kind, and willing to go through great risks to keep their pride unscathed.

     Ender’s Game is one of the best novels I have ever read.  Orson Scott card delivers an amazing piece of literature that no science-fiction reader should pass up.  Battle School!  That’s like the one reason why you should read it, neh?  But you should be aware that this novel is uncensored.  Yeah, and also the story of Ender continues on to Speaker of the Dead, but if you wish to go in chronological order, there's Ender's Shadow, where in continues the story of Bean.

 - Bobo

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