Friday, January 11, 2008

Ender's Game (book review)








Ender's Game
, by Orson Scott Card, is the story of Andrew (Ender) Wiggin, a six-year-old boy taken from his home to join Battle School, a place where children practice fighting against fake enemies to prepare them for careers battling in space. Earth has been invaded twice before by alien, insect-like buggers, and it's preparing for the Third Invasion. All the commanders from the First and Second Invasions are too old to fight now, so who is going to take their place? Children.

Meanwhile, while Ender is training hard at Battle School, Ender's siblings, Valentine and Peter, are becoming two of the most well-known people in America. But their identities are kept a secret, and they are known only as Demosthenes and Locke. They have an important part to play in the battle that's going to take place on Earth.

Ender doesn't know it, but the world is counting on him to defeat the buggers. He is the commander of the force to fight the Third Invasion. Is Ender up to the challenge?

Ender's Game was a story with a complex plot and complex characters. It is now one of my all-time favorite books, and I can't wait to read the sequel!

8 comments:

Joy said...

Annie! The third in this series begins with an "X"! Woo Hoo! (That is if you don't already have a "X" planned.)

Shelley said...

I loved Ender's Game also. I thought is was so original. I may have to take advantage of that X title, because I have only read one sequel--Speaker for the Dead.

chrisa511 said...

:D Well you know you made me happy Annie! One of your all time favorites! It's one of mine too of course and Card is my favorite author due to this book and it's sequel, Speaker for the Dead, which is even better in my opinion. I'm so happy you enjoyed it. I saw you got A War of Gifts for Christmas! You should enjoy that one too as it takes place in battle school.

Ana S. said...

I really wanted to read this one for the Sci-Fi Experiment...unfortunately my local library doesn't have it, and I can't buy books at the moment, so I'll have to wait a while. But hopefully I'll manage to fit it in this year - I want to read it even more after your review!

Jean said...

I loved Ender's Game! Unlike Chris, though, I was not as impressed with the books that followed. As a series, I think that Ender's Shadow (about Bean) and its sequels is stronger, but then that's just my .02 worth. They're all well worth reading.

Carl V. Anderson said...

It was amazing, wasn't it? I was so impressed by the story and very moved by the way that it ended. Speaker for the Dead is great as well. I think it is a little more complex and has some more adult stuff in it (nothing like Tithe, however).

Jean said...

FYI, Orson Scott Card just got the Margaret A. Edwards award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults, for Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. The award was announced at the midwinter meeting of the American Library Association yesterday along with the Newbery and Caldecott winners.

Maia said...

Xenicide isn't as good as Enders Game, I agree with your first comment Jean.