Ender Wiggin is just a little boy, but he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. If he can’t find a way to defeat the Buggers, there might not be a world to live on for much longer.At the age of six, Ender is accepted into Battle School. He is taken from his parents, his sadistic brother, and his loving and protective sister. Valentine is the only thing about home he’ll miss, even knowing he won’t be able to see his family again until he is at least 16-years-old.Ender is the youngest trainee at Battle School. Instead of being taken care of and nurtured, the school sets him up to be isolated and thrown into situations that push him to the edge of his endurance.Ender’s intelligence and ability to strategize makes him the most advanced candidate the Battle School has ever seen and he quickly advances through the ranks.Will Ender be able to save the world? Can he be happy with the life he has been forced to live? Can he handle the pressure everyone puts on him? Will he ever be able to maintain a relationship with another person?As a reader you can’t help but feel sorry for Ender and it is easy to forget he is just a little boy. Ender’s Game is the first of a series by Orson Scott Card. Personally, while I loved Ender’s Game, I don’t have plans to read the others right now. I don’t want to devote so much time to a series that already contains 9 other books (another is on the way). I have so many books I need/want to read. Plus, a couple of people have told me that Ender’s Game is the best of the series and the others aren’t as good.Any reactions? What do you guys think? Who out there has read Ender’s Game? Has anyone read the other books in the series? Let us know what you think. Should we read the whole series or not? ( )

Read this book in sci-fi class.

Great science fiction book. ( )

Phenomenal book! ( )

I love this book, and am reading the series. Ender is such a wonderful soul, and his family is great too. I love the archetypes they fill, and then break out of throughout the whole series. Card has a wonderful way of making Science Fiction both realistic and accessible. He uses technical speak, but also appeals to those of us who are more interested in character development and story. This would be a wonderful book to lead into an LA/SS interdependent unit on genocide. Sometimes it is easier for young people to understand a concept if they learn about it as fiction first, and his is a compelling story that would be a good introduction to an ugly idea.

What a fine sci-fi! A true classic: living characters, interesting visions (global computer networks - compare it with the present and astonish!) and a fine bit of alien invasion. ( )

A very good book with an interesting premise. ( )

"Realizstic characters, superb writing."

This is a favorite book of mine, and one that I like to reread every few years. It hasn't held up quite as well as the later novels in the series (or its parallel, Ender's Shadow), mainly because it is definitely a children's novel, and the prose and narration becomes simplistic at times. Still, the themes are powerful, the characters strong and relatable, and the story thrilling. This is definitely one I'll hold on to and pass on to my own children one day. ( )

One of the best science fiction books ever written. ( )

Wild book of great scope and imagination. ( )

This time around I listened to part of the audio tape, and it was well done.
Ender is taken to Battle School, identified to be the best candidate of the children in his family to help lead the earth to victory against the buggers. Ender is pushed to his limits and beyond by the powers that be. He proves to be a brilliant strategist and leader, but struggles to connect with the others in battle school. He is filled with doubts about whether he is as rutheless and as capable of killing as his brother, Peter. Meanwhile Ender's older siblings are using their gifts to change the course of politics on earth. ( )

One of my all-time favorite books, ya or adult. ( )

Great sci-fi. ( )

Author: Orson Scott Card
Review: November 11, 2009 (reread)
Edition: 1994 printing (0-812-55070-6)
Pages: 324
Overall Rating: 3/5 [Average-Good]
Synopsis: What will warfare be like in an age of space travel? Ender Wiggins is a brilliant child with the fate of the world resting on his ability to accurately strategize, lead his troops, and understand an alien enemy.
Strengths: Good "world-building," interesting concepts.
Weaknesses: Sometimes drags.
Further Review: This is one of those novels that I loved when I was younger but hasn't exactly remained timeless for me in many ways. Ultimately, I can see why this book is so well-loved by teenagers and young adults, but up until the ending it reads quite a lot as regular juvenile fiction does with a unique premise.

One of Card's triumphs in this book is accurately capturing Ender's feelings of isolation, pain, and fear. Rather than being an unapproachable, aloof "genius" Ender is very human. His psychology, and the fact that his fears are well-defined and repeatedly addressed as he grows, make up a major part of the book's appeal.

Card's writing is very clear and precise, but unfortunately it's rather boring until nearly the end of the book. There aren't many particularly poignant passages, especially in the first 3/4s of the book, and nothing there is really stirring. On the other hand, it's always a consistent, smooth read.

The story accurately achieves Card's goal of projection and speculation about the process of training for military procedure in space, and psychological problems that an empathetic child such as Ender may face in going through that process. It puts forth interesting ideas such as weapons, communication equipment, and relativity in regards to long space flight. His book also shows the devastating effects that can arise if we contact an intelligence that we cannot understand, or vice versa, and how this can permanently damage relations. Not just between different species, but also among humans; there is always strife, here, between Russia and America; between Peter, Valentine, and Ender; and between the identities of Demosthenes and Locke.

The world of this book is extremely strongly written. Card has fully-fleshed out ideas that he presents here; the reader gets the sense of the world having organically grown (that is, it feels as if it has a history of its own), and can conceivably have a future. It's mostly a speculative work, but it's also a thoroughly built piece.

Here's one of my favorite passages of the book, one of the only ones that comes across not just as "writing" but also prettily, too.
Valentine, who still loved Ender no matter what happened. And following that train of thought led him back to Earth, back to the quiet hours in the center of the clear water ringed by a bowl of tree-covered hills. That is the Earth, he thought. Not a globe thousands of kilometers around, but a forest with a shining lake, a house hidden at the crest of the hill, high in the trees, a grassy slope leading upward from the water, fish leaping and birds strafing to take the bugs that lived at the border between water and sky. Earth was the constant noise of crickets and winds and birds. And the voice of one girl, who spoke to him out of his far-off childhood. The same voice that had protected him from terror. The same voice that he would do anything to keep alive... ( )

Ender's Game is one of my favorite books of all time. Orson Scott Card is one of the greatest living writers and in Ender's Game he is at his best. Card has a very clear and unaffected style that shows what an amazing storyteller he is. Card has said previously no one can truly understand human motivation. Perhaps. But if anyone has gotten close it is OSC. Read this book. Then read it again. ( )

I have trouble in general with science fiction because I always feel that there is some crucial piece of information that I'm missing. Or I feel that the tale is an allegory for something in our present-day world. Either way, I need a reader's guide to understand the significance of what's happening in the sci-fi novel itself.

With "Ender's Game" I was able to follow the action and sequence of events enough to understand where the story was going. I also caught on that the novel was published in 1977, during the Cold War, so some of the politics and fear of war made sense. But again, I felt that I was missing something important. For example, what was the significance of the "soldiers" being children? That seems like a critical point for the novel, yet it's never clarified.

If the novel is making a larger statement about war or mutually assured destruction, unfortunately that point was lost upon me. Just didn't see it, sorry!

Overall, I'm happy to have read the book to see what all the fuss was about, but ultimately, I realize that no matter how much I try, science fiction will never be my cup of literary tea. ( )

This book was suggested by Megan to give us a different genre and introduce some of us to a book considered a canon of sci-fi. We discussed this title at Phyllis's house.

Ender's Game is, in my opinion, an excellent read for those very much into Earth future science fiction and the evolution of human society (especially when alien life is thrown into the mix). This book only introduces the main character, Andrew "Ender" wiggin, as the child prodigy who might be able to save humanity from the alien "Bugger" threat. It focuses on his training and encounters during Battle School where he will eventually lead the human fleets against the aliens. It also follows the actions of his brother, Peter Wiggin, and his quest for political power amongst a very socially different, and united (albeit fragile alliances), human race.

Follow the series to delve deeper into the philosophy behind human/alien interaction as well as the events of Ender's latter years as he seeks peace from his actions in the war against the Buggers. ( )

Always wondered what the hype was about. Now I know. This is one of the best books I can remember reading for a very long time, and I wish I had read it when it was published. I subsequently read the rest of the series (including the newest book, which comes between this one and Speaker for the Dead), and while they are all worth reading, this one stands head and shoulders above the rest. I could write reams about it, but I'll just say two more things: 1. It is easy to read, but there is lots to chew on. 2. Read it. ( )

This book was not at all what I expected. It's much more concerned with psychology and ethics than straight out sci-fi. The story revolves around a gifted child who is singled out by the government as a sort of Christ-like Superman figure who happens to be the human race's one chance at winning an intergalactic war. The novel's focus is not the war but rather Ender's journey through school and his progression from naive boy to world-weary young man. ( )

I first read this between fifteen and twenty years ago and remember really enjoying it then. This time was no different. Ender is a brilliant child soldier, drafted into Battle School at the age of six. He and his comrades are training to fight the Buggers, a hostile alien race who have invaded Earth twice already with terrible casualties. Though it sounds from this two-sentence description to be your standard military science fiction, it is something quite apart from those. This is not about the glories of war, but rather the troubles of a young child forced to grow up before he's even reached puberty. It's also the story of his two brilliant siblings, left on Earth to deal with their own troubles. Ender is extremely sympathetic; even when he was cruel I only pitied him. This is definitely one I will be reading again someday. ( )

I read this book twice, back to back. I've recommended it to all the people who I believe might get something out of it, but it is not the book for everyone. ( )

Ender Wiggins is a 6 year old genius recruited by IF to go up to space and enroll in battle school, the training program for genius children. Earth has been attacked twice by buggers and IF is launching an invasion of their own but they're still desperately seeking a leader for their forces. It is up to Ender to save the human race. This is such a wonderful book, once I picked it up I couldn't put it down, I read it in an afternoon. It has a couple layers to it so people of all ages can enjoy it. A younger reader can get the surface story; Ender overcoming tremendous odds and obstacles to dominate the battle school game. The grown-ups push and push him to be the best, to save the world, but Ender is still only a little boy. Issues older readers can wrestle with and enjoy deal with questions of genocide, identity, and communication. ( )

This is one of the best sci-fi books ever written. Sadly, it appears to be the only thing Orson Scott Card ever wrote that's worth reading. Don't spoil it by reading any of the sequels! ( )