Ender's Game (The Ender Quintet, #1) by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

My Review:

I loved this book, and cannot wait to see the movie (although I am bummed because it seems no one wants to see it with me). Anyways, I enjoyed seeing how they trained Ender because it was different and radical, although you could see why they chose to do it that way. The book also would remind the reader that Ender was just a little kid, which would tug on the heartstrings once reminded of that perspective.

The only part I did not thoroughly enjoy was the ending. I felt that the author tried to wrap things up too quickly, and in such a way that did not completely fit with the flow of the storyline. I know there are additional books in this series, but you can almost guess that the author was unaware of more stories involving Ender at this time.** Oh well, looking forward to the movie!

**Update, I have since read the next two books in the series, including notes from the author, which specifically stated that his intention was to always write Speaker for the Dead and that Ender's Game was just a launching point for the characters. I can see that now, but I still feel that towards the end of this story, he was in too much of a rush to get to the story "he was always meant to tell".

P.S. I also saw the movie in theaters (and many more times at home), amazing!

Read from October 21 to November 07, 2013

Top 5 Genres*: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Classics, Science Fiction/Dystopia
*According to Goodreads
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My ratings system
5 stars - I absolutely loved it
4 stars - Good book and would recommend
3 stars - Decent book, but wasn't spectacular
2 stars - Not good, but was able to finish it
1 stars - Did not finish (DNF) and I don't usually rate a book I haven't finished (just to be fair to the author)

View all my reviews