The Wiggin children are unusual, even for the unusual world in which Ender’s Game unfolds. There’s the oldest, Peter, a power-mad sociopath; Valentine, the sister who turns her eloquence to Peter’s service; and then there’s Ender, their little brother, who is singled out by the authorities as the military genius who just might prove to be Earth’s savior in its epic conflict with an alien enemy. Set at some indeterminate time in the planet’s future, when humanity has been at war with the Formics, an insect-like alien race (familiarly dubbed “buggers”) for a hundred years, Ender’s Game might appear at first blush to be the most formulaic of science fiction novels. But just try to put it down.
I read this SF novel and then read more about OSC, and found that I couldn't stomach his homophobia or sexism, so I vowed never to read any more of his works.
Great, if not terrifying, take on using video games and children to win wars. This was re-done with 90s Nostalgia in Ernest Cline's Armada. Both are great reads but Ender's Game is a bit darker with the characterization of the kids.
Fast-paced and exciting but with more depth than expected. Sets up an almost philosophical series about the nature of war and what it means to be "alien"
Enders Game is a harrowing book about humanity uniting (barely) against an outside threat and what would happen when that threat is gone. Its protagonist, Ender Wiggin, is a compelling character whose innate intellectual abilities make him the most valuable asset in the war against "the buggers." He deals with the worst aspects of human stupidity and weighs the moral implications of his duty to the human race versus what he thinks is right. Though dark, the ending will stick with you forever and conveys a message of hope.
I never considered myself a big sci-fi fan, but some stories, like Dune, drag you into their world. While the world of Enders Game is not nearly so vast as that of Dune, the fact that it kept expanding until suddenly he was fighting for the world was what pulled me along so insistently.
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