Let the preparations begin:
"I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get."
A summary of sorts:
The earth barely made it through two attacks from an alien race called the buggers. The armed forces fear that a possible third attack might wipe out the entire human race. Now the military is out scouting for young children, children who has the potential to lead their army safely through the next bugger attack.
Meet six year old Andrew Wiggin, called Ender, and his siblings, Valentine and Peter, and their parents. When we first meet them Ender has just removed his monitor, it has been inserted in his brain for several years as a tool for the military, making it easier for them to spot potential soldier. And so begins little Ender's journey towards a career in the military. It is going to be hard, training both physically and mentally, it's no game, even if the soldiers are no more than children.
My thoughts:
Ender's Game is unlike anything I've ever read before, this is science fiction at it's best, I'm sure(even if this is only my second scifi novel). Ender is taken from his home and family to be trained to be one of the greatest military leaders the world has ever known. A young boy bereaved his right to normal childhood and his freedom. Sounds kind of depressing, don't you think? In many ways it is, but at the same time it's a brilliant novel, this is a must read really.
I had some issues with a couple of things that Ender chose to do, but he wasn't supposed to be a normal six year old, he was a genius. Even if Ender was a genius some of the adults used him as a piece in their puzzle, he still trusted adults to some extent and was sometimes easy to lead.
The story alternates between Ender's life at battle school and his siblings life at home. This works quite well and his siblings has their part in this story as well.
Ender is a good three dimensional character and he has a nice development throughout the book, we all know how much children changes from childhood into their teens.
I'm looking forward to continue with the next book in this series; Speaker for the dead. By the way did you know that Orson Scott Card won both The Hugo- and the Nebula-award for Ender's game?
There has been talk about turning Ender's Game into a movie but so far it doesn't look good. The author has been very involved in the processes and one of his main worries was that they would cast a 16 year old boy as Ender and give him a love interest like in any typical Hollywood movie.I'm glad that Card has been so strickt about this, a 16 year old would just not do as Ender.
My rating of this book:
4.5 stars out of 5.
4.5 stars out of 5.
Want to know more?
I know that Orson Scott Card has been criticized for a lot of his opinions but still Ender's Game is a brilliant novel. So I won't go into any debates about the author but I will definitely continue reading his saga about Ender.
