{"id":2252,"date":"2014-02-17T00:02:18","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T06:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steamtrainsandghosts.wordpress.com\/?p=2252"},"modified":"2014-02-17T00:02:18","modified_gmt":"2014-02-17T06:02:18","slug":"enders-game-by-orson-scott-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steamtrainsandghosts.com\/?p=2252","title":{"rendered":"Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card"},"content":{"rendered":"

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$\"enders-game-novel-cover\"$ <\/a>Ender\u2019s Game<\/i> is a hard book to review. It\u2019s considered one of the classics of the science fiction genre, so what do I have to say about it that hasn\u2019t already been said?<\/p>\n

Since the movie of the book came out last November, you probably already know how the story goes. Ender is a super-intelligent child, probably genetically engineered, who\u2019s destined to lead Earth\u2019s military forces against an alien insectoid race. At the age of six, he\u2019s enrolled in Battle School with a bunch of other superkids. The teachers put them through war games that get ever more grueling until everything goes horribly wrong \u2013 or horribly right, depending whose side you\u2019re on.<\/p>\n

This book was just as hard to read as it is to review. One of the reasons is that Ender\u2019s Game<\/i> was never really meant to be a novel. Orson Scott Card originally published this story as a short story in 1977, then later beefed it up so he could write the sequel, Speaker for the Dead<\/i>. It shows in the pacing, which goes by in fits and starts. And the ending is bizarre by a novel\u2019s standards. Throughout the book, Ender makes the same mistake over and over again. He only means to beat his opponent, but he beats him so thoroughly he winds up killing him. At the climax of the story, Ender makes the same mistake<\/i>, big time. It\u2019s only in the denouement that he starts to change and get better.<\/p>\n

But the biggest reason this book was so hard to read is that it\u2019s chillingly real. Orson Scott Card is a skilled writer and he puts you through the hell on earth Ender has to go through. In my edition of Ender\u2019s Game<\/i>, Card writes in an introduction that the book\u2019s become a manifesto for gifted children. Of course I\u2019m nowhere near as smart as Ender, but I was a gifted child. I knew that same alienation and embarrassment when I\u2019d run circles around my classmates academically, so the book struck close to home. Petra could have been me.<\/p>\n

Should Ender\u2019s Game<\/i> be a manifesto for gifted children? Ender is no role model. Ender commits atrocities, and the book is never totally clear whether Ender\u2019s a monster or just unlucky. Would any bright kid in Ender\u2019s situation have done the same things? Does the book condone this?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know, but I want to add that I watched the movie at the same time as I read the book. It\u2019s never destined to be classic cinema, but the movie was good. It fixed the pacing issues and lightened the story up a lot. Fine with me. It\u2019s a great way to chase out nightmares after you\u2019ve read the book.<\/p>\n

One final note: the book wound up undercutting its own scariness, completely by accident. I couldn\u2019t help snickering every single time one of the characters mentioned the Buggers. *snerk* Buggers!<\/p>\n

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