Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card Commentary *Spoilers*

[knightenight27]

I will preface this by saying this was my first Science Fiction book to read. At the beginning, all I could think about was a "Tron" idea. The way they dressed and how everything was just futuristic. For me, reading this took me some getting used to. I usually read books that are set in the eighteen hundreds or earlier because that is just what I like. I read this to expand my horizons. So, let's begin.

First thing that was really strange to me was how young Ender was. I read it and imagined a twenty year old in my head because of the way he spoke! Then, as I got further in, I looked past my own nose and realized that's the point! Card wanted to show how the times have changed. Of course, where we are in time now doesn't mean it will be that way in the future. I mean, if the human population had a chance of going extinct, children probably would be growing up a lot faster than normal because there is not time to sit and play Mario Kart all day. Anyway, the only complaint that I would have about this would be times when Card would try to make Ender,in his narration, seem more child-like. I think it could have been stronger and would have tied the audience a little bit more. It would have helped me be more involved in the story compared to me just sitting there reading this book. However, besides the fact about how young they were, the character development was easy to follow. I could see how one event led to another psychologically. I didn't feel like anything was just randomly put there. You got just enough information and saw a slight change in some of the minor characters too like Alai, Bean, and Dink. Card kept the focus on Ender, even when there was little "cut-scenes" to Graff and the people higher up. As the story goes on, the audience begins to feel like Ender is the world's only hope. We get that moment where we want our hero to be like "Yes! I will save you all! No problem!" But, then it adds some reality into that. Ender was a little boy that was terrified to not do the things people wanted him to do. Saving the world is stressful business. I struggle just to feed my cat every day. The battle school was neat. It was cool to read. It allowed room for some imagination. I LOVE books that have opportunities for the reader like that. Towards the end when Ender did the Simulation, or what he thought was a simulation, i could only think of all of my friends that played video games. I earned a new respect. They just might save the world one day!

Overall, this book was pretty good. I would give it 3.5/5 starts. It was my first science fiction novel to read so I am definitely biased in what I thought about it. Once I read more of them, I could think more highly about it or I may think it is weak in the science fiction world. It is just hard to tell as of right now! Please let me know what you think! Anything you agree with? Disagree with? Something that you liked or disliked? Thoughts are welcome!:)

[Fran]

Duplication - A number of topics already exist.