Ender's Game

I love this book because although it seems at a casual glance to be written in the mold of 50s and 60s science fiction, with earthmen fighting bug-eyed aliens, it’s, in fact, a profound exploration of the morality of war, of chances, lost and motives misunderstood and of the ruthless use of children as combatants.

The training regimen of the children is gripping, as is the climactic space battle, but it’s the ending of the novel that gives the story its deep spiritual resonance.

A brilliant portrayal of three-dimensional characters breathing new life into a familiar theme. It taught me valuable lessons about how to have empathy for others, even my enemies. Imagine someone arriving in your country after a journey of two thousand years, to avenge the lives lost when the Roman Empire invaded them.

Or worse, force you to atone for a colony of ants in their home, seventy years before your birth. Alien invasion is not a new concept, but Ender's struggle to stop it is. He is up against not just the alien civilization but the society that created him,… show more.

I recommend this one because it was my first foray into classic sci-fi. I read it at 16, and given that it is a YA novel, it hit right with me at the time. The battle school trope and the simulations were my first experiences with anything like them, and I felt I could relate to Ender.

It opened my eyes to sci-fi when I had predominantly been a fantasy reader. I can’t recommend it enough as a gateway into the genre.

The ethics of war are rarely explored with more punch than in Ender’s Game. The story begins with what seems like a standard military coming-of-age tale with new recruits arriving at basic training – but very quickly, the reader learns that this ain’t your granddaddy’s basic. I appreciate the blend of cool sci-fi with realistic interpersonal conflict between recruits.

But the whole thing is ultimately a misdirection, and the surprise ending brings to center stage, in full spotlight, the question of to what lengths we will go in order to win a war. Who are we willing to sacrifice?… show more.

This story broke my heart. To make a young person do what Ender did without revealing the truth until it was too late still stirs strong feelings in me. It makes me reflect on our history where genocide was attempted. Are we that cruel a species?

I think that’s why this story is special. Although it’s set in a future Earth, the underlying morals of what is right and wrong remain the same. What makes it hard to swallow is that I can understand both points of view. It truly is a moral dilemma. I think that’s why this story… show more.

It’s possible this book should’ve been #1 on the list because, let me tell you, I think about this book a lot. It’s not JUST that this was the first book I read (outside of my steady childhood diet of Star Wars) that made me say, “Wow, sci-fi can do THAT?!” It’s that the gravity of Ender’s burden (and the skill with which Orson Scott Card brings his story to life) have stuck with me so firmly since I first read it that I can’t help but come back for another reading every few years or so.

I feel like… show more.

This book touched my life more than any other novel. It captured my mind and tore my heart apart.

I marvel that one book could say so much about so many things. As a teacher, it brought tears to my eyes to see this gifted boy isolated and manipulated by his teachers. I realize that Earth’s leaders had reasons. Those reasons saved Earth but shone a glaring light on our inhumanity.

I was devastated that instead of welcoming Ender home and helping him heal, they feared his abilities and banished him into space.

I read Ender’s Game years ago and then listened to it on Audible recently. Excellent book filled with intricate strategies and battles, complex characters, and ethical dilemmas.

After almost being destroyed by the bug-like Formics, Earth must devise a strategy for the next battle. The strategy involves molding extremely gifted children, like Ender Wiggins, to become trained military commanders that can defeat the Formic hoards at all costs.

The book is a fast-paced journey through a minefield of moral and ethical dilemmas. Captivating characters keep you engaged throughout the book. A page-turner and a must read for science fiction aficionados.

Ender’s Game has many similarities to Androne. The game-like elements of the story and the way the lead characters are both withdrawn from the battlefield.

What Ender’s Game does really well is the anticipation it creates as we wait on pins and needles for this build-up to a battle with the aliens. Ender has all of that pressure mounted on him as a child, the fate of the world, but the internal politics heighten that tension as well, as Ender’s life is under threat from his cohorts, even his own brother on one occasion. 

This is an older book, classic really, but I loved it growing up. Orson Scott Card is the king of sci-fi and Ender’s Game doesn’t disappoint.

It’s a fantastic story about Andrew “Ender” and his two siblings Peter and Valentine. The dynamics of family and war are intriguing, and I like that the protagonists are kids, but yet the gravity of their world makes it work. I don’t feel like I’m reading about a ten-year-old and thinking this is unrealistic.