Ender's Game (Fantastic Audio)

Rating:
Summary: 86% of reviews have a 5 star rating
Review: How about some statistics ? Of the 776 reviews on this site as of this writing, 669 of them (86%) are 5 stars. The string "best book" can be found 185 times. "ever read" : 186 times. "favorite" : 58 times. "masterpiece" : 23 times. "compelling" : 22 times. "buy this book" : 13 times. What else is there to say ?

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: This book was undoubtedly one of the best sci-fi books I have ever read (and i've read a lot). I don't see how anyone could not like it. The whole plot and substance of the story is so surreal that it makes it all seem truly real. if you don't read it, you'll be sorry!

Rating:
Summary: The best book I've ever read.
Review: This book is, in my humble opinion, the best book ever written. It is captivating. Read it. If you're not sure, if you can't decide to buy it, get it from the library, read it, then buy it and read it again.

Rating:
Summary: I wouldn't have written this but...
Review: I just read [e-mail] review and I can't stop laughing. BattleField Earth is a deep book? Deeper then Ender's Game? are you mad? To summerise the message of Battlefield: Earth: ' knowing anything about your subject matter isn't necessary, and no one can win against the all-good hero'

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Summary: One of the greatest SF books written so far.
Review: It's simply a wonderfull book. Well planed, well written. I would give it more then 5 stars i I could.

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Summary: Incredible tale, independent of the genre that confines it.
Review: Ender's Game is an amazing story, unfolding in a way that only Card can concieve. Remarks that the writing is too direct or lacking elements of magical realism are misleading. The direct nature of Card's writing forces the reader to dive into the plot as Ender does, without the comfort of an observer. In being secluded with the main character, the situation becomes more real, and style presents itself in the progression of the tale. The story is tremendous in its relation to human nature and frightening in its logic. The actions taken against the mysterious alien race threatening humanity are hardly far-fetched and entirely predictable in a real-life situation. Further evidence of Card's ingenuity can be found in the excellent sequel "Speaker for the Dead", another example of the his exceptional talent, which I find better than "Ender's Game" in several respects.

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Summary: This book is so true to how kids really act with each other.
Review: I was a kid myself, not that long ago. The pure brutality involved is absolutely true. From first grade all the way through high school, most kids spend the majority of their time making life hell for other kids. I know, I'm still in high school, and that is definitely true, even of me. Ender's Game would probably mean even more to somebody who had attended military school, though even that is probably not close to the viciousness that is taught at Battle School. This should be required reading somewhere. The only thing that didn't ring true was the language, cause I can tell you that until you leave college most people talk like Dock workers. F this and CS that. There's enough of that at my high school for a Tarantino movie. Still one of the best novels of all time. Read it.

Rating:
Summary: The absolute best Sci-Fi novel I've ever read.
Review: At first I didn't think I wanted to read this book. Then a good friend kept bugging me about it and telling me I needed to read it. After starting I found it was hard to put down. The book hooked me instantly and from there I continiued until I was done. The battleroom is the coolest concept of a Sci-Fi I've read. Lastly the twist at the end kept me just pondering about it for minutes after reading it. By far the absolute best Sci-Fi written. Hopefully a movie will be made of this gripping novel. I recommend this to any who even thinks they want to read it, or to anyone looking for a good Sci-Fi.

Rating:
Summary: Genius.
Review: I can fully understand why people don't like this book. When I first read it, I hated it. But then, over the next few days, the book wouldn't leave my mind. If you can read even one level past the harsh writing (there are a lot of levels at which you can take this book), the sheer directness of the story will force you to think. It's something like a Zen koan; it seems like a simple, direct statement, but pretty soon you're thinking about the nature of reality. The story of Ender is extemely compelling for many reasons. How many geniuses have had their lives wasted serving an abstraction of "humanity?" And the battle school - essentially, we have a microcosm of the world with all the word games stripped away.

The real reason I didn't like it the first time was not that the characters were cliche, though that's what I told myself (they're not, but you have to really pay attention to see them as they are; how many real people reveal a complex, multifaceted personality in everyday life, for all to see?). It isn't that the plot was unoriginal; if you think about it, there are very few earlier works with a similar story line. No, the real reason was the writing.

Why has Card so completely abandoned the finer side of the literary craft? You can be sure he had his reasons, and he explains some in the introduction, but you cannot deny the simple fact that it works. Without filters, the experience is direct. The "surreal" element, if you want to call it that, captures not the moment but the character's impression of the moment, forcing a reader with imagination to live the life of the character. Even while I was telling myself that the book was pointless, I was reading it at 3 a.m. It's very disturbing to have a book become your life for a few hours, but the best books do disturb us. Rather than preaching, like the later books in this series, it transforms.

So, after Ender's Game had haunted me for a week, I read it again. And this time, to my surprise, I liked it. Maybe it's like jumping into near-freezing water; you have to get used to it, but once you are, you enjoy it. It has turned out to be one of the most thought-provoking books I have ever read, not because of what it explicitly says but because of what it doesn't. It doesn't spoon feed you any kind of pseudo-"philosophy" or "meaning." It leaves that to you.

As for the realism, I don't think there's a problem. The idea that "no kids are that smart" is naive and ulimately prejudiced and ridiculous. It would upset some people's well-constructed view of the universe if some kids were that smart, but unfortunately that has little to do with the truth. Prodigies on a level with Ender are hated and feared for the gift. Our society values conformity above all else. Why else does so much of our educational system seem devoted to crushing every fragment of awe and imagination in our children, turning them into good citizens? But there are examples in history - Mozart, who wrote a symphony at the age of five, or the Indian mathemetician Ramanujan, who single-handedly rederived all of Western mathematics before he was twenty. Lik the best literature, Ender's Game is written partly with the intent of shattering closed minds.

So for those of you who can't seem to get over how bad this book was, read it again.

Rating:
Summary: Incomparable
Review: Card's best work (which says a lot, for he is head and shoulders above other writers). Enders Game is the best book I have ever read, and I've read it numerous times. I recommend it to all, not just sci-fi buffs, I guarantee it will change your world.