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Ender's Game (Fantastic Audio)

Ender's Game (Fantastic Audio)

List Price: $40.00
Your Price: $28.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A mature look at childhood
Review: Many times adults don't stop to think about how mature our children really are. Ender's Game is a perfect example of the "grown-up" decisions a child must make whether he is or is not aware of it himself. Ender Wiggin is a boy; one of extreme intelligence, but still a boy. He is made to play games in order to become a better soldier in war. At first it is the game that intrigues him. He is drawn into the art of winning and learns how to manipulate the game to suit his purpose. What Ender is not aware of is that the game was never a game. It was a reality that was hidden from him in order to keep his sanity. Though Ender runs close to loosing his mind, his fighting spirit won't allow to stop the game.

Orson Card does a magnificent job in creating this adult world for a child to save. The obstacles Ender must face, as unfair as they may seem, keep the reader spellbound, wondering what Ender will do next. Ender is the epitamy of the child in every adult that tells us to keep playing, no matter how hard the game gets. Although there are many times Ender wants to quit, the reader makes him unable to quit. I was unable to put the book down until I knew what the final outcome of the game would be. Ender's Game is a wonderfully written book about a young child being forced into an adult world through the use of games. I would highly recommend this book for young and old minded alike.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A breathtaking ride....
Review: Having never been a fan of sci-fi, I was more than a little iffy about undertaking Ender's Game. Since it is usually considered "classic" sci-fi, I decided to be open-minded and give it a shot. I'm incredibly glad that I did, because this book was nothing short of touching.

Ender Wiggin grows up in a futuristic society where families can only have an allotted number of children, and the Wiggins's just happen to be allowed to produce three incredible geniuses. At the age of 6, Ender enters a battle school where he will be conditioned and trained to be the greatest of intergalactic commanders, destined to save the world from the latest and largest alien attack that Earth has ever seen. The fate of the world lies in the hands of a boy genius with hopes, dreams, and a family that he must leave behind to fulfill his duty.

Card does an exquisite job tapping into Ender's young, but extraordinarily advanced mind. There is a mixture of childhood longing and ageless maturity that makes Ender a tragic and inspiring hero. With surprises at every turn, breathtaking tension, and heart-wrenching characters, Ender's Game can stand proudly as a classic far above any labels that might be tacked to it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Ender's Game
Review: Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is a futuristic book that looks at how the world would handle being attacked by an alien species. Some say that art is an imitation of life, in many cases this seems to be true with this book. The world does not take being attacked and almost destroyed by the "buggers" and has taken on the attitude that we, the inhabitants of the Earth, must win at any cost. All the nations of the world have come together for this one purpose-to be prepared for the buggers if and when they attack next. More importantly, we want to get them before they get us.
When the buggers attacked Earth, it took the entire world by surprise. No one was adequately prepared. In the mist of all that confusion, one man, Mazer Rackham, made a lasting impression and the military wants to "recreate" his genius and bring it into this new generation. Driven by this purpose the military adopts what I believe to be an unusual tactic-they literally groom children from the womb for war. Mere children as young as three years of age are fitted with a "monitor" in the back on their neck that connects into their spinal cord. These "monitors" allow the controller to experience everything that the child hears, sees, feels, and does. Only by knowing the child's every movement, every thought, and every motive can the military forces weed out the best prospects for the war on the buggers. The children that are deemed worthy are then sent to Battle School to learn the tactics of war.
One child in particular, Ender Wiggins, shows extraordinary potential. It is he that is used as a pawn in the earth's war on the buggers. Although only six years old, Ender is highly intelligent and is driven by what he perceives to be a just cause. He is young enough to be easily controlled. His entire life has been orchestrated in such a way to leave him isolated and unloved. These two elements combined mark him as the perfect weapon. Ender craves acceptance-he will only gain that through excelling at Battle School. Ender wants to be loved-the only person who ever loved him, his sister Valentine, has been taken away from him. To further control him, his superiors give Ender just enough information to make him believe in their war, fearing that he would not fight if he was ever allowed to see the whole picture. In the end, Ender is a mere toy designed for a specific purpose-to kill-and once that purpose is accomplished, he is a dangerous weapon they want to dispose of.
If it is true that art is an imitation of life, I pray that we never encounter another species. This book depicts how little respect we have for each other and possibly for another life form. The drive was so strong to be conquerors that they were willing to sacrifice their own children. In today's society we send grown men off to war and they come back, if they come back, scarred and damaged. We send young men, barely able to carry the title of "man" on their slender shoulders into the territory of certain death. But we do not send six-year-old children. We do not disguise the horrors of war as "games" to entice the young mind and we do not use trickery and manipulation to strip children of their innocence in order to turn them into "universal soldiers."
Ender's Game is an interesting novel full of wonders and intrigue. It also makes one think about our humanity and our moral system. Just how far are we truly willing to go to be rulers?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Mature Children of the Future
Review: Ender is an extremely mature child in my opinion compared to the childlike figures that are typically seen in books. I was blown away with the language he used when speaking to his siblings and other characters. I was surprised by Ender's high sense of guilt and wrong. Throughout the book he has an inner struggle about what he deems to be right and wrong. To be so young, he has a strong sense of responsibility of his actions. He also has a strong sense of integrity that I would not have expected to see in someone his age. Ender is presented in my opinion as a boy trying to find himself in a world where how he feels and what he thinks is unimportant. It is mind blowing to read the level of knowledge Ender has at such a young age and how he reacts to being a Third. I found it equally interesting to understand the notion of there being a Third, the idea of it reminded me of Gattica, where people in the society had to have permission to have children and the goal of having children was to create perfect beings. The course of the story takes you on a series of adventures that seem like a life like game of the future. If you like science fiction or books with a space age feel, you'll love Ender's Game. I personally do not like this genre, but found Ender's Game to be worth the time it took for me to read it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ender's Review
Review: Ender's Game is a very exciting book. The fact that Ender is six years old when he is called for duty leaves the reader wanting to learn more. It is not an everyday thing that a young child is called off for duty in battle school. Ender also has has a monitor in the back of his neck since he was born. This may seem like a simple device, but the monitor kept track of everything Ender did. Then Ender lost his monitor, which completely changed his life. Later on the same day he lost his monitor, Ender got in a fight with some boys at school. There were many boys against him and they were much larger than him. In the end, Ender used his wit and not his muscles to defeat the boys. Since Ender could take on the boys, Col. Graff visited him that day. The colonel asked Ender to go with him. This spot in the novel is one of the most important parts in the novel because Ender has a very tough choice to make. He can either go with Graff to train to save the world, or he can stay at home with his brother, Peter, and sister, Valentine and live a normal life. In the end, he chooses to go with Graff. These scenes are what make the novel very interesting and compelling. There are other instances of this in the novel. For example, when Ender had just boarded the space shuttle, he was confronted by a group of kids, much like his previous fight at school. Once again, Ender uses his thinking skills and gets himself out of trouble. Even though he uses his mind at first rather than his fists, Ender does not completely hide from trouble. The fact that Ender uses his mind to hit people makes the story even better. Because Ender had kicked the kids, he now has a sense of guilt that hangs over him through out the entire novel. The guilt that he has makes the novel even more interesting. When Ender finally has to defeat the buggers, he over comes this guilt for a brief moment and destroys the entire fleet of ships, thus saving Earth. Ender's Game is a very interesting and easy to read to book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read! Pick this book up if you have a chance.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An Exciting and Enthrallnig Book
Review: I was pleasantly surprised to find that after the first chapter of this book, I could not put it down. Each chapter melted into the next as I was vaguely aware that I was even reading a book. Orson Scott Card has an amazing talent for inviting you right into the life and adventures of his lovable protagonist Ender.

Ender Wiggin is a special boy with genius talents. He finds himself in a schol for other such children where he sticks out as special even among these most gifted students. There he finds himself locked into a game where he is trained to be the ultimate fighter. Torn between being a killer and a boy, Ender is forced every day to wonder if he even wants to play their game.

Though Ender is talented to almost superhuman levels, the reader can still identify with him. They are reminded that he is a child and find themselves asking the same questions as Ender. Card does a superb job of creating this world for the reader. He creates all the right questions to ask, and when the reader finishes the book, they are left wondering: what happens next? Its an excellent start to what promises to be an exciting and intriguing series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ender's Game
Review: Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is a very absorbing novel about a super-genius preteen, Ender Wiggins and his militaristic growth and training to become mankind's savior in the interstellar war against the enigmatic buggers, a reticent, ruthless, mysterious race of ant/ human hybrids. The majority of the story follows Ender's training at Battle School, the "basic training" for all soldiers and commanders in Ender's futuristic, war-threatened time. At Battle School he faces manipulation and ostracization at the hands of both his teachers and fellow students, but, despite the odds Ender always seems to emerge triumphant, overcoming bullies, loneliness, isolation, and the incredible pressure of being the world's only hope for survival.
The diction in Ender's Game is dogmatically simple and succinct, making it a fast and enjoyable read. At times, however, it becomes difficult to relate to Ender for readers uninitiated or unfamiliar with the military, or for those not proficient or uncomfortable with scientific theory. Also, the characters, especially Ender and his siblings, have a certain ability to distance themselves from the reader, as it may become hard to completely empathize with children who possess the intelligence to manipulate public opinion through subtle, clever "internet" editorials or with pre-adolescents with the ruthlessness to kill remorselessly. However, despite this fairly unavoidable distancer, Ender's Game is still definitely a page-turner.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ender's World
Review: At first all too confusing, the reader is drawn into the unusual future of a "third" named Andrew "Ender" Wiggins. In this strange and twisted world the government has placed sanctions on the number of children on is allowed to have. The planet Earth is under constant attack by a race of alien called "buggers". The government weeds out possible soldiers and the fated leader who will ultimately destroy the aliens, monitor the children closely. Much like the heroes of science fiction fantasy Ender is a good child, one always tormented by his choices. He is afraid of being the "killer" like his older brother, but he finds himself in situations where he must defend himself. Ender is a "golden" child that is popular in the science fiction realm, a hero who doesn't realize it yet. That's what draws the reader to Ender, and makes them semi-hate Graff. Graff is the hard nose teacher, the one you love to hate and hate to love. He is attempting to push Ender into his true destiny but it truly makes you wonder, what are his true intentions. Ender's Game is fascinating look at what the human race would do to it's own kind to survive, and how cruel we can be to someone who is different or "better".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Ender's Game
Review: In Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, the reader enters a futuristic universe where human beings are engaged in a struggle for survival. Having twice survived alien attack, the humans, fearing a more powerful invasion, have developed a program to breed and train a warrior who will lead them to a final victory. From the scores of children, a young boy of six, Ender, exhibits the traits needed to assure that victory. And therein lies the story of Ender's Game.
Orson Scott Card is prophetic as he takes the reader into a future where a young child, property of the government, endures a lonely, isolated existence as he plays endless hours of games designed to prove his ability to lead and to win. There is, however, another reason Ender must play to win. His own destiny depends on it!
Ender's Game is an enjoyable, thought provoking read. Orson Scott Card does a wonderful job of displaying a cold, calculating, world where the value of a child is based on his/her abilities to fight against the aliens. Card also does a wonderful job of drawing the reader into the story and allowing the reader into the mind of a special young boy with a greater purpose than defeating an alien enemy.
If you enjoy science fiction, you must read Ender's Game and the other books in the series. And if you are not a fan of science fiction, you may still find Ender's Game a thought provoking story that will leave you contemplating the possibilities of a future world and the role human beings will play in the universe.


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