Rating:  Summary: Ender¿s Game Review: Ender's Game is an awesome book. When I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. Orson Scott Card just drew me in. I was amazed how the kids are so intelligent. In the book, Peter, Ender's brother, has a major influence over world events when he is fourteen. It has all the essential parts of a great novel. Ender's Game has an amazing plot, and is very interesting. Card is very detailed about everything. I liked how he put so much detail in Ender's virtual game. Card explained it like if you were playing it. I started the book, and was required to read it in a couple weeks, and ended up reading it in three days. It is a very detailed science fiction book. The stuff in this book was science fiction, so it probably wouldn't happen now. But it could in the future. I think that in the future we could go live on a different planet like Ender does. I haven't read the other books in the series, but I hope that they are all as good as or better than this one.
Rating:  Summary: Uneven read Review: It was a real page-turner. The charm of the book lays mostly in character development (Ender's and Valentina's - others are mostly cardboard) and vivid and somewhat gruesome descriptions on the here-and-now events. The book is flawed though by the mostly linear storyline and sickeningly melodramatic ending with an Alaska-sized logical hole. Nevertheless, quite recommended for the fans of hero-based sci-fi.
Rating:  Summary: The Best Book in the World. Review: I'll make this short. This is an awesome book about human emotion, leadership, isolation, friendship, and a very amazing book in terms of awesome story, amazingly well writen and described, and a great insight on human behavior. It is a Sci-Fi book, but I think anyone would like it. It is just amazingly well writen and descriptive.It starts with a six year old boy, Ender, being sent to battle school to learn to be commander of teh fleets against a third alien envasion of the 'buggers.' He goes through greuling training, trying to make friends, being isolated, hated, and minipulated. It is a great story, and awesome book, it can't be partly explained in all it's majesty, I cannot begin to describe how great this book is. So Read it!
Rating:  Summary: Engrossing, humanistic, an essential sci-fi fantasy Review: Card is perhaps the best genre writer working today, as this novel amply demonstrates. Ender's Game is a bildungsroman, or coming of age story, of a very young military genius, Ender Wiggin. At the tender age of six, Ender is recruited by the powers-that-be for battle training in hopes that he can be molded into the leader who will destroy the dreaded alien invaders It may be helpful to compare this book to Robert Heinlein's classic Starship Troopers, which has some broad similarities of plot. Troopers has strong a basis in the sciences, both military and social. Card leans more toward fantasy; his real fascination is with human beings and their feelings, not with the technical details of how the hardware works. So if you're the kind of sci-fi fan who reads a book hoping to learn something about physics, dig out an old Asimov book instead - Card's not your man. Also, the hero in the typical Heinlein juvenile is not only super-smart (like Ender's characters) but they are often "gee-whiz", "can-do" types for whom everything always seems to just fall into place. Ender, on the other hand, is often conflicted, frequently miserable, and constantly manipulated. One reason this book is so long is that Ender seldom has an easy victory - instead he has to fight his battles over and over until he finally wins. And while Heinlein's ingénues always have an older comrade to mentor them, Ender is intentionally forced to learn everything the hard way - by himself. Card is so skillful at making us sympathize with poor Ender's plight that we can't wait to see him jump the next hurdle. We care about his fate with an intensity that is almost unknown in genre fiction, which is probably why so many reviewers claim that this novel is really serious literature. While that seems a bit much, there's no denying that for sheer entertainment value, this book beats 3 out of 4 "literary classics". Accessible enough for younger readers, but too intense for children, this is a book that practically everyone will enjoy. Don't miss out on one of the greatest sci-fi/fantasies ever.
Rating:  Summary: Great read on all levels Review: If you're looking for a quick, light read; or you're looking for a serious, well-written piece of literature; or you're looking for a fictional treatise on leadership and command; or you're looking for a socially-charged essay about the dangers of charismatic leaders and clashes of cultures - this is a GREAT choice. Card created a fantastic - maybe even unique - work in Ender's Game. From a military perspective, only the scenery and technology is unfamiliar - set as it is in a time far in the future. Otherwise, the book could be a textbook on extreme leadership challenges. In fact, it was recommended to me while I was attending a military leadership school. And it was better than any of the assigned textbooks or practical exercises. Not "into" the military - don't fret. There's enough anti-establishment, anti-violence undertone in the book's message to tickle anyone's imagination. Highly recommended, and couldn't agree LESS with the reviewer who complained about the book's message. It's not about the virtue of child labor - it's about the virtue of a childlike sense of loyalty and adventure, a child's willingness to take risks, a child's love of the "game". And, most of all, it's a serious message about the contrasts between intelect and experience.
Rating:  Summary: A Work of Amazing Power Review: There has been a few times in my life that a book has hit me so hard that it almost left me staggering from the blow. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is one of those books. It is so full of insight and amazingly developed characters that it feels real. This is despite the fact that the main characters are very young children with intellects that are higher than your average adult. The story takes place in Earth's future. The planet has been attacked several times by an alien race known as the "buggers." The attacks took place years before the novel opens, and the surviving humans fear that another may occur soon. Since humanity won the last war by a stroke of luck, they are trying to find a leader that will have the fortitude and skill to win the next war. They search for these leaders among the children of Earth. This is where Ender Wiggin comes into play. It is determined that he might have the ability to be "the one" that could rise up to defeat the aliens. The book is all about this discovery. I would not want to give away any of the delicious plot of this incredible novel. Suffice it to say that it is a dark and sinister work full of suspense. It is not a book to begin at night in bed unless you plan on getting no sleep. It is simply impossible to put down. The premise almost sounds laughable. Believe me, it isn't. Card's greatest strength is character development. If you go into this book expecting typical "action" you will not get what you are anticipating. It is not a simple "fight the aliens" book. It is full of deep meaning, and it spoke straight to my heart. I identified with the main characters so much it was scary. The themes and motifs in this novel stay with you. It is impossible for this review to do the book justice. I, honestly, often tell people about it when I am browsing in a bookstore and find another person looking for a novel standing beside me. I have caused several strangers to by the book because of the praise I give it. I think everyone should read it. Even if you do not like science fiction, you would like this book. It is honestly my second favorite book of ALL TIME, and, trust me, I have read more than your average bookworm.
Rating:  Summary: My favorite book of all time!!! (and that's saying a lot) Review: This was originally written as a short story, which can be found on Orson Scott Card's web site www.hatrack.com. However, while developing The Speaker for the Dead, he decided that it would best serve as a sequel to Ender's Game, his short story. So, he turned the short story into a novel which won the Nebula and the Hugo award... the first author to ever win both in the same year. Then, he wrote the sequel (Speaker) which one both AGAIN!!! This book is a true work of art. Mr. Card's ability to expand the personality, depth, and life of Ender Wiggin is truly incredible. The added insite on why Ender was so special in proportion to his siblings makes this story wonderful and did an excellent job of creating plenty of fodder for the sequels. This is a story which takes place in the future. Earth has been attacked by an alien races (the formics) and by a shred of incredible luck, we beat them with a lucky shot. But... will we be so lucky the next time the Buggers return? Earth needs a leader. Someone the likes of George Washington, Alexander the Great, George Patton, etc. etc. Only he or she needs to be better. This is where Ender comes in, a young child who has the makings of this great leader. What is the best way to train a child? Of course, through games. So Ender is trained for years from very simple games to the unbeatable games (which Ender does end up beating). But when Ender is better than any game put in front of him, those placed in command to train him must do all they can to improve his sense of command... even if it means cheating and changing the rules to put Ender at a disadvantage. The real game is Ender's life and his sanity as he is pushed to the edge to improve his gaming abilities. Will the leaders push him too hard or will Ender succeed in becoming the most brilliant commander of all time? You will find out as you read this brilliant, fun, imaginative, and fantastic page turner. This story is also told from the perspective of Ender's right hand man (child), Bean, in Orson Scott Card's parallel novel Ender's Shadow. I would highly suggest reading this book first, but you get even more added insite by reading Ender's Shadow. Both are must reads... especially if you love Ender's Game half as much as I do. A movie is in the works with the screenplay written by Orson Scott Card... I imagine it will probably be as wonderful a movie as this is a wonderful book. If you want to be thrilled, PICK UP THIS BOOK!!! Also, the sequels are fantastic... not as fantastic as Ender's Game, but a great read in their own right as we follow Ender, his siblings, and Bean into old age... and beyond. Out of 5 stars, I give it a 10!!!!
Rating:  Summary: How do so many of you enjoy this? Review: well, i'm not sure how so many people enjoyed this book, perhaps it was not the right day for me to pick it up and read it. but seriously, it was disturbing....definately not something i will be giving my kid brother to read any time soon...naked children, child wars, lies and deceit, and more!rather insensitive towards real world issues-this is not just a game happening in sci-fi books, has anyone looked in the news lately, ie. child soldiers in liberia?
Rating:  Summary: Not so much a science fiction Review: In the country where I am from some works of science fiction were totally ignored. Although we knew many modern sci-fi writers we never heard of Orson Card. I am not surprised though having finally read this book. It's actually more about the phylosophical issues related to the function of our society then just some sci-fi work. I will definitely read the next book in this series. At the same time I felt that somethig was missing, something that makes the difference between very good book and great book. The author is sometimes just too serious. This is the reason I gave this book four stars instead of five.
Rating:  Summary: A true page turner... Review: Ender Wiggin is six years old, and he's probably smarter than most adults. So the government chooses him as one of the children to be sent off to Battle School in outer space, where they stage "battles" in order to pick out military genuises to defeat the buggers in the next "Bugger War", in attempts to save mankind. A true page turner, Ender's Game kept me reading 24/7. OSC, without doing the whole "pity my character" thing, creates a character that you can sympathize with, in a setting that, unlike many sci fi books, seems realistic. No amazing gadgets that can't be explained, etc. A main character who's a genuis can only be as smart as the author who's writting it. OSC is obviously one of the most intellegent writers alive.
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