Ender's Game (Paperback)

In the future, Earth has been attacked by the alien "buggers," which were barely repelled by a very lucky military commander. Now, as they threaten Earth again, sights are set on one boy to be humanity's new champion: Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, the youngest child of a family of geniuses. His brother Peter was rejected for being too ruthless and vicious, while his sister Valentine was rejected for being too gentle and pacifistic. Ender, the third child in a society where families with more than two children are penalized, is their hope.

Meanwhile, Ender brought to the Battle School, where careful training and interactions bring out the best and worst in him. He makes friends and enemies easily, beats seemingly unbeatable games, and his military prowess comes out into the open. On Earth, his brother and sister try to alter the increasingly unstable politics of Earth by subtle manipulation of the public, a situation that may bring the ruthless Peter into greater power. And as Ender reaches the end of his training, he faces both the buggers and the knowledge of what he is capable of.

While this was an intriguing and thought-provoking read, I felt that it could have been tightened up slightly, and it didn't grab me quite the way other original SF works such as "Fool's Run" have. Children can probably read this book, young adults certainly can; there is profanity, mild violence, and some verbal and visual crudity, but nothing too corrupting. The most objectionable element that I found was the part about Peter skinning live squirrels; that was truly disgusting and disturbing. If children do read this, parents may want to discuss elements such as the "third child" policy and the portrayal of war for self-preservation at the cost of the soul.

Ender is an intriguing contradiction, a young boy who loses his naivete over the course of the novel; ruthless but determined to not be a killer; a brilliant fighter and commander who is often being yanked by puppet strings; both a child and a man before hitting puberty. Card never overdoes the genius-child persona, which would have been easy to do. Valentine is a little too nice for my taste; Peter at first simply seems to be psychotic, but is gradually revealed to be a ruthless genius who works anything and anyone for his goals, which may or may not be self-serving. Bonzo, Bean, Alai and the others add extra spice to it, as enemies or supporters.

Dialogue is highly realistic, as is the atmosphere of Ender's vision near the end. Surroundings, such as the lakeside, are excellent in their atmosphere and feeling, as is the stark way that Card displays the growing influence of "Demosthenes" and "Locke. Truly exceptional writing comes out in the ruthless military-government's way of viewing Ender; with nothing but dialogue, Card shows how they view him and the things that are happening to him. One area in which Card fails is action, as I could visualize what he was writing, but it wasn't very well described.

On the subject of quality, I would like to advise that new readers buy the children's edition published by Starscape Books. I much preferred the "camera's eye" view of Ender and the other boys in the Battle School simulations to a rather boring generic SF cover, like the one on the adult edition. They say never to judge a book by its cover, but that is what kept me from reading "Ender's Game" for several years.

"Ender's Game" is a pretty good sci-fi adventure, with some intriguing ethical and social questions, and a good storyline that reminds us that an astounding genius is, after all, only a human being.