Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

23 reviews

saskiahill's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Brilliant audiobook, really well performed. The book is clever, engaging and surprising - I'm listening for the first time as I near 30 and it's still relatable and brilliant, by no means just a kids book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Antisemitism

ambill's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Violence, Murder, and War

bits_and_pieces_odds_and_ends's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Murder

Minor: Racial slurs, Antisemitism, and Cannibalism

cmccoy13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really really love this book, it’s definitely one of my favorites. But it’s low score is due to the anti-semitism, misogyny and so on. But otherwise, it’s a beautiful book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

dcm7918's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Blood, Grief, and Colonisation

mar's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Genocide, Violence, and Colonisation

Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Antisemitism

shieldbearer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ender's Game is a classic for a reason. While one or two moments are cringy by today's standards, Ender's Game is definitely one of those novels that everyone should read at least once. Exploring such themes as culpability, communication and manipulation, Ender's Game really reads like it was plucked from the minds of its characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Bullying- happens very often in the text Child abuse- the premise of the entire book is Ender's emotional abuse at the hands of the government War- while combat itself isnt' described, it's a topic of frequent discussion Child death-

Bonzo and Stilson

both die over the course of the book. Violence- bully encounters and conflict erupt into violence a few times Genocide-

the entire Bugger race is wiped out, or nearly so

Xenophobia- alien Buggers are hated by humans racism/racial slurs- earlier editions of the novel have the N-slur and the K-slur, but it has been edited out of later editions. Confinement-

Ender is unable to leave Eros after winning the war

Animal cruelty/Animal death-

Peter takes to torturing and killing squirrels

stylo_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It's striking that for someone with repellent and destructive beliefs in the real world, Card was able to write a novel so deeply concerned with the question of empathy in darkness. Ender's Game I first read as a child, taken with the verisimilitude of its depiction of children's mentalities and concerns, even if the characters' speech patterns and invulnerability to emotion strains credibility. As Card's introduction in the revised edition points out, adults often criticize the work for its "unrealistic" depiction of childhood, whereas children have the exact opposite reaction, appreciating the work's refusal to dumb down their internal dialogues and concerns for the sake of appeasing adult egos and perceptions. Yes, children are in fact concerned about war; they do think about the meaning of life; they do wonder at the cruelty of their peers and humanity; they do wonder how to atone for their sins. They are whipsmart and know more than you think.

The prose is sparse and utilitarian, the plot straightforward and fast-moving, but all in service of the themes: why are human beings so vicious towards the other? Why is empathy so hard to exercise? What is the point of war, and what does it do to us? And what does redemption look like? Intense cruelty towards the characters only sharpens the point on which these examinations take place. (During one pivotal reveal towards the end of the novel, I pictured Ender's face as none other than Aleksei Kravchenko's in Come and See, the greatest and most tragic war movie ever made.)

The young-adult nature of the book does mean that themes, while mentioned, are not fully explored. Exploration of the themes rests in the realm of allusion; there's an impressionistic character, the way so much is communicated through Ender's dreams, through the fantasy game he plays on the computer, and the all-too-brief conclusion which I still find thrilling and evocative. I look forward to seeing if these themes are expounded on in Speaker for the Dead. 

As a 30-something, this remains a striking, sad, and unique work.

(Caveats: There is some casual sexism in the book, and Card fumbles the ball on racial sensitivity with some of his characterizations - see for example the slang language used by the kids.) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death

olliereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Violence, Blood, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death