Reviews

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

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saluki's review against another edition

4.0

The basic premise is about genius level young children raised in Battle School with the potential to command fleets to destroy a centuries old enemy... whilst they are still children! That sounds outlandish yet the way Ender Wiggin, and the other children, are developed in an isolated but fully absorbing and competitive setting makes sense. I enjoyed the battle game tactics as well as the sibling rivalry Ender endures from an intelligent yet psychotic brother and a manipulative yet compassionate and loving sister. Both are important to the foundations of young Enders psyche. Ender is a pacifist and once the plot unfolds it becomes apparent peace is a concept hard to manage on individual levels let alone global levels too.

Lots of interesting concepts about intelligence, communication, psychology and of course aliens and warfare. The climax was interesting and it also made sense that events developed in an unconventional way in Ender's world.

This audio edition has a forty minute postscript with Orson Scott Card which is illuminating from the seed of the idea, to short story, to novel and film but more interesting how Card refused to allow Hollywood to change the age of Ender so they could find him a love interest. Ender's prepubescence, irregardless of his phenomenal intelligence, is essential for making this story work. Card is also a playwright and speaks about his books being better when read aloud so the audio format is an ideal presentation for his work. And, it worked for me. The cast of this unabridged audio edition are fantastic, especially Stefan Rudnicki so I'll be looking out for more of his audio narrations.

Wish I'd dusted this off the proverbial shelf sooner... liked it a lot. Now I'm going to watch the movie adaptation, right now.

hwymore's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

ktxx22's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed this except this book is an all boys club of madness. There are a couple of female characters.... and I think Card attempted to rectify the lack of them by making the big baddies Queens.... but it was a miss for me on that front. Other than that I really had fun reading this. A very interesting concept for school, training, and saving the world! Highly recommend if you’re looking to dabble into the sci-fi realm! 4/5 Due to my issues of one sidedness in regards to the sexes!

ponderspren's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

2.0

liam_ted's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

roe_bookworm's review against another edition

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5.0

Maybe the best science fiction book I've ever read. It makes you think about the world, about how human beings are always pushed to make war and to start a new battle, just for fear, just because they don't know what is "on the other side", WHO is the enemy. Humans can be cruel and still think they are doing something good, and only someone who cares about others, like Ender, could really understand this truth. This book is much more than this and I loved it both the first and the second time I've read it, and it always make me reflect a lot.