Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

5 reviews

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.75

Pretty good. The plot of a boy genius excelling beyond his peers and adults, and then saving the world but feeling alone while doing so reads as very much wish fulfillment for middle schoolers who think they're brilliant and have trouble making friends. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm not at that point anymore,  and it makes certain sections a bit laughable. The best section is by far the last two chapters, with the bugger queen and the characters' healing. It has, as all half decent dystopian books should, a pretty strong anti-war sentiment, which I enjoy even if the supergenius child soldiers is a bit of a stretch. I'm not especially pressed to read the rest of the series, but it was a nice little jaunt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Gun violence, Suicide, Antisemitism, Medical content, and Classism

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

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

katiieecat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

poetskings's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.5

“Humanity does not ask us to be happy. It merely asks us to be brilliant on its behalf.” 

 

Ender’s Game will always be one of my favourite books. It resonates with me in a way that few other books do, and Scott Card creates a world that is both easy to fall into and wholly believable. These are twelve year olds who are being forced into committing atrocities because the human race can’t believe for even a moment that any other species might be interested in peace. 

 

While yes, I know that Orson Scott Card is kind of an awful person, and some of his less savoury views come across clearly in this book (misogyny is basically coded into every character from the get-go and reading a six year old say the n-word with a hard -er is incredibly jarring to say the least), I can’t help but believe in and root for these characters as the adults increasingly become the enemy. 

 

I don’t think I’ll ever read the rest of the series, but Ender’s Game is a classic, and that’s a label it deserves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Murder

Minor: Sexism