Ender's Game

[kuponut]

So I decided to look on my brother's book shelf for something to read and I found Ender's Game. I finished the book about two or threedays later amazed. Orson Scott Card does an incredible job of creating a futuristic world of machines and aliens, using the very slim knowledge of space that was available at the time he wrote it.

Ender's Game tells the story of Andrew(Ender) Wiggin, third and youngest child of the Wiggins. The Wiggin's family consists of Peter Wiggin(10) being the oldest, followed by the middle sister Valentine Wiggin(8), then coming Ender(6). Each one of these children have incredible intellect and are able to read ahead and decide what is best for them, while still keeping the illusion that they are still kids using juvenile language.Ender is constantly tormented for being the Third of his family due to it being considered criminal to have more than two kids. If his older brother Peter is not torturing him than he is tortured at school for still being monitored. The torture is usually verbal considering with having a monitor in him at the age of six, if the children were to hurt him the I.F(goverment) could have them killed. The monitor earns it's name by staying inside the children monitoring their thoughts feelings, everything about them to see if they are elligible to be taken into Battle School where kids are trained to fight in the alien war(against creatures called "buggers").

Valentine is the only positive person and memory that Ender has in his life until one day when Ender has his monitor removed, signaling that the I.F. dosen't want him.When the children learn of this the few bullies in Ender's class that usually torture him are now able to use physical violence. After school they wait for him and push him around playing "pinball" with him calling him names until Ender decides he's had enough. He tells himself that he "needs to take care of himself, win this battle and all of the next." The boy named Stilson, the leader of the gang, sees what Ender wants to do when he makes for a grab at his arm, he taunts Ender a little more until finally Ender kicks him and knocks him onto the ground. Ender did know the unwritten rules of combat, that it was criminal to attack a downed opponent, but he ignored them and repeatedly kicked him until he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. He told the other kids "Some of you may have some thoughts of hurting me, and you could probably beat me pretty bad, but this is what I do to people who want to hurt me.The next time someone tries to hurt me it probably won't be this bad." He then kicks Stilson in the face."It will be worse." Ender then goes to his bus stop and cries at the monster he had become without his monitor, telling himself he is just like Peter.

Coming home he is congratulated for having his monitor removed by all except Peter who continues to banter and taunt him. While Mr. and Mrs. Wiggin are away Peter makes threats to kill him and his sister. Valentine eventually dispells these thoughts with her own intellect and powers of persuasion. Neither Valentine or Ender doubted that he would kill them though. The next morning after common routine Ender remembers what he did to Stilson and is scared to go to school. There is a buzz at the door and it is later revealed that it is an I.F. officer. Talking about what Ender had done to the boy, saying that he had put Stilson in the hospital. After being asked why Ender punished the boy so brutally he then says that he didn't want to get hurt anymore, that he was scared that Stilson would hurt him just as bad. After hearing this the I.F. officer tells the Wiggins that he is the principal of the Battle School and that Ender has passed examinations. Graff(the principal) asks to talk to Ender alone. Graff tells him what his life is to his parents, that even though they love him, his life to them is costing them fortunes and that his existence is a mark of shame upon them if he stays. Graff then tells him that if he dosen't go there is a chance that Valentine could be killed by the buggers if he dosen't go. Ender inquires "Why not Peter?". Peter was a disgusting human being but he had the heart to kill something, Ender didn't. Graff explains that at first it would have been Peter, but he was too much of a killer, the I.F. then asked the Wiggins to try a girl for their compassion but Valentine was too much of that. They needed someone that was half of Peter and half of Valentine. In the end, Ender decides to go to Battle School and leave his family behind, believing Graff is his friend. Peter is somewhat mello about not being picked, not being good enough to go but he is also somewhat friendly towards Ender as he leaves.

Graff is all but friendly on the space launch to the Battle School in space. Although he acts like Ender's friend, calling him a genius among all of the other idiotic candidates launching, he makes Ender look too good and making the other kids hate him. Graff tells Ender alone that the only way he can get them to like him is to show them that he is the best of them. Graff controls Ender's life through out the entire book isolating him and making things hard on him so that he would eventually shape Ender into the best soldier possible. Graff realizes Ender will be the one to defeat the buggers, if such a person exists.

Going any further will spoil the story but I will say that Ender's Game is an amazing book, making the main characters think intelligently throughout the it analyzing every possible situation and outcome to everything going on. There are other branch books after Ender's game including "Ender's Shadow" "The Hegemon" and "Speaker for the Dead". Inside Ender's Game includes the side story of Peter and Valentine at home. Peter, aspiring to do something in goverment, discovers an oppurtunity for him to start debating politics, with Valentine, he plans to rule the world, starting with the internet. He and his sister take on the pseudonyms of the famous philospers "Locke and Demosthenes" (Peter and Valentine respectively) while Valentine's powers of persuasion let her make others think her way is the write was, Peter's contrasting ability lets people fear what they think is right. This side story lays the grounds for the branch book "The Hegemon". An interesting plot device to note is certain commanders at the beggining of each chapter talking to eachother, explaining things that had happened that reader wouldn't understand otherwise or foreshadowing events that will happen, but simply talking about them for dramatic effect. I highly recommend Ender's Game for the reader seeking intelligent literature.
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I'm probably going to use this for my summer book report.

[SimsHsia]

Indeed, Ender's Game is a really good book, in fact I've read most of the Ender's Game book series by Orson Scott Card. I've read Bean's series, such as Ender's Shadow, which was very interesting, but Ender's continuation of the series got a bit confusing to me, thus I didn't read Speaker for the Dead or Xenocide for Ender's continuation of the story. Reino also agrees with me, when we both began to read Speaker for the Dead a few years back, and it didn't "click" with us the way we experienced when compared to what we read for Ender's Game, Shadow of the Hegemony, Ender's Shadow, Shadow Puppets.
I've been recently aware that there is a new book for Bean, called Shadow of the Giant, so that should be an interesting read if I decide to pick up another one of Card's books.

If ya'll want to read it in the way that they all came out, by all means, continue onto Speaker for the Dead, Xeoncide, then Children of the Mind; and then Bean's compilation with Shadow of the Hegemony, Ender's Shadow, Shadow Puppets, and Shadow of the Giant.

Card is currently writing a book where both Ender and Bean's story converge together in the upcoming Ender's Game series book: Shadows in Flight.

Also, I've heard a few years ago that they are working on a movie script for Ender's Game, but that was 3 years ago, hopefully they have worked out their difficulties with the script and will begin production soon.

[kuponut]

Yes the Ender's Game movie was announced and it will be a mixture of both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. I believe the sequel(provided one exists) will be a mixture of Shadow of the Hegemon and Speaker for the Dead.