Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had a lot of mixed feelings...

The characters- I only really remember a few because they're all so forgettable and uninteresting. Our protagonist, Ender Wiggin (Think that was his full name), was a very conflicted boy... and by boy I mean child, he was like 6 at the start of the book. He is the third sibling which is bad because population control laws rarely allow that. Along with being made fun of about that he has to deal with his brother, Peter. Peter is evil. He is always focussed on having control and he always abuses Ender (Which made me sad). Thankfully Ender had his sister, Valentine. She is the complete opposite of Peter. She's kind and caring and is always trying to change Peter for the better. Colonel Graff is who really gets the story going. He becomes a father figure to Ender (His real parents didn't really care about him). He says he only wants the best for Ender but little did Ender know that "the best" will come with a price. Here is where the characters start to annoy me. I started to like Alai but the people watching Ender didn't like him having friends so he was cut off from him... this happens to all the other friends Ender meets such a Petra. Petra is the only girl in the Salamander Army and she is pretty respected. I enjoyed her odd relationship with Ender but, of course, it was cut short. Bean... oh where to start. He didn't come into the story until the end but he was my favorite character. He was a little arrogant but being under Ender's wing taught them both lessons in respect. There were 2 main Villains in this book. Bonzo and the aliens. Bonzo was an ok character. He was an unstable, jealous punk (kind of like Peter). He is the head of that Salamander Army and is cruel to Ender because he was envious that Ender was proving to be a good soldier. The fight scene between Ender and him was very climactic. Although it did take place in an awkward place... you'll see what I mean. Lastly the aliens. You might think the book would be centered on them but it's not (which is understandable once you fully grasp the meaning of this book). I do kind of wish they gave SOME descriptions of them but alas they didn't sadly. I mean come on, who doesn't like some aliens?

The Setting- The setting was pretty generic. An overpopulated earth in the could be future. The citizens are in constant worry of another invasion. As the story progresses we move to battle school, a place to train young soldiers. It was in a space station kind of thing. I liked the whole layout of the Battle School, the descriptions could have been smoother but it was ok. The Battle Rooms were very hard for me to picture. I wish they were described better. Command School was the final setting of the book and it was odd. It was again in space and was a more organized Battle School basically.

The Story- The Earth has been attacked by aliens. Earth barely survived the attack. The government realizes that they need to improve themselves and fast. They need a unique soldier ready to face anything so obviously they choose 6 year old children(?) Wtf. Anyway they have been testing children for the exact qualities that they need but they have only gotten few results, none of which are truly commander status worthy. Peter the first born is tested. Too violent they say. Next Valentine. Too kind. Not willing to get her hands dirty. Lastly Ender. The perfect mix of qualities... but unstable. He is taken to Battle School by Graff to train, leaving Valentine and Peter all alone. Once at battle school Ender learns many important lessons during the Battle Room games (I forgot if they had a specific name). He meets friend which I mentioned above. All of which was cool but without many solid characters it felt flat. Down on Earth there is a totally different story going on. Peter and Valentine are planning world domination... yep I said it. 2 teenagers are plotting to take over society and the sad thing is, is that they could actually pull it off with enough planning. Don't expect an alien vs. human theme going into this like I did. Read it with an open mind and it will be very thought provoking.

The Conclusion- THERE IS A HUGE TWIST. I can usually guess at least parts of a story's climax but this was so surprising. Sadly the very end is mediocre at best. I have no desire to read all the sequels but who knows? Maybe if I have no other books to read (Not likely) I might pick them up.

Misc- I loved Free Play. The fantasy world Ender explored was very interesting. He did so many unexpected things. If only his reality was as exciting. The battle scenarios were awesome. Ender got to practice his strategies with a realistic tool and with... People (he he he).

Overall great book. I don't think the movie adaptation will be as good but I hope it is. I recommend this book to anyone to likes to read thought provoking pieces.

Note* I do not like the author as a person. He is extremely anti-gay and he likes to tell others how to live their lives. I don't know how a book like this came from that but I guess he does one thing right.

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