Book Review: The Amazing Insight Behind Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

When people come across the book Ender’s Game in the library or a bookstore, many pass it up due to its thickness. I can assure you that time isn’t a problem. The book only takes about two to three days to finish or if you are me. I read it in a day. 

Ender’s Game (written in 1985) is a science fiction novel written by the American author Orson Scott Card. The book came from the short story with the same name, published in ‘Analog Science Fiction and Fact’ in 1977. Card soon wrote more books to create the Ender’s Game series. An updated version of Ender’s Game was released in 1991, updating some political facts in the book to accurately reflect the era. This science fiction novel tells the story of a young boy, Ender Wiggin, who is sent to a training academy named Battle School, located in orbit above the Earth, built to train people to become soldiers that will one day battle against a vast alien race known as “Buggers”.  Ender goes up there, trying his best to become promoted into the difficult training scheme; his brother and sister are trying to restore the world and make it a better place. For Ender, the training is tough. He is granted a special teacher, who will help him to become a commander to save humanity from the Third Invasion. Themes of the book are love, hate, prejudice (Ender is socially excluded for some time at Battle School), strength and courage. We see many characters being introduced in this story, Ender’s family (which includes Ender, his mean brother Peter and his sister Valentine). Ender also meets many friends (and enemies) at Battle School, some of those being Petra, Bonzo, Bean, Alai, Dink, Crazy Tom, Hot soup and Carn Carby. We also have Colonel Graff and many other people of authority, and even The Queen, from the Buggers. All of these people have very different personalities. 

Card was born August 24, 1951. He is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and public activist. He has written several books in different genres, but primarily known for his science fiction novels. His novel Ender’s Game and its sequel Speaker of the Dead (1986) both won Hugo and Nebula awards. Thanks to this, Card is the only author to win both top US prizes of Science Fiction in consecutive years. 

 Ender’s Game has an interesting narrative style. Card has placed descriptions where appropriate, and he always narrates in an exciting manner. One way he provokes tension in the book is by having an unidentified narrator at the beginning of every chapter. At the beginning, the reader has no clue about who is narrating; at one time I suspected it being the Buggers, which can be quite chilling, as the unknown narrator knows everything about Ender. Only gradually does the reader come to understand who the narrator is. Not only do we have an unknown narrator, but some chapters also switch between Ender’s perspective and his family’s situation. 

The reason why I liked this book is because it follows a busy, unpredictable, action-packed plot, but the end of the novel is still sad and strong enough to make us reflect on our behavior and on the book’s events. It is also gripping and exciting, and the reader never knows what will happen next. For example, at one point, another random day turns into a battle in a washroom. 

The beginning instantly grips you, as the reader is thrust into a new and unknown situation. So much is unknown in the book; slowly everything is explained, as you constantly gather more information about the situation. If you were to start reading from the end (I actually tried it) you would have no idea of what was happening to whom.

Overall, I would recommend this book to readers because of its excitement, meaning and unpredictability.