By Orson Scott Card.
- Plot Summary (No Spoilers)
- Written by the prolific Orson Scott Card, one of his earlier works. The book follows the efforts of Ender, who begins as a six-year-old, to learn how to be a commander in a space station in order to protect the Earth from an invasion of bug-like invading aliens. Ender is chosen to attend the school above his older sister and brother, which causes resentment in both Ender and his brother. Once in the battle school, Ender finds he is one of the smallest, youngest students, and is bullied. But he is also brilliant, and soon begins to rise through the ranks.
- Type of Book
- Sci-fi, alien invasion, space battles, strategy
- Age/Gender of Protagonist
- Ender is male and ranges from six to a young teen
- Sex
- Some mention of nakedness and penis jokes as the children (mostly boys) live together in barracks in an orbiting space station
- Language
- Occasional profanity
- Violence
- There are many fights in the book, physical and taking place in space. The fights are not gory, but are graphic, and the descriptions of injuries are detailed. Also, it is children doing the fighting.
- Religion
- Several religions are mentioned in the book such as various Christian denominations, Judaism, and Islam. They are not focal points. The authorities in the story tend to be atheist or agnostic.
- Politics
- Birth-rate restriction, conscription of children, war, pre-emptive strikes, ends vs. means.
- Theme/Other Topics
- How far is it morally acceptable to go in war to protect oneself? To ensure victory? Is it enough to simply win, or must one utterly destroy one’s foe to be safe from reprisal?
- Review
- I personally first read this in high school. I found it in the library and picked it up by chance, and I could not put it down. After reading a lot of Orson Scott Card’s work, I do find this to be my favorite, and one of the best, as do many others. Although Ender is a child, the book is not for children. It is dense and probably would not be well-received or understood by young teens, even. For older teens, it is a great book to use as a discussion starter for questions of war and self-defense, the morality of training soldiers, if society should conscript children even in the most dire of circumstances, and the psychological aspects of soldiering and war.
Ender’s Game
