trying to chill

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I’ve actually been putting this off for a bit because I was a little afraid of reviewing it (you’ll see why later). OSC received some inspiration from the classic Foundation by Isaac Asimov, among other things. It may seem silly but because of this I wanted to start Foundation before I wrote this review. I’d also like to note that of the books I’ve read thus far, this one is easily the best. Yeah, I know that’s not saying much.

Ender’s Game is set far into the future where we find humans preparing for their attempt to [drumroll...] save humanity! They’d been attacked twice by an alien race, the “Buggers,” and believe they may not survive another attack. Ender is 6 years old, a “Third”—3rd child at a time when families are limited to no more than two children—and is believed to be the one. For what? The government is looking for soldiers to lead their fleet and save the world, in this case a Commander, and they’re doing this by monitoring all newborns. Ender’s got an older brother Peter and sister Valentine whom is younger than Peter. Both of them extremely smart but ultimately deemed failures by the government in what they’re looking for. Because of that, however, they allowed a them to have a 3rd child.

After some events Ender is taken to an academy where they train soldiers. The training is all done via battle games, and revolves ultimately around the “Battle Room.” The children train together and are pitted against each other in a weightless room designed to enforce strategy and critical thinking amongst the students and teams. As you can imagine Ender tops the charts despite being the youngest, and soon leaves the school for Commander related training.

OSC takes us through Ender’s situations—ridicule, praise, failure and success—showing us how he feels, thinks, reacts and so on. His thoughts on himself, his family, and his friends are familiar thoughts to anyone reading. All the way through to the end of the story, we are basically put inside his head. He gives us an adult view of a child’s mind as the child sees it, and it’s incredible. It’s hard to say more about the story because I’d recommend this book to anyone, and I almost don’t want to spoil a single thing. This is a science fiction story that’s written so well that it appeals to anyone who’s ever been a child. Sorry, that’s just a stupid way to say it appeals to everyone.

The funny thing is that nearly everyone I know has either recommended this book or has had it recommended to them; I now know why! While I’m told it’s the best of the series, I still look forward to reading the other 7 books. Speaker for the Dead will be next.