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Publication Date: 1986 Publisher: Tor 384 pages Summary A 6 year-old genius is put through ruthless training in the hopes that he becomes the brilliant military commander who can save Humanity. In a Nutshell A gripping tale of childhood swept up in larger events, Ender's story is both heartbreaking and thought-provoking. Review Ender's Game, for some obscure reason, is one of those SF classics that I had somehow managed to avoid so far in my life. Maybe its superficial resemblance to The Last Starfighter made me perceive it as a dated SF classic; and now that I've read it, I realize my impressions couldn't have been more wrong. As a matter of fact, as I read the story of Ender Wiggins for the first time, I felt privileged to be reading what was obviously a pillar of SF literature. Ender Wiggins is a 6 year-old boy who has a towering destiny ahead of him: he is a boy genius who must be put through the hardships of Battle School in the hopes that he can turn into the next Alexander, and defeat an alien race known as the Buggers. Ender's greatest strength is also the weakness that must be weaned out of him: he is a caring, empathic boy who doesn't take to murder lightly. But kill he must if he is to save all of Humanity. Although the protagonist of Ender's Game is a child, there is nothing childish about what he lives through. Ender must contend not only with older boys plotting against him, and a hostile school management bent on breeding a military commander out of him; he must also deal with his own conscience as he becomes the killer he must be to save his kind. The moral dillemmas faced by Ender are definitely adult: they speak of duty and the necessities of survival, and the sacrifices we make as a species to defend our right to exist. Ender and his fellow boy-soldiers are fascinating characters, and they sometimes reach that most difficult of balance, by being at once child-like and supernaturally intelligent. There is a level of intelligence in some exchanges (particularly those involving Ender's sister Valentine) that matches those in Frank Herbert's Dune in terms of multilayered complexity. On the whole, however, the children of Ender's Game behave more like ruthless military officers, and less like children, than I would have expected. The tale of Peter and Valentine, for instance, stretched my belief in these child geniuses. Overall, Ender's Game is a satisfying, gripping SF tale, and one that obviously influenced the genre in a major way. It is amazing in its relentlessness, and one can't help but feel pity and sympathy for Ender as he is put through the trials that will shape him into a military commander for the ages. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it, and I look forward to Speaker for the Dead, Ender's Game's sequel, and the spinoff, Ender's Shadow. |
Copyright © 2005-2008 Daniel Roy