Ender's Game

Rating:
Summary: Awesome book!!
Review: One of the several books I read during my sci-fi phase, but one of two I remember the most. This one had a gripping story, it read well, and best of all, the ending didn't disappoint! I have since recommended it to everyone, even non-sci-fi types. I have yet to read the rest of the Ender series but I plan on doing it for sure

Rating:
Summary: What can I say? It's a non-stop pageturner!
Review: Ender's Game is one of the best books I have ever read. It was recommended to me by a friend, who absolutely adored it. I thought she was exaggerating, but by the time I was on the second page, I was hooked! I finished Ender's Game within four days, and the rest of the series is some of the best stuff I've read in a long time. Even if someone doesn't like science fiction, like I don't, you absolutely have to read Ender's Game

Rating:
Summary: Ender's Game - will endure
Review: This is the best book in 20th century American literature, with the possible exception of "To Kill a Mockingbird", for looking through a precocious child's eyes. I was given the book in high school, by an English teacher, and have since passed it on to dozens of my friends. While the technical aspects of Card's sci-fi may be questionable, the psychology is brilliant. How many gifted children have ever felt as though they were being forced to perform tricks, like animals on display, while knowing that the adults in control only had their position due to their age? How much would such children relish the idea that through the anonymous Internet, they could take over the world? That the adult puppeteers could be destroying their souls by using their talents for the wrong ends? I cannot say enough about this book. I have read it and reread it. I purchased it in French merely so that the effort of translation would enable me to relish the words one more time. It would be worth improving my Russian, or taking up Spanish, just to be able to read it again and savor it as I did the first time

Rating:
Summary: For insecure children (of all ages) only
Review: Notice how childish the reviews that rate it "10" are? Gushings of "the BEST book ever!", inability to see a relationship between realism and Science Fiction, the joy at finding finally something "plain" and "simple" to read? If Star Trek novels are waaay too intellectual for you, Ender's Game may be the literary Barney you can finally grasp. A nice, heart-warming story with no scary new ideas to struggle over. However, adults will want actual content in their reading material

Rating:
Summary: *_Vastly_* overated. . .but pretty good
Review: The hype regarding this novel and the subsequent praise it's generated have both got _way_ out of hand. This book is perhaps even more overated than Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time series. People say Jordan's better than Tolkien, but here people are saying this is the best book ever written. I liked it, but it's hardly up to that status. Keep in mind that this novel was written mostly A) to introduce Ender to Card's outline for Speaker for the Dead, B)to stop the comments by some parties that Card was championing the obliteration of an alien race (as it quite seemed he was in the original novella) and C) to introduce Card's concept of the Battle Room. How it came to involve Card's ideas about the Warsaw Pact and the Internet I don't know, but those subplots do keep the story from further becoming standard issue military SF.

What I believe draws readers to this books and makes them love it so is the narrative.I don't know what it is, but Card's descriptions of the book's scenes work wonders in terms of painting a picture.His minimal descriptions of the Battle School's claustrophobic hub as well as the rest of the story's locales and people allow one to visualize everything without being forced by the author to change what it might look like to that particular reader. That's one of Card's strength, describing the situation without describing the concrete looks of the situation. A hard thing to master, and a skill more writers should try their hand at.

But some holes in the plot remain-why, after the near destruction of humanity, would the government allow parents to have only two children?Dosen't make sence. And why was Ender's army allowed to cheat by using the cable line in one of their battles? And why let the kids use so many tecniques that clearly use the walls as an advantage, when it was made perfectly clear that the only function of the walls in the battle room was to keep kids from careening into space Frank Poole-style (obviously there aren't walls in space)? And while I can sort of believe a 6 year old could be as smart as Ender, it's hard to believe there would be enough of them to fill a giant battle school. But still, I liked the book, and finished the series. The other books I'd give nines, because they had original plots. Ender's game steals from _Starship Troopers_, among others, and still succeeds because of elements of psychology and strategy as well as ideas about the internet and politics

Rating:
Summary: I am in the minority here.
Review: Well, I must say that I was less than pleased while I was reading this book. It was recommended highly so I bought it. I found the plot to be predictable, boring, and transparent. Ender was an adult dressed up in kids' clothing, and I couldn't connect at all. The theme of superior children is frequently seen in SF literature and has been done much better and more subtly than this. Read Barnes' ORBITAL RESONANCE or Palmer's EMERGENCE instead

Rating:
Summary: True science fiction... this book... plain and simple.
Review: I read this book in highschool at the behest of a friend. At the time it was the best thing I had ever read and to this day it is the benchmark against which everything I read is measured. Orson Scott Card gripped me with this elegantly constructed story about the adventures of Ender Wiggin. I found the action in the book interesting but less compelling than the sheer brilliance of the plot including the various missions in the 3d space enviroment. This book is the reason that I now write science fiction for a living. I would thank Orson Scott Card himself if I could.. And I definately recommend it to everyone. -T

Rating:
Summary: The best Sci-Fi book I've ever read!
Review: A must read. This book was one of the first books that interested me into sci-fi. I made me bond with Ender through his trials and insights. The book had an interesting plot, but I found more interest in the thoughts of the character. I was constantly thinking of the book through out the 6 day read, which is the shortest time I have spent on a book of the magnitude. I could not put it down. The book ended in a splash of emotion making me instantly pick up the next. Which shortly let me down because it didn't give the first justice, but still contained some worth to read

Rating:
Summary: The Embodiment of Science Fiction Excellence
Review: I tend to be somewhat reserved with my ratings, but "Ender's Game" truly deserves a 10. When one reads the book, it's easy to see why it won the Hugo and Nebula awards. When I picked up this book, I absolutely could not put it down. I finished it within three days (record time for me), and it left me awestruck.

Since I'm sure you've already read the synopsis, I'll skip to some more specific points. First off, the mood of the book changes as the story progresses. At first Ender is an innocent youth, and the tone of the book reflects this. Although not generally a funny book, there are points where excellent use of humor is made. As the story goes on, however, the mood shifts. Ender is weighed down--indeed, almost crushed--by responsibility, and as the wargames get harder and more fierce the book's tone gets progressively darker.

The ending of "Ender's Game" contains quite a twist as well, and it really caught me off-guard. Perhaps the most profound thing that I noticed, however, occurred *after* reading the book. There are a very few authors who are so immensely talented that they can convey a moral of sorts on an entirely subconscious level. I was never able to find out what exactly that moral was, but I knew that "Ender's Game" had, in one way or another, affected me profoundly.

I honestly can't see why there are those people who dislike "Ender's Game". Against complaints of unrealism regarding Ender's maturity, I reiterate that this book is indeed meant to be *fiction*. If such a small matter upsets you so greatly, you probably shouldn't be reading science-fiction to begin with. That said, if you *do* enjoy reading science-fiction, this book is a must-read

Rating:
Summary: I hope you(especially card fans)scrolled this far...
Review: I read this story many years ago...it was in a paperback I bought entitled "Unaccompanied Sonata and Other Stories"...I have never been a card or sci-fi fan, & the only 2 stories I recall from the book are the title story & ender's game...I read ender's in 2 sittings(as I often pause & re-read to enjoy an author's craft), but it was definitely a one sitting story...unaccompanied sonata was different...when I went back to re-read a sentence, I'd find myself back a paragraph, then a page, then...suffice it to say that u.s. was a tough read--I didn't want to finish...simple/profound, beautiful/grotesque, exuberant/tragic, u.s. was what I read when I wanted to smile/cry & wonder/wander..."Unaccompanied Sonata and Other Stories" is now out of print, but ender's lives on...I have scoured used book stores & am now trying through amazon to get a copy--you should, too...filler--->lent this book to a buddy who read 3 books in his life(maybe 5 by now)& he marvelled at it...lent this book to my 8th grade english teacher(who had a penchant for reading beowulf & poe in class)for a year & a half before I demanded its return(he never read it--fool)...lent this book to a co-worker who was effusive with delight about ender's, to which I replied:"wait til' you read sonata"...he never did...he put the book down, & it vanished...probably in a dusty cupboard or past/future doorstop... ...p.s.--let's write to the publisher & demand a reprint...trust me card fans & others--it's worth it..