Rating: 
Summary: One of my top 5 books ever read
Review: Absolutely and far away an excellent book. The first time (of many!) I read this book, I was absolutely astonished. I haven't really liked that much most of the sequels, but you also have to read Ender's Shadow.
Rating:
Summary: A must read...
Review: Not very often does a book come across my path that knocks me off my feet, but Ender's Game sent me into a tailspin. I have read books of every genre, and scoured the earth for the holy grail of literature, and this book stands out as the elite book. I cannot get the hauting images of this book out of my mind. I dare say it's better than the Beatles who are better than Jesus. Hail to you Orson Scott Card.
Rating:
Summary: Very fast paced, and intense! You can't put this book down!
Review:
The background of the storyline is of a young boy, one of a large group, bred to be supergeniuses as Earth's last desperate attempt to find a military genius that can defeat an alien race that we are in an interstellar war with. Hundreds of planets and billions of humans have been lost and only Earth and a handful of planets remain.
This is where Ender's story begins.
Ender is sent into training doing battle simulation after battle simulation, against ever increasing, nearly impossible odds. Ender keeps finding ways to win the battles, but what makes the book impossible to put down is that the military officers in charge of Ender's training do everything in their power to socially isolate Ender from the other boys in the academy. And to top it all off they add the pyschological pressure of letting Ender know that time has ran out - Ender is humanity's last hope. There isn't time to find another child prodigy and train him - humanity has only a few precious months to finish training Ender and his fellow students and then the final battle will be waged to determine if humanity survives.
SIDE NOTE: Just to let you know how good this book is, I had a girlfriend that hadn't read more than 10 books of personal reading in her life when I met her. Over Christmas break from college, I told her that she should start reading Ender's Game, since she said she would as soon as Fall Quarter ended. She said that she just wanted to relax that evening and not have to do anything. Since I had found that no one can read the first 40 pages of this book and put it down, I turned off the tv and read the first 40 pages of the book to her. I then announced that I was going to bed and left the book on the coffee table in front of her.
I woke up the next morning to find her asleep on the couch with Ender's game in her lap. When she awoke, she had VERY RED eyes, and was upset that she couldn't ignore the book and stayed up until around 5 AM until she collapsed from exhaustion. She said that she was irritated that she wouldn't get any sleep that night either because she had to finish reading the book!
Rating:
Summary: I'm speechless...
Review: Possibly the most heart-wrenching story I have ever read. Also one of the most profoundly insightful and beautiful. I agree that to pigeonhole this masterpiece into the oft-misunderstood genre of science-fiction is to commit a monsterous literary injustice. This is a story of such remarkable beauty that I have carried its message with me ever since my first reading. To put it lightly, I cried when I finished this book. At age thirteen, I was left feeling betrayed by my own species. It is perhaps the only story ever to leave me feeling, quite literally, sick to my stomach. In the annals of my literary experience, no other single piece of literature has impacted my soul in a more important way. This story should be read and studied in schools the world over. This one will be remembered for a very long time.
Rating:
Summary: INTENSE and UN-PUT-DOWN-ABLE
Review: I don't read SF. But despite being an outsider of the genre, I heard such rave reviews that I decided to try it out myself, and see if it's an all-around classic or just a well-known work of science fiction. When I started the first page, I didn't realize I was gripped. I was only 'testing' or 'tasting' the feel, but chapters passed, and hours ticked by, before I resurfaced enough to realize I was hooked. It was going to be midnight and so I attempted to be firm and put down the book so I could get some sleep. But I wasn't just curious about what would happen to Ender, I was still living Ender's life, and I was still tied irrevocably to the book. The light went back on and out came the book, and I didn't try to stop even as it became 2am and went onto three. I was only satisfied when I had finished the book - and that, quite frankly, is only because necessity forced me to: I didn't have the sequel with me. ENDER'S GAME is written in an easily readable style that can convey intensity and subtle human emotions better than the finest vocabulary. I'm not six, nor a genius, nor ever was a boy; I'm not a SF reader, I have no military experience, I don't do simulators and computer games...In short, I have nothing in common with Ender Wiggins. But his experiences are so real that they became a part of me, and for a short time I WAS him, and I shared his victories, defeats, despair, self-doubt, and invincibility... I am definitely reading the sequel. And the book after that. And the one after that. I hear that they aren't as action-packed and hard-edged. But those are the mere trimmings of the book and there is more truth to the story than that. I hope you read it and I hope it's an experience you'll look back on as formative. I think it will have a strong impact on whomever reads it. Here's to Mr. Orson Scott Card, and may he write many many more intense, knowledgable, HUMAN books!
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of SF
Review: Like his brother and sister, Ender is a child prodigy. Unlike them, he has the potential to become a military genius at a time when it is believed (perhaps correctly) that only a military genius can save humanity. This is the story of those three child prodigies. It would have been a fascinating story even without the mind-blowing surprise at the end. But before you read it a second time, read Card's "Ender's Shadow," which takes place in the same universe, the same time period, and mostly in the same places as "Ender's Game." The difference is that Ender, while still a major character, is not the viewpoint character. You may well end up reading both a second or third time; they both rank in the same league with Edgar Pangborn's "Still I Persist in Wondering," Robert A. Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" books, and Alexei Panshin's "Rite of Passage"; just a tad behind Pangborn's "Davy."
Rating:
Summary: Deep and Entertaining
Review: One of science fiction's most beloved novels, ENDER'S GAME was the winner of both the Hugo and the Nebula awards when it was published. In this book, Orson Scott Card details the childhood of Ender Wiggin, a child genius recruited by the world government in a program that teaches children the ways of war, so that they might command the world's armies in an expected battle with the alien buggers. Among geniuses, Ender quickly shows himself to be the best of them all, gaining allies and enemies as he moves through the ranks. ENDER'S GAME is a superb novel. Card tells the story in such a way that readers will not want to put the book down for anything. Moving through Ender's triumphs and dark times, there is never a compelling reason to stop reading the book. Intertwined with the story of the boy genius Ender, are the exploits of his brother and sister in the world of world politics, and the political jockeying of Ender's fellow soldiers. Dealing with many different serious and deep themes, not only is the book entertaining, but frequently philosophical. However, the book never gets to the point of being too preachy or too long-winded. As a whole, ENDER'S GAME is as well-rounded a piece of fiction as is available today. Vividly descriptive and wildly entertaining, ENDER'S GAME is a novel for anyone of any taste or background. Just make sure you have enough time to read it in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: WOW! Simply a GOOD book!
Review: I'm NOT a heavy sci-fi fan. "Light" sci-fi, maybe. Defiantly not deep-space/starship stuff. But I read great reviews, this book is considered a classic already, so I gave it a try. What can I say? I've swallowed this book in 2 sittings (A lot for me). This book is amazing. Although the setting is sci-fi, this book touches a lot of other human life themes. Ender's Game paces along without one dull moment, it developed a strong sense of "bonding" with the hero (Ender, a young, and VERY talented boy), has action, suspense, human insights, and yes, just the correct size of sci-fi imagination. You see, I won't repeat the plot again; I just want to get as many people as I can to read this wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: Being only thirteen you may think that my review is pointless... Well screw you! I think this book captivates many emotions along with an exciting plot. I could never seem to put this book down. The way Ender changes throughout the book is ingenious! I can't say enough good things about this book. Anyone who likes a good read... BUY IT!!!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best sf books ever.
Review: I love this book. My reading teacher gave it to me when she heard I liked science fiction. I've been reading it all day. I haven't finished yet and I'm going to go back to reading soon. But I figured as long as I could I might as well plug it. This book should be required reading for commanders in any military post, but only for the US, as I don't want our enemies getting their hands on this potent stuff.
|
