Reviews

a good, quick read! I kept forgetting they’re all just kids and it’s definitely kind of a sad book if you keep that in the forefront of your brain, but otherwise the strategy component and insight into the characters’ minds made this very enjoyable for me!

the ending is also a bit disturbing when you realize ender has just committed mass genocide over a misunderstanding, but I think that’s addressed well and seen through an appropriate lens at the end when ender realizes

_amy_leigh_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

5.0

Fun to read again with Oli

aj_humphreys's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Foremost, I found this book somewhat terrifying, now as an adult. A six-year-old, born with a rare precondition outcasting him from society, grows up in the household of a sociopath, while the international space military spies on every conscious and subconscious moment of his life. His only chance at escape is if said space military deems his mind valuable to the upcoming third war against the alien “Buggers.”

If that isn’t an unsettling existence enough, the military shows up on his doorstep and whisks six-year-old Ender Wiggin into space with the newest batch of cadets joining the orbiting “Battle School” for future Commanders. There, he’s immediately ostracized, then psychologically and physically tormented for years on end at the hands of both his peers and administrators.

That said, I LOVED the pacing and story telling. It’s an absolutely wild narrative encircling a family of little Sherlock Holmeses. But now, as a thirty-something, I better understand the adults. However, I sympathize with Ender so much more than ever before. It almost feels unfair to sit idly by as this kid endures each ordeal, one after another.

All for a pay-off that I’d hear-out arguments against. But, I don’t believe I’d be agreeing with a single devaluation of the ending.

I found it too endearing and morally unsettling. Many of the political and ethical themes present throughout the story remain highly relevant to this day. And it’s all grounded in the internal workings of a six-year-old prodigy losing his innocence. It both humbles and endears the point of it all.

Was it worth it?

My only complaint is regarding the unbound narrator switches, exclusive to the audiobook. Otherwise, I can’t wait to go back and visit Bean in Ender’s Shadow with my next audible credit.

zdrhyne's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

onyxicca's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.0

littleworm's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Okay, i’m going to start by saying that i don’t know what to rate this book really. This book has some negatives and some not positive but close enough.

I liked Ender and his big smart brain. I liked Peter (i don’t know that he was a “psychopath?” or what he we don’t know really). I liked that Peter tried to take over the world through the internet and that very funny to me.

Ender being in battle school was such a horror to read because of the mental abuse that he was being put through by Graff (who i’m not convinced actually cared about ender). Everyone used Ender as a means for them to finally live in peace from the Buggers but i just felt so bad for him. Graff should’ve gone to jail for child endangerment because it was his fault that Ender ended up killing Bonzo (AND I STAND BY THIS). Something was just so off about this entire thing how he got off and how Ender just brushed past the fact that he had with this own two hands killed two people (whether he knew or not).

Ender’s relationship with his sister was VERY weird throughout the whole book, and it’s not until i finished and digged around that i found out the author was a mormon (those who know will understand what i mean). It just gave me an ick every time they talked (I don’t know why but it was giving me weird vibes).

I liked the side characters like Alai (he was my favorite), Dink, Petra and Bean (my baby). I grew attached to them and i really thought that they were on the ship they were commanding for a while there.

I don’t know i didn’t like the ending much and that’s all i’m going to say on that because i want to be done with this book already and never read it again or touch the sequels because i’m very disappointed in this one.

My thoughts on this book are very scrambled right now.

I laughed at all the fart jokes…lmaooo

More...