Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

22 reviews

shinsreading's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

have reread this book countless of times now, it’s just so good. every time i’m sad or feeling lonely, i find myself gravitating towards Ender’s Game to ground myself

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying

saskiahill's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Brilliant audiobook, really well performed. The book is clever, engaging and surprising - I'm listening for the first time as I near 30 and it's still relatable and brilliant, by no means just a kids book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Abandonment, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Violence, War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Gore, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Antisemitism

ambill's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Violence, Genocide, Child death, War, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Murder, and Child abuse

bits_and_pieces_odds_and_ends's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, Xenophobia, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Physical abuse, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Antisemitism, Cannibalism, and Racial slurs

readingbooksinisrael's review against another edition

dark reflective

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death

jstarshine16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Genocide, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, War, and Bullying

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Cursing, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Classism, Misogyny, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

sabrinalefebvre's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I listened to this on audiobook and really enjoyed the full cast but I can’t get past the casual misogyny and the ideals that the author holds.

I was also sometimes bored during my listening, I’m not a big fan of training scenes and this was full of them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Child abuse, War, Child death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny

cmccoy13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I really really love this book, it’s definitely one of my favorites. But it’s low score is due to the anti-semitism, misogyny and so on. But otherwise, it’s a beautiful book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Animal death, Child abuse, Medical trauma, War, Ableism, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Torture

stylo_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

It's striking that for someone with repellent and destructive beliefs in the real world, Card was able to write a novel so deeply concerned with the question of empathy in darkness. Ender's Game I first read as a child, taken with the verisimilitude of its depiction of children's mentalities and concerns, even if the characters' speech patterns and invulnerability to emotion strains credibility. As Card's introduction in the revised edition points out, adults often criticize the work for its "unrealistic" depiction of childhood, whereas children have the exact opposite reaction, appreciating the work's refusal to dumb down their internal dialogues and concerns for the sake of appeasing adult egos and perceptions. Yes, children are in fact concerned about war; they do think about the meaning of life; they do wonder at the cruelty of their peers and humanity; they do wonder how to atone for their sins. They are whipsmart and know more than you think.

The prose is sparse and utilitarian, the plot straightforward and fast-moving, but all in service of the themes: why are human beings so vicious towards the other? Why is empathy so hard to exercise? What is the point of war, and what does it do to us? And what does redemption look like? Intense cruelty towards the characters only sharpens the point on which these examinations take place. (During one pivotal reveal towards the end of the novel, I pictured Ender's face as none other than Aleksei Kravchenko's in Come and See, the greatest and most tragic war movie ever made.)

The young-adult nature of the book does mean that themes, while mentioned, are not fully explored. Exploration of the themes rests in the realm of allusion; there's an impressionistic character, the way so much is communicated through Ender's dreams, through the fantasy game he plays on the computer, and the all-too-brief conclusion which I still find thrilling and evocative. I look forward to seeing if these themes are expounded on in Speaker for the Dead. 

As a 30-something, this remains a striking, sad, and unique work.

(Caveats: There is some casual sexism in the book, and Card fumbles the ball on racial sensitivity with some of his characterizations - see for example the slang language used by the kids.) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

pulcotinette's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I read that book first when I was 14, and I decided to re-read at 21. I had a TREMENDOUS good memory of it, and because I hadn't read a good book in a long time, I decided to give it a go. Well, I was disappointed. I don't think reading the original instead of the translation is to blame: I just was not relating to the characters anymore. I remember it as a psychology-filled book, as a great tale of a small kid growing alone and building himself on himself, making friends along the hard way. However, this time around i was much more detached from Andrew, the plot train went on and I watched from afar, and it all seemed pretty irrealistic.

The way all his friends just spawn for the last battle? Completely unrealistic.

I usually have no problem when the "Chosen" trope, but this seemed irrealistic. Too much deus ex machina for me, I guess. 
So disappointed, yes, but also weirded out because, in the introduction, the author says that he received a great amount of letters from adults saying they hated the book, and from children saying they absolutely loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Blood, Murder, and Violence