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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Being the type of person who leaves things to the last minute, I am indeed one of those people who read books once I see a movie is coming out based on them. I realize it is my last chance to read that piece of literature before it becomes forever altered through the eyes of moviegoers and filmmakers. Such was the situation when I finally decided it was time to read Ender's Game.
I'm a Fantasy/Sci Fi fan but I read a lot of other things too so compared to most Fantasy/Sci Fi fans I'm very pedestrian. I'm super into a couple of authors (Robin Hobb, Tolkien...) but I don't voraciously read most of it. I always knew Ender's Game was one of the alleged groundbreaking works. So I grabbed my Kindle a few weeks ago and bought a copy to read in anticipation of the movie.
This is a good place to mention I am pretty liberal. Politically. Socially. LGBT rights are a HUGE issue for me. They have been since I was a founding member of SQUISH (Strong Queers United in Stopping Heterosexism) at Cal State Northridge in the early 90s. I truly make an effort to be not only supportive of those who support LGBT rights but also vocally opposed to those who work to deny people those rights. And thus, it was with some horror that I realized once I had already finished reading the book, that Orson Scott Card is a vocal opponent to LGBT rights.
I gave this book 3 stars. I admit, my review is based on not only my opinion of the book but my reaction to this information after the fact. If I had reviewed this book before I learned this information (and I'm embarrassed that I was able to somehow not know this information about his politics, I try to be very educated about these things) I would have given it 4 stars probably.
The story was excellent, ahead of its time. Prophetic about many things about our current society and its technological status. It somehow managed to address subtexts of mental illness and hope for me. But it was lacking a certain level of emotional realness as well. It was a tad cerebral (what keeps it from getting a higher default rating from me.)
Hope this review helps anyone who might regret lining the coffers of someone so diametrically opposed to the ideals they hold as important, the way I 'accidentally' did.
I'm a Fantasy/Sci Fi fan but I read a lot of other things too so compared to most Fantasy/Sci Fi fans I'm very pedestrian. I'm super into a couple of authors (Robin Hobb, Tolkien...) but I don't voraciously read most of it. I always knew Ender's Game was one of the alleged groundbreaking works. So I grabbed my Kindle a few weeks ago and bought a copy to read in anticipation of the movie.
This is a good place to mention I am pretty liberal. Politically. Socially. LGBT rights are a HUGE issue for me. They have been since I was a founding member of SQUISH (Strong Queers United in Stopping Heterosexism) at Cal State Northridge in the early 90s. I truly make an effort to be not only supportive of those who support LGBT rights but also vocally opposed to those who work to deny people those rights. And thus, it was with some horror that I realized once I had already finished reading the book, that Orson Scott Card is a vocal opponent to LGBT rights.
I gave this book 3 stars. I admit, my review is based on not only my opinion of the book but my reaction to this information after the fact. If I had reviewed this book before I learned this information (and I'm embarrassed that I was able to somehow not know this information about his politics, I try to be very educated about these things) I would have given it 4 stars probably.
The story was excellent, ahead of its time. Prophetic about many things about our current society and its technological status. It somehow managed to address subtexts of mental illness and hope for me. But it was lacking a certain level of emotional realness as well. It was a tad cerebral (what keeps it from getting a higher default rating from me.)
Hope this review helps anyone who might regret lining the coffers of someone so diametrically opposed to the ideals they hold as important, the way I 'accidentally' did.
I didn't find this book as easy to read as I had assumed it would be, although that being said I did enjoy it.
There are some twists and turns in the book, and I don't mean just the plot, that make it interesting to read and did cause me to raise my eyebrows.
It was worth the read, and I will probably pursue the series and this is largely in favour of the last few pages. But I don't feel the compelling need to read it again.
There are some twists and turns in the book, and I don't mean just the plot, that make it interesting to read and did cause me to raise my eyebrows.
It was worth the read, and I will probably pursue the series and this is largely in favour of the last few pages. But I don't feel the compelling need to read it again.
Very good story. Have to admit, for a while I thought it was going to be a plain, boring book about a young master-mind who just succeeded at everything and was better than everyone and suffered through unimaginable pain and yada, yada, yada. Immediately as I got to the last two or three chapters I thought to myself, "Jesus, slow down, will ya?" And as I read the very last page and set the book back where it belonged I thought "That was such a rushed ending! Felt almost forced!" But giving it some thought, I'm grateful for all of the abrupt twists and turns this story took. It kept me awake, thinking on my own feet, it almost made me feel like Ender Wiggin. And if this was what the author was going for, then I must say, my hat is off.
Ok, I belong to the camp that hates this book. This book was recommended to me, so I put it in my reading list, but after reading this, I realise that science fiction is definitely not my thing, and absolutely not when the military is also involved. Let me try to break it down one by one why I think this book is not worth the paper it is printed on, but first, a short synopsis.
See, in the future, humans were attacked by aliens that looked like bugs. Adults couldn't find a way to defeat them, so somehow evolution and eugenics cooperated into allowing humans to breed geniuses. So there are these children who act and think like adults. There are some weird laws in earth, like the prohibition to have more than two children. But anyway, there is this child, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, who seems to be the best genius around there. And humans have him as the only hope to defeat the bugs.
Ender is sent to Battle School, which is in outer space, where they train these child soldiers. He's brilliant, and defeats every game, even though the game gets harder and harder, all the way to the very end, when the game is actually a battle between humans and the bugs, with him as the commander, and yes, the bugs lose. Humans win.
Simple, no?
The shocking thing is, to get there, the author uses a lot of literary mechanisms that just rub me the wrong way. Here are some of them.
After 50 pages, I already hated it. The book felt like it was written so that loners can feel good about themselves. Ender is an outcast, at least in earth, and so he became the target of bullies. He defeats them, using military tactics and strategy (this book is required reading, it seems, in some military circles), so the bullies leave him alone. But he doesn't have friends either. The tone of the book is more or less along the lines of "Nobody likes you but you're a genius so it's okay". I cannot help but conclude that people who would gravitate toward this book are the social outcasts and the ones who are socially awkward. If you have a good circle of friends, if you're socialised well enough to have had meaningful human connections, then it would probably be hard to identify with this book. Going back to the military issue, I think this book somehow feeds on the stereotype that some have with American youngsters: they go to the military because they're isolated from their peer group. After all, they won't be missed.
Twenty-something pages later, Ender meets Bonzo Madrid. Bonzo happens to be a leader with a good reputation. Bonzo is described as some very handsome boy with extraordinary features which Ended immediately took a liking to. This reminded me of Nazi theories of how Aryan races are more beautiful than others which implies they're the ones who are supposed to lead. Only later when Ender defeats Bonzo does Bonzo gets his face disfigured.
In this book, it seems that all characters (perhaps with the exception of Valentine) are sadists. Whether it is Ender, or Graff, or Peter, everyone has a killer instinct. Everyone takes joy in inflicting pain on others, in using others for one's own benefit. Because of this, I found the book very hard to relate to and identify with, since there was no character that I could like.
Oh, did I forget to mention the fact that there's even a Hitler apologist passage? Peter (Ender's older brother) has a saviour complex, and wants to rule the world somehow. He claims that Hitler isn't too bad, rather, he's actually a genius!
Perhaps the fact that my personality type is an INTJ makes me more likely that I would abhor this book. I am not the type of person who would always embrace tradition and not question authority, irrespective of whether it is effective or not. Later on, this attitude is actually spelled out in the book: "Win first, ask questions later." It is very apt for the military, but not at all for me.
What else? This book oozes of sexism. Almost all the characters are male. I don't think the author cared for diversity at all.
So yes, this is my first one-star book of the year. I don't think I will read Orson Scott Card again after this. This author goes to the blacklist. And I haven't even touched on the fact that he's a homophobe. Yep, I give this book 1 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
See, in the future, humans were attacked by aliens that looked like bugs. Adults couldn't find a way to defeat them, so somehow evolution and eugenics cooperated into allowing humans to breed geniuses. So there are these children who act and think like adults. There are some weird laws in earth, like the prohibition to have more than two children. But anyway, there is this child, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, who seems to be the best genius around there. And humans have him as the only hope to defeat the bugs.
Ender is sent to Battle School, which is in outer space, where they train these child soldiers. He's brilliant, and defeats every game, even though the game gets harder and harder, all the way to the very end, when the game is actually a battle between humans and the bugs, with him as the commander, and yes, the bugs lose. Humans win.
Simple, no?
The shocking thing is, to get there, the author uses a lot of literary mechanisms that just rub me the wrong way. Here are some of them.
After 50 pages, I already hated it. The book felt like it was written so that loners can feel good about themselves. Ender is an outcast, at least in earth, and so he became the target of bullies. He defeats them, using military tactics and strategy (this book is required reading, it seems, in some military circles), so the bullies leave him alone. But he doesn't have friends either. The tone of the book is more or less along the lines of "Nobody likes you but you're a genius so it's okay". I cannot help but conclude that people who would gravitate toward this book are the social outcasts and the ones who are socially awkward. If you have a good circle of friends, if you're socialised well enough to have had meaningful human connections, then it would probably be hard to identify with this book. Going back to the military issue, I think this book somehow feeds on the stereotype that some have with American youngsters: they go to the military because they're isolated from their peer group. After all, they won't be missed.
Twenty-something pages later, Ender meets Bonzo Madrid. Bonzo happens to be a leader with a good reputation. Bonzo is described as some very handsome boy with extraordinary features which Ended immediately took a liking to. This reminded me of Nazi theories of how Aryan races are more beautiful than others which implies they're the ones who are supposed to lead. Only later when Ender defeats Bonzo does Bonzo gets his face disfigured.
In this book, it seems that all characters (perhaps with the exception of Valentine) are sadists. Whether it is Ender, or Graff, or Peter, everyone has a killer instinct. Everyone takes joy in inflicting pain on others, in using others for one's own benefit. Because of this, I found the book very hard to relate to and identify with, since there was no character that I could like.
Oh, did I forget to mention the fact that there's even a Hitler apologist passage? Peter (Ender's older brother) has a saviour complex, and wants to rule the world somehow. He claims that Hitler isn't too bad, rather, he's actually a genius!
Perhaps the fact that my personality type is an INTJ makes me more likely that I would abhor this book. I am not the type of person who would always embrace tradition and not question authority, irrespective of whether it is effective or not. Later on, this attitude is actually spelled out in the book: "Win first, ask questions later." It is very apt for the military, but not at all for me.
What else? This book oozes of sexism. Almost all the characters are male. I don't think the author cared for diversity at all.
So yes, this is my first one-star book of the year. I don't think I will read Orson Scott Card again after this. This author goes to the blacklist. And I haven't even touched on the fact that he's a homophobe. Yep, I give this book 1 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I saw the movie before reading the book, and honestly, even if I knew how it was going to end, I really liked it. Sci-fi aren’t my sort of thing, but the excitement this book puts you through is too great to miss. I give it four starts since... the end threw me off a bit. Could’ve been auto-conclusive, easily.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No