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shieldbearer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Bullying- happens very often in the text Child abuse- the premise of the entire book is Ender's emotional abuse at the hands of the government War- while combat itself isnt' described, it's a topic of frequent discussion Child death-lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
- 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
Ender has two siblings: Peter, a very rough around the edges boy who is seemingly evil, and Valentine, an empathetic girl who is always watching out for Ender. One of my favorite aspects of this book is how Peter and Valentine's characters are used to highlight how Ender is a blend of both of them.
There were some very difficult to read scenes, especially with depictions of animal cruelty from Peter. It was also hard to read Ender's story in general because he was so young when he started with battle school, and you cannot help but feel like his childhood was stolen from him.
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Genocide
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
stylo_'s review against another edition
- 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
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.)
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death
olliereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Violence, Blood, and War
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
katiieecat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lycheejelly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and War
Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Colonisation
goblinboy's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty
bekah445's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Blood
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
I’m not here to tell you that you can’t like this book. I used to, I loved this series, read it over and over (I’ve finished Children of the Mind at least thrice), but you need to know that it’s blisteringly homophobic and consistently has the message that no one in power will help a kid being bullied. It starts off pretty blatantly homophobic by calling the alien enemy “Buggers” and then keeps going from there. The way the kids bully each other reeks of homophobia and toxic masculinity. The adults are either useless or actively encouraging the kids to humiliate each other. Ender’s parents are portrayed as completely oblivious to how his older brother tortured him, and the adults when he’s in training are specifically described as being the real enemy.
There's a lot of bigotry and racism wrapped up in names and nicknames. We get Han Tzu's real name once before being told that he just goes by "Hot Soup". There's a very antisemitic digression surrounding the introduction of "Rose the Nose" which contains a slur I will not repeat here. A very antisemitic conspiracy theory in the real world is made canon in the world of the book (e.g. Jews simultaneously being in most positions of power but also able to be outsmarted by one clever non-Jew). I'm sure there was more stuff that I'm just missing the cultural context to pick up, but what I did notice this time around ranged from slightly cringy and insensitive to straight-up slurs. I understand that the protagonists are kids and that kids mimic what's around them, and I'm not shocked that a military environment bent on training and indoctrinating kids so they can save the planet from aliens maybe isn't super concerned about them calling each other names and using slurs as jokes. But the author made a choice to not call any of that out in the same chapters which otherwise contain something approaching an anti-bullying message.
It has the message that kids are smart and brilliant and can handle the weight of the world if they have to, but it'll break them. When I was a kid I loved how it didn't talk down to me, how it got that I felt too old for my skin, like I knew too much for how adults saw me. It made me feel like a person while I was still a child. If you're in that space, I get it. I understand feeling seen and taken seriously by a book that doesn't talk down to you. But I don't recommend this one, the toxic messages aren't worth it. There's much better books that don't make homophobia casual, that don't treat antisemitism as logical and cool.
CW for murder, assault, homophobia, bullying, children in dangerous situations, body horror, religious suppression, torture, animal cruelty.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Torture
CW for murder, assault, homophobia, bullying, children in dangerous situations, body horror, religious suppression, torture, animal cruelty.