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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
medium-paced
The most pragmatic account of a fictional rise to power, intelligently written and philosophically thorough.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
Unfortunately, I could not get into this book. Heard a lot of good stuff about it but still don't see all the fuss. Maybe I'll try to read it again someday(not in the near future)
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I came to this very tentatively. It's a classic but Card's reputation lately has fallen quite as bit. I was pleasantly surprised overall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, War
Moderate: Antisemitism, Religious bigotry
Minor: Suicide
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
"In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them--"
"You beat them."
"No, you don't understand. I destroy them."
When I'm sick and feverish, I don't have enough brainpower to parse something new -- so this week I cast about for what to reread, settled on Ender's Game, and blew through it in a single day.
Revisiting it was comforting, like saying hello to an old friend. It's one of the few books I reread most as a kid, and the only fiction book I was ever able to make my father read (I gave it a try because he's big into military nonfiction, so I thought he might like it, and I'm pretty sure he did). A few weeks back when discussing the prospect of re/reading the Ender series with Caitlin, I actually had an honest-to-god nightmare that I reread this one, realised that I hated it now, and texted her in a tizzy going "CAITLIN, ENDER'S GAME ISN'T GOOD. I REREAD IT AND I DIDN'T LIKE IT THIS TIME D: D: D:" and I was genuinely heartbroken/distressed within the dream.
Therefore: I'm happy to report that this is not the case! I still love this book to itty bitty pieces. It's under my "your mileage may vary" shelf, though, because it seems super-divisive on Goodreads (some aspects that people hated, I absolutely loved!), and I understand people's problems with it due to Orson Scott Card himself. It's one of the most conflicting reader-author situations I've ever been in, and the #1 instance where I've had to consciously separate the artist from the art. Because unlike some other authors I could mention, as long as Card's politics don't seep into his text and pollute the story, I can appreciate it by itself. And I don't think this book especially reflects his politics.
SO. With that preface over, onto Ender's Game. It's one of my personal favourite books, and along with Animorphs, probably cemented my interest in war and soldiers (possibly specifically child soldiers) as a theme. Most of you probably know the premise by now: mankind is at war with an alien species known as the buggers, and on the verge of being wiped out. Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is recruited for an elite military school in space at the age of six, and formed and moulded by the adults in his life to be the brilliant commander they need him to be, the tool that the entire human race needs him to be. Do the ends justify the means, and how far do you break a child in order to win a war?
A lot of people have a problem with how mature the children in this book sound, but at least the book acknowledges it in several scenes, about how none of them sound or talk or think or act like children; I still would have preferred them being older, I think, because they just read older, but I can buy it being the result of generations of genetic tampering in order to produce these prodigies and wunderkinds.
And these characters, as briefly sketched-out as they are in this relatively short book, are like old friends to me: Ender, Valentine, Petra, Dink, Bean, Graff, and yes, even Peter -- who is one of my #1 most loathsome characters in fiction, and yet also the most compelling and thus also one of my favourites (he and Graff are the reasons this book gets the "great villains" shelf... sort of). The role reversals fascinate me: Peter Wiggin, sociopathic youth turning into the peace-maker, and empathetic Ender turning into the slaughterer... the gnarled relationship between the two brothers (and, in return, their sister Valentine) is the anchoring thread throughout the whole thing. Ender's anxieties about his brother and the abuse he suffered at Peter's hands, how he fears becoming Peter, his bogeyman, worst nightmare and tormentor and twisted reflection of himself (through a glass, darkly)... it's so emotionally affecting to me, and it's definitely the aspect that I honed in on most during this reread (because BROTHERS FEELINGS, it's like catnip for Julies). I literally hissed "What!?" out loud when reading a review complain about a supposed lack of internal conflicts. Ender is all internal conflict: an initially-sweet child who turns hard and cold as a matter of necessity, and who even finds himself enjoying murder in the fantasy game, the satisfaction of winning, even as he tells himself he isn't a killer and practically cries himself to sleep over the fear that he's becoming his brother, the thing he fears most in the world, yet also the thing he needs love from the most.
I sometimes have trouble connecting with the main characters of novels -- confession: I never really connected to Harry Potter the boy until Daniel Radcliffe started playing him; I'm usually much more interested in minor characters -- but I adore Ender. He's broken by adults, then turns and does the exact same thing to someone he sees himself in; he's turned into a weapon and denied any chance of a normal childhood; he forges lasting connections with his fellow soldiers, earns their trust and respect, but becomes their commander and thus distanced from them, too aloof and too much of an authority figure to truly be one of them. By becoming their larger-than-life legend, he's forced away from them. His arc is truly tragic, and I love him for it.
I think I've heard some people disliking the cryptic dialogue interludes at the beginning of chapters, which touch on the adults' motivations and concerns as they stage these games and manipulate these children, but I loved the inserts (and shamelessly ripped off the technique in my own fiction as a pre-teen, oops). I also know that others didn't like the Locke & Demosthenes subplot, but oddly enough, those chapters were some of the ones I looked forward to most during this reread -- not because I was especially interested in the politics, but because I liked seeing the rise of blogging, plus Peter and Valentine manipulating each other, having fun gaming the political system while their brother works through the military system, and Valentine's discomfort with her father embracing Demosthenes' demagoguery (and because his war-mongering appeal to the American masses is too familiar, in today's day and age).
And just, the Wiggins!!!!!! my love letter to the Wiggins. My flagship quote at the top of the review touches on this, but it is Ender's empathy that makes him such a good commander: that he knows his people so well and knows how they tick, and most importantly, he knows how his enemy ticks. A key feature of his strategy is to study his opponent, to figure out their weaknesses and how he could hurt them better (just like how Peter knows how to hurt people best); this applies to anything from the Battle Room, to the game room, to targeting Bonzo's notorious Spanish honour during a key scene. He's a manipulative little monster, but because he has to be, because he's been forced to be. And I love seeing the similarities/differences between all three Wiggin siblings: they're all empathetic and manipulative/persuasive in their own ways, capable of influencing other people to do what they need them to. Peter intimidates and targets what shames people most; Valentine persuades and flatters them. And Ender, well, he's that perfect mix between the two.
Also, the points this book makes about an external threat being necessary in order to achieve world peace echoes with the exact same point made in Watchmen, and it's one of my favourite... tropes, can I call it a trope? Mankind banding together when it has the Other to fear.
I love Battle School, I love the worldbuilding of their classes & desks & training & armies, I love the diverse pidgin lingo the kids fall into. I had a brief stint on Ansible MOO with one of my best friends, and isn't that the best sign of a world -- that you want to immerse yourself in it so much to the extent of playing in it?
A few other responses to specific criticisms I've seen people have about the book (spoilers below):
Spoiler
1. People being bothered about the nudity -- well, why? They're children, and if anyone is completely unselfconscious about nudity, it's pre-pubescent kids (and I think the military too, probably, so twice the effect here). And people wondering why Ender's fight had to be nude in the shower -- obviously, his enemies were targeting him when he was at his absolute most vulnerable. Has no one seen Eastern Promises? That fight scene was brutal, yo.2. People wishing there had been earlier hints of the buggers trying to telepathically communicate with Ender... but you know what, I postulate that they did:
"We can't drug you if that's what you're hoping for. I'm sorry if you have bad dreams. Should we leave the light on at night?"
"Don't make fun of me!" Ender said. "I'm afraid I'm going crazy."
... "Are you really afraid of that?"
Ender thought about it and wasn't sure.
"In my dreams," said Ender, "I'm never sure whether I'm really me."
3. People's skepticism about Ender's wunderkind, about what makes him the commander -- and I have problems with saviour narratives too, I found Paul Muad'dib too distant and remote and unknowable after he become the Chosen One -- but the thing is, Ender 100% would not have been able to pull this off without his toon leaders. Without Petra Arkanian, Bean, Dink Meeker, Hot Soup, Cam Carby, all of them. They're the extensions of himself, the quick-thinking limbs that he relies on. He helped forge them into what they became, yes, but without them he's nothing.
I considered creating a shelf called "gently sexist" for this, due to a throwaway comment about "centuries of evolution" working against women, which is why there are fewer of them at Battle School (fucking ridiculous and awful sentiment), and the fact that Petra is the first of Ender's commanders to break -- but in the end, I decided not to, because goddamn, Petra Arkanian, and Valentine Wiggin. *___* Petra breaks first because she's Ender's best commander, and he pushes her the hardest and relies on her the most, and he explicitly acknowledges this. She's the best sharpshooter in her army. Valentine is such a great character too: resourceful and caring and complex and intelligent, all without needing to tote around a gun to be a strong female character. And the adults' manipulation of her, too, and her being completely cognisant of it -- the way she consciously drags her brother back into the fight, justlikeCassiedoesinAnimorphstoJake (ARGHHH I CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT ANIMORPHS EVEN IN REVIEWS FOR OTHER BOOKS).
I have, however, created a "slur warning" shelf because the casual drop of the n-word really threw me. Thankfully, it's never repeated, issued in a playful fraternal context rather than derisive, and Alai is also a strong, respected character, with his Islamic culture respected as well. It's a surprisingly diverse cast in general, really.
And the ending. That ending.
Spoiler
That twist, the adults' ultimate betrayal, making him into a murderer against his wishes, right when he's ready to just throw in the towel and doesn't want anything more to do with this. It makes the title so heartbreaking in retrospect. Ender -- his name more appropriate now than ever -- is going to spend the rest of his life trying to work off his karmic debt for having destroyed an entire species, and this is yet another theme that's near and dear to my heart. (ONCE AGAIN I FIND MYSELF SAYING THIS BUT) It's similar to Jake in Animorphs: that albatross around his neck, that chain around his ankle. The ending is touching in so many ways and left its imprint on me, because in Mass Effect, when given the choice of whether to spare the rachni queen or not, I immediately said yes, because my heart was full of feelings for the hive queen and the redemption of her species. I love Peter and Ender rebuilding their bridges at the end of Peter's days. I love the concept of a speaker for the dead; I remember when I was first reading this book as a kid, I wistfully considered whether or not that was a thing I could request for myself.
adventurous
fast-paced
