A review by onyxisalive
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

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

2.5

This book was alright. Some parts of it I liked- I enjoyed the exploration of is it okay to do monstrous things for the sake of survival? That was very interesting. However,
the fact is that they are abusing children, it isn’t older people that are making the choices, you see this young child being forced and manipulated into doing things he wouldn’t have willingly done. The fact that there are no consequences is interesting and sad. It would’ve been nice at the end to see the guilt of the adults and the people that did this instead of nothing. As a result, the theme feels under explored. I don’t have an issue with the lack of consequences, as I think that is pretty unrealistic, but the emotional consequences and the fact that there are characters that could call out (at least internally) how wrong this was, yet didn’t, is a little strange.

The book really lagged in the middle, and the pace was all over the place. Years were skipped in sentences whereas other points really dragged. The book would go from really exploring the emotional impact on Ender, to these action sequences. It felt quite jarring and left the emotional moments feeling really skipped over and under explored. 
The action sequences were fine. The writing was fine. 
Overall, this was alright. I feel kind of disappointed as the parts of the book I did find interesting, in the end were so under explored it felt really meh. There was so much more to say about those things, and because of the way things are left it kind of comes across like the author is excusing
the things done to Ender rather than exploring the lengths humans will go to for survival (and all the moral complications that come with it).

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