Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card

Reviewed By: The Goose

First things first. Ender’s Game IS the best body of work Card has ever done. There are those out there that will argue one or the other of the sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind) are better. PAH! They’re good, but not THAT good. The Goose will waste no time taunting them. All I will say is that they are WRONG!

***It doesn’t make BM’s top ten list by being okay, you know***

If you want to read a book that explores the cultural, and psychological impact of War on people forget about psychology and political science, this is the book for you. Imagine that your smarter than smart, smarter even than The Goose. What if your whole life you were programmed with the horrors that an alien force inflicted on the Human Race? (The Buggers (please set aside ANY British connotations) have attacked Earth twice. Twice Humanity was very, very lucky.)

Ender Wiggin is many things to many people, up to and including himself. Foremost, however, he is a child. That is something you should never forget as you read this book and increasingly identify with him. Born Andrew he adopted the name ‘Ender’ because his sister, Valentine, could not pronounce Andrew.

…At this point I must digress. Blind Monkey gets first crack at all my prose and the Monkey was definitely UNHAPPY with the original draft. BM said that the best thing about the book is that the end is a total surprise and that I was giving too much away. So, I hacked the review in half and started again. Hopefully, the review is still intriguing enough to spark your interest. I should say that I blindly trust BM’s judgement so if you have a problem take it to the Monkey…

This story is steeped in psychological drama. There is very little action, most of which takes place ‘off stage’ reminiscent of Shakespeare. What ‘onstage’ action there is pertains to the central plot. But it is the interactions between sentients and individual minds that drive this book. Blood and gore is not where it’s at.

The RELATIONSHIPS and CHARACTERS developed throughout the book are what drive it. They create the tension, the suspense, the overall EMOTION. This book is not for the weak-minded. It WILL make you question. It WILL take you to extremes. It WILL make you RE-EVALUATE. I won’t, CAN’T tell you what. It does not require or force a specific response. A specific answer. There is no RIGHT or WRONG only questions that we will find our OWN answers for in our OWN way.

It will surprise, it might enrage, or terrify. It will make you THINK. Which is why it is on BM’s Top Ten list… which I totally agree with and I’ve read a lot more than he has…

(PAH – says the Monkey! You wish. You’re just a lowly Goose.)

Mass Market Paperback Reissue edition (April 1984) Ace Books; ISBN: 0441172717 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.98 x 6.88 x 4.19