I liked the concept of it. Ender seemed likeable enough, but he wasn't my favorite character (FYI: I liked Bean). Otherwise, the writing and plot were okay. Liked how they hid the fact that Ender wasn't playing a game but fighting a real war then revealed it in a twist at the end. Maybe 4/5 stars. Thoughts on this book?
I loved it. I still like it and read it once a year. I even have the audio dramatization on CD that I listen to occasionally in the car. I also enjoyed both sequel series, one exploring the political fall out on Earth (centred on Bean) and the second following Ender as he works to use what he was given at the end of Ender's Game. If you prefere Been, have you read "Ender's Shadow"? It follows Bean through battle school and gives you a lot of his back story too.
I loved it, especially the ending and that twist you mentioned, but I read it at a young age. Not sure how I'd feel about it now. Maybe it's about time I reread it.
I considered it my top favorite book at some point but it's been a long time since I read it so writing details are a bit hazy. I'm not sure I would be into the genius child trope anymore and I prefer genius characters in general to be struggling to thrive in the world.
I read the first three in the Ender-focused series--EG, Speaker for the Dead, the third one's name escapes me. SFTD was by far the one that stuck with me the most. If I recall correctly that was actually the first book Card wrote about Ender, but in the course of writing SFTD he realized he needed to flesh out Ender's backstory more--an exercise which became Ender's Game which is now the more famous one.
I liked it enough to read the rest of the books, enjoying the Shadow series more than the Ender books, which got a bit bogged down for my tastes. I also like that the sequels have delved into different territory. Even Ender's victory leading humanity against the Buggers gets turned on its head, which is a nice turn-around. Then again, I really wish the aliens had been named something other than Buggers.
(mod note: I moved this thread from "Science Fiction" to "Book Discussion") I couldn't stand it when I was a kid. Can't remember exactly why. I remember thinking it was far-fetched and weirdly subversive, which shouldn't be surprising given than Orson Scott Card is a complete whackadoo. I had already cut my teeth on Dune, Ray Bradbury, Asimov and the like by the time I got to Ender's Game, it felt like kid's stuff to me. And then it didn't help that I had to reread it for school a few years later.
I encountered it in an odd form, many MANY years ago ...as a longish short story in a sci-fi anthology, containing many different authors. By many years ago, I mean probably about 40 years ago? Can't say exactly where I was when I read it. I really liked it AS a short story. However, when I picked it up again, years later, to discover it had been turned into a novel, I wasn't quite so impressed. It felt as if it had been padded out.
