Ender's Game

“Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite sci-fi books. It’s much more than a basic space story though; the novel’s main plot is almost entirely character driven, making it sound like the story could take place anytime (not just in the future on a space training station). Card’s characters are very strong and well-developed, and even though they sometimes form into clichéd archetypes, the reader still has a strong sense of how the character would react in situations or how they would interact with the others. And since most of the main characters in the novel are under the age of 15 (many of them still elementary school aged), it makes for an interesting read.

The book’s protagonist, (Andrew) “Ender”, is recruited to a training program to defeat an alien species called the “buggers” (formally, called the Formics). He is incredibly intelligent and calculating, and is only six at the novel’s opening. He is sought out because his parents were both brilliant scientists, and his older siblings Peter and Valentine were both unsuitable for the program (though being just as or more intelligent as Ender, they were deemed too violent and too gentle, respectively).

Ender is sent into space to begin his training, where upon arrival the commander of the training program Graff makes sure all the students know that Ender is the most intelligent amongst them. This singles Ender out and makes him have to stand up for himself against the more ambitious students. Over the years, Ender participates in multiple training games with a team that he leads, and is promoted frequently through the ranks. Meanwhile on Earth, Valentine and Peter begin writing essays under pseudonyms that influence the world’s leaders, the eventual goal being Peter’s rise to power.

Ender is eventually brought into a final simulation, this time on a computer. With multiple members of military command watching, he beats a simulation in which pilots face off against Formic fighters. Ender defeats the Formics and kills their “Queens”, only to find at the end that the simulation was real and that he was responsible for needless military deaths as well as genocides. Ender is not allowed to return home because of his skill level, and wanders around space looking for a place to rebuild the Formic race (there was one Queen left).

I think that part of “Ender’s Game” I find most interesting is the fact that the characters are so young. They think, talk and act like much, much older characters and I often found myself forgetting they were in the 1-3 grade range. The story is brutal and so are they; society made them old and jaded years before ever having to fire a gun. The whole novel is about different types of manipulation and control, and it’s interesting to see how characters respond to or fight that kind of domination.