Ender’s Game
by Orson Scott Card
Science Fiction
Review #1
* * * * Stars (Great!)
Ender’s Game was interesting because of the way it viewed the psychological aspects of children when subjected to war versus an alien race. The only reason I didn’t give the book five stars is because the end of the story got drab and boring very quickly. Overall, Ender’s Game was a good book, possibly worthy of 4 1/2 stars.
Review #2
* * Stars (Just ok)
Ender is a Third. It’s a title that he mainly hates, given that it lets his older brother, Peter (a First), make fun of him, taunt him, and torment him. When he is six, he gets his monitor off. Strange, considering that the government liked his siblings enough to allow his parents to have a Third, but now they seem to not care about Ender, which is both terrifying and satisfying for him. He gets along with his sister, Valentine the most, and he would love to spend more time with her.
And then an officer from the military shows up, named Colonel Graff. Apparently, having Ender’s Monitor off was a test. A test that Ender passed. Since his parents signed the papers and have no legal hold on Ender anymore, it is now up to Ender to decide whether or not he wants to go to the academy and train, to fight the aliens who attacked Earth in the past.
He decides to go, but since he does, it holds change. Change for him, because he must learn to survive—and without the help of his sister, Valentine.
And above all, there is an impending alien invasion……
This book was thought provoking but not particularly fun. First of all, it’s quite hard to wrap one’s mind around the fact that these children are supposed to train, in a military setting, at the age of six. A warning to some readers: there is a fair amount of violence that goes on within the book, again, with children who are not even in their teens. However, the book does offer some interesting questions into ethics and the meaning of life. For older teens (high school) and adults.
