Review 0005: Ender’s Game

I just realized I haven’t done a review in a long time. And being unable to actually write a good review on Divergent by Veronica Roth, I chose the next best (perhaps the best) book, Ender’s Game.


I read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card in a matter of two days. (I perhaps shouldn’t have stayed up so late to finish it, but, eh…it all turned out fine in the end, yeah?)

So yes, this book. This book is amazing. I found out about because the movie just came out, and I saw Asa Butterfield was going to play Ender and I went out and tried (Unsuccessfully) to buy the book. Luckily, I got it for Christmas. :)

But, I digress. So let me just give you a brief summary of the plot.

The book picks up after an alien V. human war. The humans won only because a great commander, Mazer Rackham, defeated them. The “buggers” are planning to strike again, but this time, the humans don’t have a Mazer Rackham. Now, they have to find another commander like Rackham. So this genius  (Andrew “Ender" Wiggin) is monitered by the International Fleet. They come and take him away to Battle School, where he trains to be an officer till he’s 16. So, there are a lot of skirmishes between him and the other boys  in the first half of the book because he’s so much better than them. In the second half, finally, he’s taken to this planet to finish training. He is trained by the great Mazer Rackham himself. The ending…well, let’s not give it away, eh?

(But I will say this, I loved the ending. It was perfect. And you know what else is perfect? There are four books in the series and then a parallel series. My day has been made. :D)

Before I continue, I must relate a rather irritating encounter last Saturday. So last Saturday, my youth group had a movie night. (In the day, but still…) So the choices were Man of Steel, Thor: The Dark World, or Ender’s Game. So tons of people go, ‘What the heck is Ender’s Game?’

Someone answered, “It’s about this genetically mutated alien turned boy who is taken by the humans and forced to destroy the aliens.”

My reaction?

I think I might have been inwardly cursing, too. :D If your interested, we ended up watching Thor 2. Only me, this guy, and my youth minister voted for Ender’s Game. (Man of Steel got zero votes.)

But, as I said, I really enjoyed this book. For one thing, it was very entertaining. And from that very inadaquate description I just gave you of the plot, you might be all, “Whatev.” But I kid thee not, it was quite a good read.

Another thing, Orson Scott Card wrote it in such a way that leads me to believe it is an allegory. The ‘buggers’ are the Enemy, the ‘astronauts/commanders’ are the Christians. So in that sense it was a very good modern allegory. (Of course, Card is a mormon, so it’s not exactly the same, but use a little imagination and, boom ya!)

The only bad part was all the boy humor. But, that’s minor in the big scheme of things. Also, there was a lot of bullying and ganging up on Ender, which Card went into in a bit too much detail.

But other than that, it was a very good read. Now, as far as the movie goes, I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s out for rent on iTunes. Plus, Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield are in it, so….

Oh, and last night I just watched Hugo (Asa Butterfield) and actually really enjoyed it, but to the point. Papa Georges was played by Ben Kingsley, who played Mazer Rackham in Ender’s Game. Coincidence? I think not. ;)

Oh, here is the trailer, if you want to see it. And may I just add, I was some what disappointed Asa Butterfield was forced to speak in an American accent. He’s actually British.

Happy Writing!
Scarlet