Ender's Game

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" is one of the few books to win both the Nebula and Hugo prizes and is an acclaimed sci-fi classic. Based on a short story written by Scott in his early days as a writer, "Ender's Game" is set in the far future where the Earth has suffered 2 invasive attacks by a race of insect-like aliens, commonly referred to as "buggers".
As Earth braces itself for the next attack, the socio-political climate changes. The Earth is now controlled by (at least) 2 powerful political entities - the Hegemon and the Polemarch (roughly US and Russian blocs) - each equally powerful. With this equilibrium, an International Fleet (IF) is formed and they are also put in charge of defending the planet against the next alien attack.
Socially, parents are forbidden to have more than 2 children. The only exception being in case of parents who give birth to extremely gifted first and second children (a strong hint of eugenics at work). Such "Third" children are taken away by the IF in their pre-teens and are trained as lethal battle commanders. Ender Wiggin is one such "Third". In his initial years when the IF monitor Ender, he comes across as an exceptionally gifted child, perhaps "the one" who can be truly lead the defense against the bugger attack in the future. Incidentally, Ender's elder siblings, the kind Valentine and the sociopathic Peter, also are "gifted" children with brains far superior than their peers. Peter is particularly annoyed by Ender as he is deemed to the gifted "third".
Ender is separated from his family and is sent to the Battle School for Thirds. Very soon, it becomes clear that Ender is more than just a match of the Battle School curriculum. But can Ender really become the savior for Earth?
Card's plot is hinged on a very strong element: Can children be trained to be killers? However, if you remove the child angle out, it plays out as a very corny sci-fi drama. The children at Battle School think, speak and act like adults - something I found a little difficult to digest initially. "Ender's Game" is still a very read - Card puts in some very interesting elements in the story (especially the climax of Battle School) that makes the book totally worth it. What I found rather distracting are the thousands of words spent in describing the Battle School "training games" between the teams of children. It hardly adds anything to the plot and is not engaging at all. Card's writing is not as incisive as one would expect and the book really drags in the middle. I think it would have been much better as short story.