I have huge love for Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I can't place exactly when I read it; it could have been when I was 8 or even 15, but it has the gravity in my mind where I feel like it was the first book I truly read. Funny, it is so prominent in my imagination but I can't remember basic things like Ender's sister Valentine and her role in the book. I just remember being completely thrilled by the premise and the twist ending.Because of Ender's Game, YA scifi has a very soft place in my heart. And I never read the sequels. I tried with the second one, Speaker for the Dead (maybe?), and stopped, couldn't get into it. Maybe I could now. I'd have to read Ender's Game again, first.
What's the book about?
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. (Goodreads.com)
But way more than this! There is something amazing about the setting, the battleschool that Ender goes to. It is frightening and cool and the kids there act like the sadistic jerks they are because they're scared and the adults are lying to them. It has the feel of Lord of the Flies meets Full Metal Jacket meets The Last Starfighter. Actually, when I read Feed by M.T. Anderson last year (or so), parts in that book reminded me of Ender's Game. I think it has this cult status as being an awesome book that many people grew up reading.
I remember that when I finished the book I had this chill, knowing that not all stories are going to end well, and that adults can't be trusted in every situation. It scared the hell out of me.
Marvel recently put out a series of comics based on the books but I find them truncated enough to bug me. I picked up the first few but I wasn't won over. What I DO love are the fan book trailers all over YouTube, made by people who loved this book:
"No word has yet been received since February whether the Ender's Game movie adaptation of the science fiction novel by the same name, will move forward. The author, Orson Scott Card, has cited purity of the premise as the reason for allowing the production process to collapse. He fiercely opposes turning the story into a Hollywood plot that doesn't convey the personal and human struggle of six year old Ender Wiggin, the main character of Ender's Game around whom the story revolves" (source)
5 comments:
I have to read this :)
This is one of my all-time favorite books as well. I probably read it once or twice every year. I have read the sequels to the book, and while "Speaker for the Dead" is okay, it doesn't come close to the same experience of "Ender's Game." However, when Card came out with "Ender's Shadow" I was again blown away- so maybe you should give that one a try. It is Bean's story from the same time frame of "Ender's Game."
I just read Ender's Game for the first time this year and absolutely loved it. I don't know how I managed to miss reading it when I was growing up because I read a lot of sci-fi.
I think it's great that the author is willing to fight for the movie to be accurate.
Oh, awesome, Ender's Shadow? I will definately look into this one. Thanks for the recommendation.
Juju: Let me know if you DO read it. I'd love to hear what you'd think of it.
Alyce: Yeah, although I think that a movie of EG would probably look awesome, I don't know if every great book should be a movie too. If it can't happen then that's that.
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