Though featuring child characters so unrealistic they border on being not relatable, the book's end has resonating depth with progressive themes, making it shocking that its author is such a backward-thinking asshole.
1) ''He imagined the ship dangling upside down on the undersurface of the Earth, the giant fingers of gravity holding them firmly in place. But we will slip away, he thought. We are going to fall off this planet. He did not know its significance at the time. Later, though, he would remember that it was even before he left Earth that he first thought of it as a planet, like any other, not particularly his own.''
2) '''I can't believe you haven't seen through all this crap yet, Ender. But I guess you're young. These other armies, they aren't the enemy. It's the teachers, they're the enemy. They get us to fight each other, to hate each other. The game is everything. Win win win. It amounts to nothing. We kill ourselves, go crazy trying to beat each other, and all the time the old bastards are watching us, …
1) ''He imagined the ship dangling upside down on the undersurface of the Earth, the giant fingers of gravity holding them firmly in place. But we will slip away, he thought. We are going to fall off this planet. He did not know its significance at the time. Later, though, he would remember that it was even before he left Earth that he first thought of it as a planet, like any other, not particularly his own.''
2) '''I can't believe you haven't seen through all this crap yet, Ender. But I guess you're young. These other armies, they aren't the enemy. It's the teachers, they're the enemy. They get us to fight each other, to hate each other. The game is everything. Win win win. It amounts to nothing. We kill ourselves, go crazy trying to beat each other, and all the time the old bastards are watching us, studying us, discovering our weak points, deciding whether we're good enough or not. Well, good enough for what? I was six years old when they brought me here. What the hell did I know? They decided I was right for the program, but nobody ever asked me if the program was right for me.'''
I had no familiarity with the story or expectations going into this book and it met and surpassed them all. This was an incredibly fun and entertaining read and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys action with sci fi in a distant future from our world. I've moved onto a few other books that O.S.C. wrote in this series just to get a little more of tales as a Launchy and how to defeat Buggers.
Wow. The book completely consumed me. The story of 6 year old boy learning, fighting, surviving military training amongst peers and growing older. Of what it means to be human. Book asks the same question I have been for some time. Is the result/action more important than intention? What happens when you can't tell the right from wrong? Parts I probably enjoyed most were fights/battles Ender has been through. You can see a small boy turn into a brilliant tactician, stratego and killer. I still have goosebumps. The book kept me up for 6 hours straight, until I finished it during one night. Flawless
This is a classic science fiction adventure book. But wait, before you write it off because it's science fiction, let me try to sell you on it.
I don't like most sci-fi. It's boring, it's all about weird gadgets and aliens and has nothing to do with reality. Orson Scott Card, however, writes some of the most convincing, true-to-life characters ever. His stories are not about space ships, gadgets and aliens, they are about people, people who you can believe in and who you want to know more about. Give it a try. It's a really fast, light read, and there's something in it fore everyone.