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November 2010: Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game

Thought it's been about two years since I last picked this book up, I've read it a couple of times, and I'm very fond it. I'm going to dig it out again and give another go around; should be three days or so. Though I wasn't as impressed with the continuation of this story arc, Ender's Game all by itself is interesting and well written, and it kept my attention; I didn't feel like I had to MAKE myself read it. I do encourage everyone to find this book and give it a go; it very much worth it!
 
I thought it was okay. I don't know if the ending surprised me one bit. I was expecting something like that but it wasn't out of left field for me. I know I've heard it from several people that it caught them off guard but I guess I kinda had to look out for it since people were telling me about it.
 
I listen to audio books quite a bit and, at the end of Speaker for the Dead, Card was interviewed. I heard it a few months back, and, if memory serves, he stated that Ender's Game was written to set up Speaker, which is a far more complex book in a complex trilogy. He was amazed at the way Ender's Game took off. I loved Ender from the start and think it was so successful because we all want to root for the little guy, who takes quite a beating at the Space School.
He even has to kill another student, which scars him, then has to go on to
(oops, almost gave a spoiler.)

As far as I'm concerned these 2 books are far and away his best. The series went downhill with the "retelling" of the story by other characters, which is done simply because any book with Ender on the cover is a guaranteed money-maker. Nothing wrong with that, it makes money for publishers, agents, editors, house office-workers, secretaries, etc. and I'm sure, knowing Card, that a lot of profits go to charity. Just saying his first work was his best.

I tried to read his latest, "Magic Street," and couldn't get into his characters or situations, so gave up after two chapters. Not to put Card down, he is definitely one of the best authors out there and his writing is always top notch.

JohnB
 
Finished this last night. I really enjoyed it. My copy had a forward by the author where he talked about gifted children. Probably the biggest idea that comes through with this book is the notion of loneliness. Bit like Buffy the Vampire slayer really.......
 
This is one of my favourite science fiction books, though I'm surprised to see it tops the list of best science fiction books ever written. There's others I'd put ahead of it.
 
Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game is a nice books but hope full if you love the Science fiction books. more over the concept of the book is really very nice. when i read that books i never supposed to having such a great novel.
 
pettersmith said:
Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game is a nice books but hope full if you love the Science fiction books. more over the concept of the book is really very nice. when i read that books i never supposed to having such a great novel.
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I am going to go out on a limb and say you never read the book.
 
I can't put the darn thing down,we have to come up with a contraption like those beer holding hats....but for books.:D

I am halfway through and really liking it.How do we feel about living in a society where someone else dictates the number of kids we have?
 
I finished it finally.

It was a book I could not put down even through it was SF.
When Ender was taken away,imagining Valentine at that moment was heartbreaking.

I thought the story of a young boy,bullying,being part of the in crowds or (not),him missing home and feeling all alone, set in a Sci Fi world blended in very well.

I did not see the story ending coming and I am looking forward to reading the next one eventually.

The movie is coming out this year also.
 
Oh, I got here late, but I'll add my .02.

I read Ender's Game many years ago, but it's still one of the best SF books I've ever read. The ending caught me totally off guard, and it was perfect.

The sequels vary in quality. Speaker for the Dead is even better than Ender's Game. The other ones aren't as great.

What's funny is that you often find this book in the kids section of libraries, even though the language and some of the ideas in the book aren't right for kids at all.
 
Ender's Game deserves better than this thread. The most flattering post in this thread talks about how the book heroically overcame the disability of it's genre to please them.

It's a classic. I don't care if you love sci fi or hate it, the book is hardly about the science fiction. It's about the idea of raping the youth of children and turning them into monsters so that you can wage war. It's a story about the very idea that kids playing a game could win a war, and moreover, it's a tragic tale that warns of a future where idiot adults who can't get their microwave to stop blinking "12:00" decide to just let the kids who can fight their wars for them. Most likely because they can't get the guns on their ships to work right because "this goddamn user's manual is in Japanese."

The sequels go off on a radical tangent, and the Shadow books are the good ones. Nothing like repeated graphic depictions of murderous children. I love that contrast. The only way it could be more perfect is if they ended up killing Achilles with a gun that fired poison blowpops.
 
I loved this book. I remember reading and listening to the audiobook. It's a little violent if you try to say it's a YA book, and I rather dislike books with bug attacks.... overall though, still an excellent story.
 
I loved this book. My wife is reading it now and is relating all our conversations to the book!
Has anyone read the others in the series?
 
I listened to the audiocds for most of the sequels. They're pretty good. I think Ender's Game is still the best of them...as is common with originals vs sequels, but the later stories go into Petra's story a bit, and Ender's brother I think.
 
RRSeeger said:
I loved this book. My wife is reading it now and is relating all our conversations to the book!
Has anyone read the others in the series?
Click to expand...

Yes. I too read all of them but don't make the same mistake I did. Read Xenocide and stop. The series gets progressively worse from there.

The Ender's Shadow series was actually pretty good but still suffers from Card's inability to write sequels.
 
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