Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

In my 'Top Ten Books of all time' hub I list the books that I feel are the best books I have ever read. This hub gives more details on the book Ender's Game which I proudly placed in my Top Ten List.

I will be creating a hub for each of the featured books in the list.

After being attack by aliens (Buggies) twice, the military embarks on a quest to create the ultimate strategic genius by instigating a breeding program. Earth already has restrictions on how many children a family can have, but certain families are allowed to have a ‘third’ if there is a potential that the ‘third’ could be a genius.

Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggins is a child prodigy; his parents are slightly aloof and yet want the best for their son. From the very beginning it is obvious that he is special; he seems torn, tormented and yet strangely compassionate.

Wiggins is taken from his family to an off-world Battle School; the School is built with the sole intention of finding and training a ‘champion’. Through progressively hard games, the adults manipulate the children of the school with the ultimate goal – Xenocide of the ‘Buggies’ . The adults who train the children aren’t uncaring, they just have to use any means possible to find the ‘champion’ – their failure would mean the destruction of mankind.

I included Ender’s Game on my Top Ten all time books for many reasons.  

• It is well written and flows very well – it is the kind of book that you will pick up and read in a day. Many won’t like Orson Scott Card’s style, but for me it was very informal and straight to the point.
• While it is a science fiction book, it really is more of a book exploring human nature, a boy under immense stress, and the way this boy adapts as things change around him, mostly to his detriment. It explores the inner struggles of a boy who is isolated and almost feels apart from the human race.
• It is aimed at adults and tackles some tough adult themes, including the beating and killing of a child at school – it doesn’t offer excuses, but simply relates the story and the stresses that induced the killing – effectively the book makes you think on many moralistic levels and makes you take a look at events from many angles.
• This book isn’t a political anti-war, or pro-war rant, it simply tells a story that could be real and lets you form your own opinions.
• The characters are real and flawed; as Ender grows up and progresses through the battle school, we see many characters come and go. Orson Scott Card has the ability to show both sides of each characters – the strengths and weakness. As Ender forms unbreakable bonds during his time at the school, we see how these bonds are made and why they are so strong – Card doesn’t simply tell you that the bond has formed, he makes you ‘feel’ the reason why.

Ender’s game is not a ‘classic’ by literary standards, but in my eyes is a classic because of how it makes me think and how it makes me feel. The stark reality it shows is insightful and frighteningly real. It comments on the fear of humanity and how fear is a catalyst for some of the great achievements of mankind. While based in the genre of science fiction, it really is more about the human condition rather than the science fiction events within the book.

The book is very violent and graphic at times and is probably not suitable for children under 12.

In May 2003 Orson Scott Card released a screenplay adaption of Ender’s Game and submitted it to Warner Brothers. After many discussions, rewrites etc Card decided to end the project.

Luckily in February 2009 Card completed an entirely new script and submitted it to Odd Lot Entertainment and they are currently creating a production team – so hopefully we’ll see something in 2011.

Ender’s Game Battle Room is a game that is being developed by Chair Entertainment and will only be distributed by digital download. It is based on the Unreal Engine 3 and therefore sounds like it will be a first person shoot-em-up game. This makes sense as the game is based on the Battle Room from Ender’s game, which essentially was used as a kind of futuristic game of Paint Ball

In April 2008 Card teamed up to create a limited series of comics based on Ender’s Game. Mostly based on the Battle Room there were ten issues initially planned; Ender’s Game Battle School and Ender’s Shadow Battle School.

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