Book Review: Ender’s Game

Let me start off this post by saying that I don’t normally read science fiction. (Or “SF”, as the nerds call it.) I have nothing against it, I just don’t normally pick up science fiction books of my own accord. (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, of course, doesn’t really count.) So I wasn’t overly enthusiastic, when a friend of mine suggested I read Ender’s Game, but I figured I’d give it a shot. Luckily, he was right, and I found it a very enjoyable read.

In the book, the humans are at war with a race from another planet—called the “Buggers”, because they’re insectile in nature. The humans have already battled the Buggers once, and barely survived; they need to get together a battle fleet, to fight them off again, to ensure the survival of the human race. The first time they fought the Buggers, they were saved by a brilliant military leader, Mazer Rackham, and they’re looking for someone to lead the next fleet. So the humans have been looking at children for potential leaders; when one is found, s/he is raised in military training bases, so that they can weed out the best and brightest to be their leader. Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is one of those children.

That’s about all I’ll say, in terms of plot. I like the way Card works it out, and I like his style of writing, so he pulled me into the story very quickly. Some of the plot twists I foresaw—but still enjoyed—and some I didn’t, which was nice. If you’re not a science fiction fan, but enjoy fiction in general, I’d still recommend this book; you don’t really have to know anything about science fiction to get it. (I don’t, and I enjoyed the book.)

The copy of the book that was lent to me—and the version featured in this picture—is the “Author’s Definitive Edition”, but I didn’t bother to read the introduction, so I don’t know what was added to this particular version.