‘Ender’s Game’ – Orson Scott Card (Tor)

Orson Scott Card; author of a classic science fiction series, maker of comments that cause uproar on the net... or both? Up until now I couldn’t tell you one way or the other, regular visitors to the blog will know that my tastes swing more towards fantasy (with occasional excursions into horror) and, as such, science fiction generally takes a back seat in my reading. I’d never read anything by Orson Scott Card and, not knowing his work, never really felt compelled to get involved in discussion about the comments he is known to make. In the spirit of wanting to read outside my comfort zone however (and because I had been sent a copy of ‘Ender in Exile’ and I wanted to read ‘Ender’s Game’ first) I thought I’d give ‘Ender’s Game’ a go. This brings me back to my original question... I’m going to have to read a lot more of Card’s work before (and follow certain discussions online) before I can answer it one way or the other. What I can say though is that, if ‘Ender’s Game’ is anything to go by, this is a series that I might just have to keep a closer eye on... (Comments welcomed from anyone who has read more in this series!)

For anyone who hasn’t read this book already (and it feels like I am the only one who hasn’t) ‘Ender’s Game’ follows the fortunes of one Ender Wiggin latest entrant to ‘Battle School’, an institution where young children are taken at a very early age and trained to become the top military minds of the future. The need for these minds is urgent as the ominous shadow of an alien insect civilisation casts a shadow over the future of humanity...
Ender may be the perfect military genius everyone has been hoping for but he must make it through Battle School first. The students want to break him down so they can advance in his place and the military want to press him and find his breaking point. What (or who) is going to break first?

The long and short of it is that I had great fun reading ‘Ender’s Game’ and I’m glad I took the time to give it a go. The story itself is a fast paced yet strangely downbeat affair that accurately reflects the pressures of war and what people will do to make sure that they are on the winning side. As far as this goes, Card generally does a very good job of walking the fine line between condemning the military, for their treatment of Ender, and giving a ‘needs of the many outweigh those of the few’ justification for their actions. What Card effectively ends up doing is to sit firmly on the fence and present the facts for the readers to make their own minds up on the matter which I think is the way it should be.

Battle School, and what follows after graduation, is full of fast paced set pieces that show us what the children must go through on a daily basis as well as offering us a well placed look into Ender’s mind as he reacts to what is happening to him.
The battles themselves can be confusing at times (if the children don’t know which way is down then the reader can’t really be expected to know either) but carry the reader along so quickly that this isn’t too much of a problem. They’re also brimming with examples of innovation on the battlefield which show us just how gifted Ender is.
Ender is a gifted tactician but he is also only six when he first goes to Battle School and Card doesn’t let us forget this softer, more vulnerable side of his nature as Ender is put under increasing pressure. It is made clear that Ender is the ‘last great hope’ for humanity and, as such, it is easy to accept the things that he comes up with at such a young age. Strangely enough though, I found the side plot (involving Ender’s slightly older siblings) less believable, even though they share the same capabilities. I’m still not quite sure why I felt this way and will probably leave a comment below the post when I’ve figured this out...

Funnily enough, after having had a great time reading the book it was the ultimate payoff that left me feeling a bit deflated. Card spends the greater part of the book building up this relentless pressure on Ender only for the climax itself to pass with more of a whimper than a bang. While I can appreciate the way that Card leads us to expect something out of the ending, whilst planning to hit us with something completely different, it felt like he had lead us so far up the wrong path that the payoff was something of an anti-climax...

This wasn’t such a big deal though as I enjoyed enough of the book to let this one go as a small annoyance. ‘Ender’s Game’ is well worth a look and I’m hoping for more of the same from ‘Ender in Exile’...

Eight and a Half out of Ten