For some reason I don't consider myself a fan of sci-fi even though I've totally enjoyed the few sci-fi books I've read. This book intrigued me because for a sci-fi book to be on a list of favorite novels of librarians, I figured it must be awesome.
IT TOTALLY IS!
I'm just going to dive right in. Ender's Game takes place in a futuristic society that has done away with all religion and strictly controls the population by allowing only two children per family. The society is still dealing with the affects of an alien war that they narrowly won. They call the aliens "Buggers" and children play "Buggers" the way that kids in the pre-"Oh yeah, we totally fucked the Indians over" era played cowboys and Indians.
Because of this war, recruitment to their version of an army is a big part of society and they recruit children at a very young age. The recruitment process involves studying high-potential children by monitoring them visually. If you show enough potential you will be assigned a "monitor" which is basically a video camera that is attached to your neck. You wear it for years, while you are studied by army recruiters. Ender's family is of great interest to the army for some reason, and his older brother and sister were both monitored. Neither made the cut for reasons unknown, but came close enough that Ender's parents were given the rare privelige of having a third child. That's Ender.
I won't be ruining much of the surprise by telling you that Ender does make the cut. The rest of the story is about his experiences as he trains in the army. One of the things I liked about the novel is that it doesn't soften Ender's experience because he is so young -- only six years old when he first enters. His life is pretty much awful, but he's such a bloody genius that you can see why (sort of) the army pushes him so hard.
The author is incredible at describing his world. The children live in zero gravity and Orson Scott Card describes this experience so well that you can totally envision living in that environment. The war games that the children play in zero gravity are complex, but still easy to understand. Unlike stupid-ass Quidditch (Harry Potter) you actually get the point of what they're doing and the scenes are exciting. I got the sense that Card's imagination had brought Ender's world to life to such an extent that he wasn't creating the world in the book, but observing it.
There is an interesting parallel story about Ender's siblings -- whom he doesn't see -- and what they're doing while Ender is in the army. His brother is basically evil and his sister is practically angelic. You begin to see that Ender's strength was his more moderate character -- that is why he was chosen. However, his siblings are no less special or brilliant than Ender. It makes for good reading and sets context for what is going on in the world while Ender is in his highly sheltered environment of army training.
I don't want to give any more of the book away but I will say that there is a jaw-dropping twist at the end. I was so taken by surprise that it was almost embarrassing. AWESOME.
This is a book that stays with you. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
&&&&& -- FIVE AMPERSANDS!!!
WHAT'S COMING UP:
The Clan of the Cave bear by Jean Auel
