This is widely considered Orson Scott Card's best work. The book takes place in Earth's future and is about a brilliant young boy's training to be a military commander. Andrew Wiggin or "Ender," is an extremely gifted boy who the military begins training to make their commander in an upcoming war against an unseen alien race. Ender succeeds at every challenge given to him, even in situations where he is set up for failure. There is also a video game he plays quite often that takes him through strange worlds and where he must do very gruesome things in order to proceed.
During his training in the school, he has a few encounters that pit him against other children. One such encounter leads to the death of a boy by Ender's hand. After this event he is taken out of the school and put into a new "training" situation. In these "training" exercises he is commanding several ships in what he thinks are simulations, but are actually reality. He is unknowingly commanding the human forces in their war against the alien race called the "Buggers." He eventually succeeds in destroying the bugger home world and destroys the entire race.
Overall I enjoyed the book. There were several interesting battle scenes that most people have who have referred the book to me have mentioned, but that's not what I liked most about this book. Card also makes some interesting political commentary about human beings that I found interesting. Specifically how everyone is filled with hate for an alien race that none of them has ever encountered. Two previous generations had fought wars against this race and videos detailing those exploits were available, but no one alive had ever seen them. They were an unseen fear. This fear seemed to motivate the whole race to join together. The whole of Earth's population was too busy hating the Buggers that they lived quite peacefully. Once this "threat" is neutralized, however, the world falls into waring with one another again. I'll come back to this in a moment.
The main thing I took away from this book was Ender's struggle with his inner demons. Ender was a good person who did bad things. His intentions were usually not evil, but the results were. Because of Ender's extraordinary talent, he would garner favor with the adults in his life. This would cause the other children in his life to envy Ender and then hate him. So they would corner Ender and try to hurt him. As Ender defended himself he would make rational decisions that would lead to disparaging consequences that would haunt him. He did kill two other children in these situations. His goal of self-preservation forced it at the time, but he did shape the events that led up to these deaths. For all his brilliance, he couldn't see things that far ahead, and he chose paths that eventually put him in what he thought was a kill or be killed situation. Ender was a killer. A remorseful killer, but a killer. This struggle climaxed when he destroyed the bugger race. Unknowingly, but he still did it. The epilogue shows him attempting to make up for his past sins.
The struggle of good and evil within Ender was personified in his sister and brother. His brother was a disturbing child, and often thought of death and sought power. His sister was kind and loving and nurturing. Most of the time, Ender would liken himself more to his brother than his sister, but I think he was wrong. Ender was a good person who did bad things, which is very different from a bad a person. The most telling sign of Ender's goodness was his name. His real name was Andrew but he called himself Ender, because his sister called him Ender. He found his identity in something good, and this is why the character is likable.
I liked this part of the book on a spiritual level. I have a Catholic world view that can be summed up like this: people are inherently good but prone to evil. Jesus is a reminder of the good within us and helps us back to that original innocence, separating us from the evil and returning us to the good. Another view that I've encountered in Protestant theology is that people are inherently evil. Jesus covers our sinfulness and this allows us to be loved by the Father. But that evilness is still there. When Ender chooses to be called Ender, he embraces the good in him. It is his core, his identity. I liked this because I thought it was a decent illustration of a fundamental Catholic belief.
Now, Card is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so I doubt he was trying to further a Catholic belief over a Protestant one. He does bring up questions of good and evil, human nature, and sin. This is just what I took away from the book and probably what I will remember most about it. The author could be making the other argument, as illustrated in the war that breaks out after the destruction of the bugger home world. Even though peace was seen on earth, that evilness and hatred was still there, just suppressed by fear.
My final comment is about this fear. Fear is a powerful motivator and has been used to control or persuade many individuals throughout history and even today. The Nazis used fear of Jews to gain power. Both the Russians and Americans used fear to motivate their countries during the Cold War. Today it is used by all kinds of politicians to push agendas. I'm not interested in giving examples. Those on the right will claim it is being done by those on the left. Those on the left will claim it is being done by those on the right. Both are correct. It can be useful, but it doesn't promote the truth. Only the truth will set you free, fear leads to sin and death. There is no redemption through fear because fear is not of God.
For an entertaining plot, likable characters, and thought provoking theme, I give Ender's Game four and a half stars out of five. For another review of this book, please see
P. B. and Jorgy's
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