Ender's Game

by Orson Scott Card

Ender’s Game is an interesting book, first published in the late 70s. I believe, but perhaps erroneously, that it is one of the “classic science fiction” novels specifically targeting children and young adults. But it’s hard for me to explain what this book is. If you like science fiction, will you read it? Yes. Will you like it? Maybe. Does it have a few interesting moral and ethical questions for you to ponder? Yes.

So, let’s cut to the chase. Ender Wiggins is a young boy in a society set far into the future. A society that is ruled by three separate entities, who are currently united in one fight: the fight against the buggers – an alien race that has attacked Earth twice before.

The international military is constantly preparing for their next encounter with the buggers. They prepare by picking the most intelligent children who have personalities that are highly suitable for military leadership. Such children leave their families and spend the rest of their childhoods learning, training, and fighting in Battle School.

Six-year old Ender Wiggins is chosen. But he turns out to not just be chosen; it’s like he is the chosen one. The adults quickly realize his potential far outweighes the potential of any other student, and so they begin to manipulate Ender’s life. They ensure that Ender is always on the outside to keep him from getting comfortable. They do little to prevent Ender from being bullied because they want him to learn how to deal with conflict on his own.

Ender quickly advances through the ranks, constantly outperforming everyone’s expectations. He is their genius military leader, but he begins to wonder if it’s all worth it.

Readability-wise this story reads kind of like a textbook with a B-line plot and shallow character development. It wouldn’t make a bad Made-For-TV movie. The shame of it is with more time and development of characters, I think I would have really enjoyed this book. When you enjoy this book, you’re enjoying it simply for the premise not necessarily for the writing.

Interesting Ethical Areas:

Childhood: Is it ethical to begin strict military training at the age of 6? Do we treat children like pawns? Are we unable to see children’s true potential because we see them as “children”?

Violence: When is violence justified? Exactly how violent can children be before it could be considered a “problem”? Can you justify exterminating an entire race – when those in question are attacking aliens?

Interesting point: One totally cool thing that this book focuses on is orientation, planes, and zero gravity. Ender spends a lot of time training his troops to give up their Earth orientation: where up is up and down is down. In zero gravity, you can be anyway. This is interesting because if you watch sci-fi (Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica), the ships all fly together on the same plane. Why?

Grade: B-