Ender's Game
⭐ 6.5/10
Somehow I had never read this one, and despite how quickly I got through it I can't say I really enjoyed it. I instantly found the idea that the world is turning to children to win this planetary war pretty ridiculous, and making these kids all geniuses at such a young age is hard to accept without some Dune-level genetic manipulation.
There is an interesting prologue before my copy where the author talks about the impact of the book and that did warm me up to it. He sounded pretty sincere and humble about it all, but it sounds like this book mostly impacted gifted lonely children who read it and felt a kinship with Ender. I know the authors on this blog were all in gifted classes, so I would be curious how someone else might have felt reading this at a younger age, but as an adult it just felt like poor storytelling. Ender never fails at anything, he is a complete genius who wins every game in one try, and his struggle is all the people in his life trying to use him as he tries to carve out his own identity. I think this was effective for a bit, but this book is so repetitive, battle after battle as Ender continues to innovate and break all the rules.
There is this weird part about a video game he plays that also somehow completely reflects and parallels his inner turmoils, and he can't make progress until he solves the parallel problem in his own life? Pretty contrived, and honestly I would prefer an inner monologue compared to this.
I will say I really liked the parts about his siblings, they basically work together to become anonymous bloggers who change the course of humanity with their polar opposite and extreme takes. This felt dystopian in the best way, and that's that it feels more realistic as time goes on. This book was before our modern internet and the void of public discourse online, and it being used as a sideplot was interesting.
I also really liked the ending of this book. Not the twist in the final battle, which was obvious just by looking at the page count left in the book, but everything after the battle. It took a turn I did not see coming and made me very curious to read about what happens next in this world. I felt empathy for Ender here, and the slaughter he was forced to carry out, and I think the unexpected darkness of this book is probably what has given it this longevity. Him being controlled and fighting that control is compelling, and the ending is kind of devastating in light of it.
No WeView is complete without a couple Sanderson strays, but Skyward is a YA series he wrote that in hindsight feels like a total ripoff of this, and it upsets me that he wrote four of them. Pretty sure the bad guy aliens are even the same type as they are here (no spoilers). I've read the first couple chapters of Stormlight 5 and oh baby this site might soon become a toxic space for Sanderson fans.
Anyways, an interesting book that was more than I expected, and I probably read it too late. It will leave behind an imprint in my mind, but not enough that I will keep going with the series.
Oh boy, lots of thoughts on this one. Some spoilers in this comment.
ReplyDelete1. I read this when I was 14 and it was the greatest thing I had read in my life up to that point, so I just can't see this with fresh adult eyes.
2. There actually is a bit of genetic manipulation. Bean's genes are edited I believe (long separate story), and Ender's parents were both gifted and set up/encouraged to get together by Graff. Many of the children are just naturally gifted though, it's not a super structured thing like Dune.
3. I still don't find it repetitive - the level of conflict continuously escalates, and it's a very satisfying and simple joy to watch Ender kick ass, but I've always loved a good prodigy story.
4. Some interesting parallels between Dune, how Ender is sort of forced down a path he increasingly doesn't want to go (like Paul). But Ender starts subconsciously working towards the point where he's going to have to make a really difficult decision, which is where the (young) reader realizes there is so much more depth to this book than just typical killing aliens - only to have that decision taken from him before he could make it, and then unexpectedly handed back to him. The whiplash between those two moments is incredible. I feel like most of modern sci-fi where aliens turn out to be friendly or misunderstood (basically a trope at this point) is from Ender's game.
The Beans story sounds cool, but that's a separate book! I did pick up on some Dune similarities, and some Foundation too, and I agree I think the ending was the strongest part. I would only consider reading further if Ender becomes a bit more interesting in further books, seemed too much of an avatar for the gifted young readers of the book.
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