Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were … Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn’t make the cut–young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.
Ender’s skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.
Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender’s two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.
Ender’s Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
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Worth reading over and over, along with the books that follow.
This whole series is excellent. This is tied with Catcher in the Rye for my favorite novel ever!
I have loved this book so much, I have read it several times. A very good story all on it’s own. The underlying story about our differences, and our inability to communicate is the richer story.
A delightful premise and intriguing plot. And at the pinnacle of the story arc, I must admit “I didn’t see that coming!” What a great surprise.
The revolutionary text for gifted children everywhere, “Ender’s Game” shows that war and its misapprehensions oppress and exploit our children. Andrew Wiggin’s ability to so understand his enemy is weaponized by those with power over him — and it costs him everything. Like “Dune,” this book and its first two sequels are required reading for anyone with a soul.
A really well written trilogy.
Loved this book. Read this one and the whole series, although the series does get kind of weird after this one…but this is a book that everyone should read!
Decent book not the most original plot line but entertaining .l would read more from the author
The movie does the book justice. Good look at we humans.
Best sci-fi series starter ever
I liked this and to lester extents the sequel, but I find it increasingly difficult to separate my opinions on the book and my opinions of the author which makes it hard to recommend it to others.
The movie didn’t hold a candle to the book.
I have read this book twice and enjoyed it both times. Ender is a compelling character whose brilliance combined with his age made the book hard to put down. SciFi is not my favorite genre by any means but this book is a favorite.
Great book, worth reading
Probably best considered as YA fiction. However, it’s worth reading (or finding the original novella, or maybe watching the movie) so you have the backstory needed to go find the sequel, Speaker for the Dead. SftD is the best, most thoughtful, and most thought-provoking book in this series, and very much worth your time.
Classic sci-fi award winning book. Excellent concept and twists. A bit slow at times, but worth the read.
One of my favorite books.
Why am I wasting review space recommending a book that most middle school students seem to be assigned to read these days? Still, I haven’t found another book that works with the power and sometime necessity of adults lying to children. Powerful twist and simply doesn’t come through in the movie. As a teacher, I wonder if the idea forcing on Ender the idea that “nobody will help him” is a useful lesson or probably path to a high school dropout?
Great ideas that even thirty years later I still think about.
Way better than the movie!
Absolute nail-biter, it doesn’t let in on what is really going on till the very end.