I read this book when I was really young and enjoyed it back then, but I have always had it on my list of books to reread because when I read it the first time, I was too young to understand some of the deeper themes of Orson Scott Card's future sci-fi epic that tells the story of the child strategic genius, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin as he progresses through a rigorous training regimen to become commander of the forces of Earth against an alien menace.
If you've never read this book, I suggest you pick it up. Ender's Game has something for everyone: excitement, intrigue, adventure, sports, political conspiracy, and even a peppering of light-hearted moments of friendship. Much like Adam Levin's "The Instructions," I have trouble imagining that the characters are as young as Card writes them (Ender begins the story at age 6 and ends at age 12) due to their startling intelligence and their complex ideas. This shouldn't bother readers too much, but it is a little hard to imagine the forces of Earth being commanded by a kid almost half my age.
The most exciting portions of the story are when Ender is playing a sport at his school known only as "the game." The objective of the game is to stun every member of an opposing army with your laser gun through cunning and strategy and open up the enemy army's door once all opposition has been stunned. This may sound kinda lame when I explain it but Card does an excellent job of keeping readers interested in the game, unfortunately 3/4 of the way through the book, Ender is sent to command school which features a new game (this one is called "the simulator") that is not even close to as interesting as the first game.
Ender's game is a very deep book featuring interesting comments on war, government, psychology, and family. Although many probably read the book when they were younger like I did, this is definitely one that should be reread as an adult because there were some questions posed in Ender's Game that I KNEW I didn't understand when I was 10--- back then all I cared about was the kids my age shooting each other with cool laser guns.
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