Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards

I wanted to re-read Ender’s Game before the new film was released, which is always a dangerous idea, since films made of good, well-known books often disappoint. But I was a bit nervous about reading this again for another reason: I wasn’t particularly thrilled about Ender’s Game when I read it many years ago.

 

Oh, sure, I recognized this as a very high-quality novel and exemplary science fiction. About halfway through the book this time around, however, I realized what at least part of my problem was: I don’t quite believe in Ender Wiggin. Once I got past that and let the title character be who the novel insists he is, then I could enjoy the story more and ponder some of the more thought-provoking themes. I still had mixed emotions by the end, but I definitely have come to  appreciate the brilliance of this novel.

The future of the world seems to rest on a little boy, but fate is not what brought him to such a point of no return. Yes, Ender is gifted in such a way as to be the last, best hope for humanity, but he has been at least somewhat designed, constructed, and pressured to this task. There are a bunch of other gifted kids who excel under his leadership, forming an elite army exploited by the powers of earth to defend against alien attacks. I suppose these kids were bred to be stronger, faster and smarter than the generation that’s in charge, and that’s why there have to be kids and not adults saving the world. I don’t know. It’s still hard for me to buy.

That being said, however, this is one of those few books that is so well written it doesn’t really feel like you’re reading at all. It’s hard to describe its style, because it’s exactly the way it needs to be. The words, the phrasing, the descriptions are all exactly right to tell this story. The action is well-plotted. The emotional content is subdued, but, again, that’s the way it needs to be to fit into this story.

I wish the future world Card constructed for Ender to save was a little more colorful. He did seem to predict the nature of the internet well, with Peter and Valentine Wiggin creating their own form of world domination through what we would now think of a the “blogosphere.” Perhaps it is just the small slice of the world that we are allowed to see, that Ender is given the liberty to see, that is so black and white. That, again, would be just right for telling this story: this sad, frustrating, intense, concise, complete, solid, well-written, terrific story.

 

Coming soon: Postscript to The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

 

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