“Ender’s Game” Summary and Book Review

Book by Orson Scott Card

Summary and Review by Zachary S., March 3^rd, 2013, Hour: 4^th

Earth has been attacked twice by a mysterious alien group called the buggers, and Earth may not be able to survive the next one, could Ender Wiggin be the solution? Ender Wiggin was a young boy who had a very hard childhood growing up as a “third,” families don’t normally have three children, just two. With an aggressive older brother and bullies at school, Ender questioned his purpose in life. All until Colonel Graff came to the Wiggin residents to take Ender to a boarding school. But this isn’t just any boarding school; this is a battle school, where children are trained to be soldiers and commanders in the war against the buggers. Ender’s sister Valentine can see Ender’s potential and knows he is a genius, so she encourages him to go. Ender decides to go with Colonel Graff to the battle school in space and to leave everything behind. Ender is put in an army and isolated by the teachers in seconds because they know he can take it. Ender takes classes and slowly makes a few friends while he trains with his army for battles. There are dozens of different armies, each with a commander and a bunch of soldiers. Ender is again, just like at home, pushed around and thought of as weak. Ender gets traded around to different armies in which one’s commander becomes an enemy of Ender, Bonzo, then, his full potential starts to show. He was becoming the best soldier in the school at a very young age. So, they make Ender a commander of a whole new army, the Dragon Army. He has many newbies who don’t know what was going on most of the time, but only Ender sees what they could be. He trains them hard and almost all of them are fast learners with learning formations and battle strategies. The Dragon Army never lost a battle, even when the teachers cheated and had them fight two battles in a day or give other armies advantages, the Dragon Army was unbeatable. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Ender’s sister Valentine has teamed up with her brother Peter and posed as adults online talking political issues, and getting people to agree with them. Ender graduates from battle school and is put straight into command school and trained by the best of the best. Is Ender the commander they have been looking for? Will he defeat the buggers?

I really enjoyed this book. Orson Scott Card created an amazing plot with unique characters that will force you to read another chapter. I like how the story develops and moves, it is kind of slow, but give it a chance because about half way it get a lot more interesting. The length of the book is pretty nice; it’s 357 pages with average sized print. The plot is fairly complicated but if you’re a good reader you won’t have too much trouble, although the book does have some cursing here and there. I also like how Orson Scott Card shows us what Ender is thinking, it really helps you get to know more about his personality and what he’s is going/gone through. My favorite part of the whole book is most definitely the ending. It is one of those twists that you don’t expect, but I won’t ruin it for you. This book is science-fiction and there are many action packed scenes, but there are also many scenes that make you think, that’s another thing I like about it. If you haven’t noticed already I really like this book and I don’t have any complaints. I would definitely recommend this book, but you probably won’t like it as much if you don’t enjoy science fiction. I know I love it and I couldn’t put it down so I think you should read it because it’s engaging, entertaining, and interesting.