Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card  

Liam Huffman      4th hour    March 7

The cover of the book is what really hooked me in. Not so much the title. I picked it out and read the back. I thought it sounded pretty good, so I read it. Let me tell you, it's great! It's somewhat confusing in the beginning, but it makes more sense later in the book.

     Ender Wiggin, a six year old boy, has just been released from a scientific experiment. He got his moniter taken out, just what happened to his brother and sister. He returns to school, now unprotected from the moniter, and is bullied because he is a third. He defends himself from the school kids and sends one to the hospital. He returns home and is tortured mentally and physically by his crazy brother, Peter. He is uncomfortable in his house and around his family, except his sister, Valentine. His brother apologizes to him in the middle of the night, saying that he was sorry and that he loved him. Confused, Ender went to sleep. The next morning, the IF comes to his door and asks him to come to battle school. They said that he passed the tests and that the final test was to see what would happen after the monitor came off. He was supposed to save earth from the buggers that were said to invade. He agreed to go, even though they told him he wouldn't see his family again until he was at least sixteen.

     He goes up to battle school in a space shuttle with several other students his age. He starts to make friends and enemies in the school. Him and his friends learn to maneuver in zero gravity. Just when he thinks battle school could be fun, he is transferred to Salamander army. He is much to young to be able to join an army, but he excels at war games. The teachers isolate him by moving him to new armies every time he starts to make friends to push him to his limits. Ender is a genius at the war games and they make him a commander. They give him young children in his army (Dragon Army) that are new to zero gravity combat. They change and morph the game to where Ender always has the unfair advantage. Even with all disadvantages, he and his army become the best in the school. They don't lose one battle. He becomes stressed and tired from all the battles as well as his army. As soon as he gives up playing the games, he graduates to commander school.

     As all of this is happening, his siblings Valentine and Peter, are becoming famous bloggers on the internet. Valentine, now twelve years old, (Ender is ten when he gets to commander school.) takes on the identity of Demosthenes, supposedly a full grown man. Peter, now fourteen, is Locke, also supposed to be a man. They blog about the Warsaw Pact and how the Russians are going to attack. Their characters become very famous on the internet.

     Ender gets to visit earth before he leaves to command school. During the three months he's there, Valentine visits him. They are almost strangers because they hadn't seen each other for four years. Ender is much more violent and distant than she remembered. She convinces him to go back to school and train for the bugger war. He goes back to a planet called Eros, a planet made by the buggers. There he gets a trainer, Mazer Rackham, the most prized commander of the fleet. Mazer won the second invasion, making him the most remembered and loved person in the galaxy. They have five years until the third invasion from the buggers. Mazer trains Ender to think differently and use unexpected strategies.

     I can't tell you more without giving away the ending. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction. It's a great story with characters you love, hate, and miss. It has cool science fiction qualities to it and it's a big page turner. Like I said before, it's a little confusing in the beginning. The author has a unique style of writing too. All in all I would give this book a five out of five.