Ender's Game Book Review Essay

Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, is a science fiction, dystopian, military novel first published in 1985. The book tells the story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, an intelligent six-year-old boy who first gets recruited into Battle School to learn how to fight Earth’s extraterrestrial enemy, the “Buggers”. The world believes Ender is the last chance to win the Bugger Wars. Reading Ender’s Game was an extremely positive experience for me. This book has such a rich and interesting plot line. No matter where you are in the story, there is never even a second of boredom. Whether you're reading about Ender in school, Peter and Valentine’s political scheme, or the battles against the Buggers, you will never want to put this book down. In this critique, you will find an in-depth analysis of characters along with my thoughts concerning my favorite scenes within the novel Ender’s Game.

Ender’s Game is a book richly filled with interesting and complex characters. Many of the characters share the same characteristics but are each unique in

their own way. Among the characters, there is a common tendency of combativity and aggressiveness. Although these sound like negative traits, Ender’s Game would not be as interesting without them. The fact that the characters are aggressive creates many complex and rich plot lines. The aggressiveness adds on to enrich every character. For example, Ender keeps a very close bond between two friends he met at Battle School, Alai and Petra. Alai and Petra both have the element of aggression, but both contain friendliness and helpfulness toward Ender to balance out his rigidness. Alai’s cordial attitude is first shown when he first befriends Ender in Battle School, and continues to help Ender interact with other people throughout the novel’s plot. Moving on to Petra, she was one of the first Battle School students to reach out to Ender, and helped shape him into his greatest self. The aggressiveness and friendliness of Alai and Petra are what makes them long lasting, loyal friends to Ender. There are many interesting characters in Ender’s Game but my favorite was the protagonist Ender. Ender Wiggin is by far one of the most complex and intriguing characters you will find in books of this genre. Orson Scott Card, the author, created Ender to be a boy of intellect, tenacity, and compassion- all at once. Ender’s compassion is what separates him from the rest of the group. Ender bears a mindset far beyond his years, and many times he even outsmarts adults. As we read through the book, we see Ender evolve from a misunderstood child into a brave and ingenious young man. Orson Scott Card found a magnificent way to convey common traits among characters, yet make them all utterly unique. The characters in Ender’s Game make this novel one of the best books I have ever read.

Although the entire plot and storyline of Ender’s Game is profoundly captivating, there were a few favorite scenes of mine that brought forth unprecedented interest to me. To begin with, one of my first favorite scenes in this novel is when Ender first experiences null gravity while aboard the ship to Battle School. This may not seem very excitable, but it brings out a whole different side to Ender. We see get to see the more childish and playful part of Ender. The book says that once Ender saw Colonel Graff floating in air, that he found it humorous, and even laughed a little. This was one of my favorite moments because of its simplicity in humor, almost to reassure the reader that Ender is human. Next, one of my favorite scenes was when Peter and Valentine, Ender’s older brother and sister, started to collaborate and create a political scheme that eventually impacted the whole world. To elaborate, Peter conjures a plan for world domination by utilizing his manipulation skills. He decides to share this plan with Valentine, promising her some power as well. Valentine agrees, and together they use the “nets”, an equivalent of the internet, to create alter egos, who post their political ideas. In this scene, we can see something very different in the dynamic of Peter and Valentine. Peter is usually very quick to violence, but now he devises a much more practical plan and waits patiently, collaborating with Valentine. Ender’s Game has many very exciting scenes but above all, this next scene is my absolute favorite. After being at Command School for some time, Mazer Rackham, Ender’s teacher, decides to give Ender his final battle simulator. Ender is happy, because Rackham has challenged him to just pulverize Ender’s stamina. Ender notices that before he even starts the simulator that he is outnumbered, and he thinks Mazer and the rest of the spectators don't believe Ender can win. But he wants to prove them all wrong by winning this battle. Ender commands his squadrons and ingeniously does the only thing he can do to win- destroying the enemy’s planet. And gambling against all odds, Ender wins. Suddenly Ender notices Mazer Rackham and the spectators are all clapping and crying. Mazer tells Ender that was no simulation, he was commanding a real army, and Ender, a little boy, won the Bugger Wars! This was my favorite scene due to the sheer velocity of the surprise. Ender fighting in this final battle by itself is exciting alone, but as you read, you get to this high point of anticipation and suddenly you are completely engulfed in the excitement of the book- you feel as if you were in that room. It is one of the best feelings you can get in reading of literature. Even though the plot of Ender’s Game was not entirely realistic, it was still a very exciting and eventful storyline with many captivating scenes.

Now that I have displayed to you my opinions and analysis on the deeply unique and complex characters of the novel, as well as my on my favorite scenes; I would like to discuss some additional information about Ender’s Game.

To elaborate, I would first like to share what exactly I learned from this book. Ender’s Game has taught me how life is similar to a game, and how sometimes you just have to play along whether you like it or not. I have learned to be as strong and as resilient as Ender Wiggin. This is a novel I would recommend to all my friends and almost anyone interested in reading science fiction. Ender’s Game is a novel with such an engaging plot that I believe anyone can be captivated and inspired by it. This novel is definitely one that should be used with students, for it provokes intellectual conversations in a wide range of topics from politics, to religion, to science. Ender’s Game is the epitome of why Man created

literature.