Ender's Game

[agnijay]

I recently read (or suffered) through this book for book club. What did you think of it? What did you think of the next books? Discussion?

[LeisureSuitLar…]

---

agnijay wrote:
I recently read (or suffered) through this book for book club. What did you think of it? What did you think of the next books? Discussion?

---

I loved Ender's Game. I had to be forced to read it, but I'm glad I did.

As for my opinion on the next books, it sort of depends on which branch of the series you mean. There's the branch that follows Ender that starts with Speaker for the Dead and a branch that follows Bean, one of his contemporaries at Battle School, starting with Ender's Shadow. I couldn't get into Speaker, so I don't know how that branch turned out. I loved the books about Bean though.

[Warren_xxx]

I LOVE Ender's Game
As with normal books it just flies by.I was also Forced to read it and after the 1 chpt. I was glad I started

[agnijay]

Yeah, for me it was the opposite. Don't think that I'll continue with the series.

[bridgeto]

Ender's Game and the rest of the books in the series are the best science fiction books I've ever read! They set the stage for a world at war who are using children to fight it for them. The books really get into politics and how people act during times of war. They also are a great look at different people around the globe and tolerance. I dunno but they will always have a place in my heart. -B

[marilady]

I agree wholeheartedly! I especially love the anthropological parts of Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide (since that was my college major). There is a lot of social commentary in these books that is relevant today. Though I do love these books, I have always found the people as written to lack some warmth. Maybe it's the dialogue.

[DaveLo]

I read this a few years ago, after hearing great things about it for many years. I was disappointed by Ender's Game. I'll crib from my review of it on another book site;

-it's a good book, imaginative, original ideas, thought provoking - but also more than a little boring. The premise of the book is that the child Ender is the ultimate weapon in a savage war with the mysterious Buggers. Unfortunately the story never really delves into the Buggers or combat with them except in a really abstract manner. I don't want to spoil the story so I won't go into more detail about that aspect of the story.

What you get with this interesting book is lots and lots of psychology, lots of soul searching, lots of dialog and a minimum of any real conflict. The majority of the plot deals with Ender's training in a military school. There are some interesting wargames that take place and a few shocking incidents that show just how high stakes the games these children play really are.

I found the best thing this book did was make me feel very sad for the boy Ender. There are some moving parts that deal with his isolation and the difficulty of being different from the other kids. There are some emotional parts in the book that helped bring it above the level of run-of-the-mill SF, along with some compelling concepts, but overall I have reservations about this book. It's a good story, certainly better than many, but not as great as a lot of the reviews would lead you to believe-

[quidditchpro]

Literally without question one of the best books that I have ever read.

The rest of the series (both the Ender books and the Bean books) are good and very worth reading, but they are more typical sci-fi adventure (especially the Bean books, the Ender books are still fairly psycological).  Ender's Game, however is far more, and like I said, one of the best books I've ever read.

[ParkerS17]

I pretty much forced myself to read Speaker for the Dead because of how much I enjoyed Ender's game.  It actually turned out to be pretty good, but it was not as good as the first book.  I started the next one in the series, but I gave up on it and I can't even remember the name of it right now.

Speaker for the Dead explores some interesting themes and has a powerful message, but it's not as entertaining as Ender's Game in my opinion at least.

[Warrenluff]

I also loved Ender's game

My half-brother gave it to me for Christmas and 5 books and a week later I read it.In truth I kept reading because it fascinated me.It got better,obviously.There is nothing else for me to say except that I have already read it about 5 times since last Christmas.I tried to continue the series and failed. It seemed to get duller as each book continued.